The Daily

As the N.F.L. season comes to a close, we’re looking at a class-action lawsuit that Brian Flores, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has filed against the league. At the heart of the case is the Rooney Rule, a policy the league implemented two decades ago that has since been adopted across corporate America. We explore the lawsuit and the Rooney Rule, and we hear from Cyrus Mehri, a civil rights lawyer who helped create the policy. Guest: Ken Belson, a reporter covering the N.F.L...

There’s a working theory for the origins of Covid-19. It goes like this: Somewhere in an open-air market in Wuhan, China, a new coronavirus, growing inside an animal, first made the jump to a human. But what happens when diseases spread in the other direction? Sonia Shah, a science journalist, explores the dangers of “spillback,” or “reverse zoonosis”: when humans infect non-humans with disease...

A mysterious letter detailing a supposed plot by Islamic extremists to take over schools shocked Britain in 2014. But who wrote it? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, “The Trojan Horse Affair” is a mystery told in eight parts. Here’s the first. Find the series wherever you get your podcasts.

Joe Rogan, a former comedian and host of the hit podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for promoting Covid-19 misinformation. Spotify, which owns exclusive rights to Mr. Rogan’s show, has been criticized as the platform for the misinformation. Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from Spotify in protest. Now, a compilation of video clips of Mr. Rogan using a racial slur on past episodes has surfaced, drawing more outrage...

One by one, blue states across the United States have been rolling back their Covid-19 restrictions, going against C.D.C. guidelines that are still backed by the White House. Why are governors in states like California, Illinois and New York taking those actions? And what do they say about the shifting politics of the pandemic? Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.

Birds Aren’t Real, a conspiracy theory with an apparently absurd premise, has become surprisingly popular in the past few years. But its followers were in on the joke: The movement’s aim was to poke fun at misinformation … by creating misinformation. Has it been successful? Guest: Taylor Lorenz, a former technology reporter for The New York Times.

If Russia invades Ukraine, it would be the largest and potentially deadliest military action in Europe since World War II. So why is there so much division between the U.S. and its European allies over how seriously to take the threat? Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.

This episode contains depictions of violence Almost two years ago, a shocking nine-minute video was released showing a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, fatally kneeling on the neck of George Floyd. Mr. Chauvin is now serving a long sentence for murder. A few weeks ago, a trial began in the case of the three other officers who were on the scene that day. They are charged with violating Mr. Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that caused his death...

If you didn’t think poker and artificial intelligence could be bedfellows, think again. Keith Romer delves into the history of man’s pursuit of the perfect game of poker, and explains how the use of A.I. is altering how it is played: individuals using an algorithmic “solver program” to analyze potential weaknesses about themselves and their opponents, thus gaining an advantage. While it feels futuristic, this desire to optimize poker isn’t new. Are these new generations of A.I...

Reporters from The Times are joining athletes from around the world as they descend on Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where they are encountering the strictest and most wide-ranging health requirements ever attempted at an Olympic Games. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has made it his goal to keep the coronavirus out of the country as much as possible, and these requirements are an extension of his “zero Covid” strategy...