Nerdette WBEZ

You asked, we delivered! Infectious disease expert Emily Landon is back to take your questions on variants, vaccines, and more.

This one’s all about anxiety! We talk about how Naomi Osaka is paving the way for all of us with WBEZ education reporter Susie An and Axios Today host Niala Boodhoo, then neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki talks to us about why anxiety is still so misunderstood. Plus, we catch up with Lauren Groff about her wonderfully weird novel, 'Matrix.'

Today on Nerdette we're bringing you a fascinating interview from another WBEZ podcast - Art of Power. Leigh Bardugo is the author of the bestselling 'Shadow and Bone' trilogy. Leigh talks with Aarti Shahani about the many ups and downs she traversed before ultimately landing at success.

How is it September already?! We talk music news with Certified Music People™ Jasmine Garsd (NPR) and Jill Hopkins (Vocalo). Then, we check in with actor Harvey Guillén, who does all his own stunts as Guillermo de la Cruz in 'What We Do in the Shadows,' and walk through a recommendation from the American Medical Association that could make life a lot easier for trans and intersex folks.

It's our long-awaited episode on Kazuo Ishiguro’s 'Klara and the Sun'! We dive into the Nobel prize-winner’s latest with writer Anita Felicelli, who recently reviewed ‘Klara and the Sun’ for the Los Angeles Review of Books, and author Veronica Roth (‘Divergent,’ ‘Chosen Ones’).

WTTW anchor Brandis Friedman and WBEZ reporter Araceli Gómez-Aldana talk to us about Lil Nas X’s new gig with Taco Bell, if anything we watch is “good” in the age of armchair critics, and why the baby from the cover of Nirvana’s 'Nevermind' isn’t smiling anymore. Then, TV critic Kathryn VanArendonk christens a new genre we can get behind (White Man As Obstacle) and author Jess Zimmerman takes a feminist spin on Greek myths.