Roxanne Khamsi talks to Jim Motavalli about the profound implications of recent cell research. She is an author, speaker and contributing writer for The Atlantic. Her first book, Beyond Inheritance (Riverhead Books, 2026), reveals how we mutate genetically every day of our lives and how the DNA changes that accumulate within us can profoundly affect our health. She has reported extensively on the intersection of genetics and medicine for more than two decades. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The Economist, Popular Science, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Slate, Nature, New York magazine, WIRED magazine and National Geographic. She has appeared on television programs such as CBS News and has guest-hosted the national radio shows On The Media and Science Friday.

Terri Thal (third from right in the photo) was married to Dave Van Ronk (at far right), managed Bob Dylan (second from right) and was a friend of Dylan's then-girlfriend Suze Rotolo (second from left). She has written about that time in her book My Greenwich Village: Dave, Bob and Me. We talked about those times, about her close friend Patrick Sky (not as well remembered as Van Ronk) and about the politics of the era. Dylan said of Terri in his book Chronicles, "Van Ronk’s wife, Terri, definitely not a minor character, took care of Dave’s bookings, especially out of town, and she began trying to help me out. She was just as outspoken and opinionated as Dave was, especially about politics — not so much the political issues but rather the highfalutin’ theological ideas behind political systems."

John Sayles is a prolific filmmaker who, since The Return of the Secaucus Seven in 1980, hasn't been afraid to take on big political themes. In 17 films and eight novels (as well as short-story collections and screenplays) he looks at a specific moment in the historical record from multiple perspectives. Sayles' latest work is Crucible, a closely observed historical novel that looks at the Ford Motor Company from the introduction of the Model A to the postwar period. It includes the fight for unionization (and union busters), the boss' anti-Semitism, the immigrants' experience, and Fordlandia, the ill-fated attempt to grow rubber (for tires) in Brazil.