Over the past week, a growing number of municipalities across the United States have reported that their water systems were hacked. The Times has found that the attacks were most likely perpetrated by Iran.

Today, Dustin Volz, a cybersecurity and intelligence correspondent for The New York Times, explains how the hacking exposes yearslong failed efforts to shore up vulnerabilities in U.S. infrastructure, and how Iran may be seeking a new kind of leverage that could extend the war’s reach to within U.S. borders and affect something as elemental as the water we drink.

Guest: Dustin Volz, a cybersecurity and intelligence correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Federal and state officials are racing to address an assault on the nation’s water supply.
• Cyberattacks on water systems nationwide that affected Michigan and Minnesota also included at least five more states. Evidence points to Iranian involvement.

Photo: Jenn Ackerman for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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U.S. health officials linked six more states to what’s now the largest outbreak of cyclospora in American history — an outbreak that has contributed to at least two deaths, sickened thousands of people and left the rest of us increasingly scared of salad.

Today, Christina Jewett and Caroline Hopkins Legaspi, two public health reporters who have covered the parasite for The New York Times, discuss what’s been learned about where it comes from, how it spread so quickly and why our food safety system seems to be powerless to stop it.

Guest: 

• Christina Jewett, covers the Food and Drug Administration for The New York Times.
• Caroline Hopkins Legaspi, a health reporter focusing on nutrition and sleep for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Taco Bell and the food distributor Sysco have pulled Taylor Farms lettuce from supply chains after it was linked to cyclosporiasis.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has linked six more states to the cyclospora outbreak associated with iceberg lettuce.

Photo: Michelle V. Agins / The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The United States is undergoing one of the biggest changes to its social safety net in recent history, with huge numbers of people getting dropped from the government’s food assistance program. Nowhere has this been more dramatic than in Arizona.

Jason DeParle, who covers poverty for The New York Times, explains why so many people are suddenly losing access to this key benefit, and what implications it could have for the rest of the country.

Guest: Jason DeParle, who writes about poverty in the United States for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Faced with piles of new paperwork, people are losing food stamps.
• Video: What Arizona reveals about the future of food stamps.

Photo: Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In Michigan, a race for U.S. Senate is not only testing the growing appeal of left-wing populism. It could also be a turning point in a long-running debate among Democratic voters about the importance of electability.

Michael Kruse, who writes about politics for The New York Times, traveled to Michigan with the producers Asthaa Chaturvedi and Anna Foley of “The Daily” to speak to voters and campaign volunteers.

Guest: Michael Kruse, a politics reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Michigan’s tense Democratic Senate race poses a big test for a divided party.
• Can a progressive win in a purple state? Abdul El-Sayed wants to find out.

Photo: Nic Antaya for The New York Times

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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For decades, the kitchen was the centerpiece of Yewande Komolafe’s life. She spent long hours there, first as a restaurant cook and later as a recipe developer. But though she loved the often-intense culinary world, she had to navigate it with certain limitations: She was born with sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, which required her to carefully manage her working life. She did so successfully, becoming a celebrated cookbook author and food writer for The Times.

A medical crisis in December 2023 changed all of that. Komolafe ended up in a coma for six weeks, and after emerging learned that both her legs and her fingers would need to be amputated. In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Komolafe tells Rachel Abrams about what happened and how, after everything, she made her way back into the kitchen.

On Today’s Episode:

Yewande Komolafe is a cooking columnist for The New York Times.

Background Reading:

How Losing My Limbs Turned Me Into a Different Kind of Cook

The Chef Imagining a More Accessible World, One Meal at a Time

Photo credit: Lanna Apisukh.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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For years, a debate has been simmering in Silicon Valley over the right way to build artificial intelligence. Should it be open and free for anyone to use, or should we tightly control how it’s made and who can access it?

Mike Isaac, who covers technology for The New York Times, explains why the release of two Chinese models pushed that debate to a boiling point this week, and how it could end up reshaping the future of A.I.

Guest: Mike Isaac, a New York Times reporter based in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering tech companies and Silicon Valley.

Background reading: 

• Silicon Valley splits over closing the borders to Chinese A.I.
• What is open-weights A.I.?

Photo: Hector Retamal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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When the Times reporter Ellen Barry’s father developed dementia after a fall, her family spent years trying to manage his erratic behavior and confusion. They struggled to convince him that he was home, he was safe, and he shouldn’t try to leave. The experience was exasperating and impossible to understand.

Today, Ellen tells the story of those years, and of how she discovered scientific research that helped explain everything her family had lived through — research that could potentially help to save precious memories from being lost forever.

On Today’s Episode

Ellen Barry, a mental health reporter for The New York Times

Background Reading

When My Father’s Canary Flew Away

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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After a month of competition across North America and 103 matches, the 2026 World Cup is down to its final game. Spain and Argentina will meet this afternoon in a match expected to draw over one billion viewers around the world. 

Spain is hoping its well-oiled machine and young star can bring it its second World Cup win. Argentina is looking to Lionel Messi, its longtime star, to secure victory in what could be his last game at the World Cup.

On today’s episode, Tariq Panja traces the road to this historic final and explains what to know before kickoff.

Tariq Panja, a global sports correspondent for The New York Times.

Background Reading

Why Everyone Cares About This World Cup

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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This Friday, “The Odyssey,” directed by Christopher Nolan, hits theaters. Even before the movie’s release, though, it’s proving to be a cultural event. Spirited discussions of Nolan’s cinematic interpretation of the epic poem already abound online, and they are likely to intensify after the public sees the film.

Why does a 12,000-line poem that is nearly 3,000 years old still feel resonant today? In this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Natalie Kitroeff talks about the “Odyssey” with two writers who have produced some critically acclaimed and widely read modern interpretations of Greek classics: Emily Wilson, the first woman to translate the “Odyssey” from ancient Greek, and Madeline Miller, the author of the best-selling novels “Circe” and “Song of Achilles.”

On Today’s Episode:

Emily Wilson, a professor, classicist, author and translator of the “Odyssey”

Madeline Miller, the author of “Circe,” “Song of Achilles” and other books

Background Reading:

We’ll Help You Find Your Next Great Book. (Spoiler: It’s the ‘Odyssey.’)

The First Woman to Translate the ‘Odyssey’ Into English

Book Review: Turning Circe Into a Good Witch

Photo: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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In celebration of the United States of America’s 250th birthday, we posed a simple question to some of our favorite critics, columnists and editors across the New York Times newsroom, people who write about books, movies, TV shows, science, sports, wellness and food. We asked: What’s the most American thing on your beat?

On today’s episode, we present their answers. Happy Birthday, America!
 

On Today’s Episode

Joshua Barone, culture editor, on “Rodeo,” composed by Aaron Copland

Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic, on workout gear

Erik Piepenburg, culture writer, on the movie “Get Out”

Kevin Roose, technology columnist, on Amazon Prime

Mekado Murphy, culture editor, on the roller coaster The Beast

James Poniewozik, chief television critic, on “Survivor”

Jancee Dunn, wellness writer, on productivity and sleep

Elena Bergeron, culture editor, on U.S. hockey

Jennifer Szalai, nonfiction book critic at the Book Review, on “Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World” by Henry Grabar

Bill Wasik, science editor, on liquid rocket fuel

Madison Malone Kircher, internet culture reporter, on Bama Rush

Kim Severson, food reporter, on M&M’s

MJ Franklin, editor at the Book Review, on “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

Helen Shaw, chief theater critic, on “The Century Cycle” by August Wilson

Alissa Wilkinson, film critic, on the movie “There Will Be Blood”

Zachary Small, culture reporter, on Grand Theft Auto

Elisabeth Vincentelli, culture reporter, on demolition derbies

Jason Zinoman, critic at large, on the song “Political Science” by Randy Newman

Jason Farago, critic at large, on the Statue of Liberty

A.O. Scott, critic at large, on “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” by Walt Whitman (featuring a reading by Jeffrey Wright)

Gia Kourlas, dance critic, on “Stars and Stripes” by George Balanchine and “Appalachian Spring” by Martha Graham

Jon Caramanica, pop music critic, on “Trump Trump Baby” by Forgiato Blow

 Photo credit: The New York Times

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In 1992, David Wood became El Paso’s most notorious convicted serial killer. He has been on death row ever since. More than 30 years later, his lawyers have just a few months to argue his innocence and stop his execution.

This is the first episode of a new five-part series from Serial Productions called “The Last 12 Weeks.” You can find the rest of the series by searching for “The Last 12 Weeks” on your favorite podcast player.

To find out about new shows from Serial Productions, and get a look behind the scenes, sign up for our newsletter at: https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/serial

Have a story pitch, a tip, or feedback on our shows? Email us at [email protected]

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