About a year into President Trump’s global trade war, China hasn’t just survived. It has emerged stronger than ever on the world stage.

Keith Bradsher, the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, discusses the domination of China’s robot-powered superfactories and how the country essentially made itself tariff-proof.

Guest: Keith Bradsher, the Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• China’s secret weapon in the trade war is an army of factory robots.
• Beijing announced a record trade surplus in January as its exports flooded world markets.

Photo: Qilai Shen 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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The war in Iran has created strong divisions among President Trump’s supporters. An anti-interventionist wing of the Republican coalition and some senior administration officials partial to Mr. Trump’s criticism of long overseas conflicts have quickly become uneasy about the war, which has shown no immediate signs of ending.

Robert Draper, a domestic politics journalist for The New York Times based in Washington, discusses Mr. Trump’s justification for the war and whether he is explicitly violating a pact he made with his base not to start another.

Guest: Robert Draper is a journalist based in Washington, D.C., who writes about domestic politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: Joe Kent, a top U.S. counterterrorism official, resigns over the Iran war.

High gas prices, driven up by the war, loom over the midterms.

Photo: Eric Lee 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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If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably come across a video of a young, square-jawed influencer calling himself Clavicular. He has become the face of an internet subculture called looksmaxxing, in which men do almost anything — like taking steroids and hormones or bashing their jaws with a hammer — to try to become more handsome.

In this episode, Natalie Kitroeff talks with reporter Joseph Bernstein about the world of looksmaxxing and how what might seem like a fringe phenomenon is actually the culmination of a digital culture that rewards physical perfection with status and algorithmic power.

On Today’s Episode

Joseph Bernstein covers digital subcultures for the Styles desk at The New York Times.

Background Reading

Handsome at Any Cost

Young Men Seek Answers to an Age-Old Question: How to Be Hot

The Suffix That Tells Us to Ruthlessly Optimize Everything

Photo Credit: Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times

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 writer and actor found unexpected success by sharing his trauma. Now he’s exploring male pain in a new way.

• Thoughts? Email us at [email protected]
• Watch our show on YouTube: youtube.com/@TheInterviewPodcast
• For transcripts and more, visit: nytimes.com/theinterview

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This week, the Senate is debating the contentious SAVE America Act, a strict voter identification bill that could overhaul who gets to vote.

President Trump has called it his “No. 1 priority,” threatening to not sign any other legislation until it is passed.

Michael Gold and Nick Corasaniti, reporters for The New York Times, discuss why some Republicans are standing against the president to block it, and the administration’s other plans to try to reshape the electoral process.

Guests: Michael Gold, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times, and Nick Corasaniti, a Times reporter covering national politics. 

Background reading: 

• What’s in the voter ID bill President Trump and Republicans are pushing?
• The Senate is taking up a voter bill sought by Mr. Trump but opposed by Democrats.

Photo: Hiroko Masuike/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 12 years, Pete Wells had his dream job: working as the chief restaurant critic for The New York Times. The job’s journalistic mission required Wells to eat out most nights and taste nearly everything on any given restaurant’s menu. He didn’t realize it at the time, but the excessive eating had taken a toll on his body.

Then came a health crisis, followed by his doctor’s advice to “stop doing what you’re doing right now.”

In 2024, Wells gave up his post as restaurant critic and set out to remake his entire relationship with food.

On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro speaks with Wells about the realities of life as a restaurant critic, and what he’s learning about the joys of home cooking, mindful eating and grocery shopping for the diet he intends to follow.

On Today’s Episode:

Pete Wells is a reporter covering food for The New York Times. He was formerly The Times’s restaurant critic.

Background Reading:

After 12 Years of Reviewing Restaurants, I’m Leaving the Table

Our Former Restaurant Critic Changed His Eating Habits. You Can, Too.

To Eat Healthier, Our Critic Went to the Source: His Kitchen

To Tune Out Food Noise, Our Critic Listened to His Hunger

To Improve How He Ate, Our Critic Looked at What He Drank

Photo Credit:  Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.

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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Today on “The Sunday Daily,” The Times’s chief movie critic, Manohla Dargis, talks with the “Daily” host Michael Barbaro about this year’s batch of Oscar nominees, which — according to her — are uncommonly good.

They discuss the performances that Dargis believes deserve to win, the dark horses that might pull off upsets, and the ambitious films that give her hope for Hollywood’s future.

On Today’s Episode:

Manohla Dargis, Chief Film Critic for The New York Times.

Background Reading:

‘Hamnet’ | Anatomy of a Scene

Delroy Lindo on ‘Sinners,’ Speaking Up and the Power of Affirmation

Photo: A24; Warner Bros. Pictures; Sabrina Lantos/Sony Pictures Classics

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 2012, Tinder revolutionized dating apps with its swipe feature. With the flick of a finger, singles could accept or reject a potential mate. While this innovation has worked for many, some have grown weary of the simple swipe, and long for a more nuanced way to find love.

Today on “The Sunday Daily,” Rachel Abrams examines two dating tends on the rise: in-person mixers that are far from old-fashioned, and emerging A.I. technology that promises singles a ‘soul’ match. Rachel speaks with The New York Times’s dating columnist Gina Cherelus; Luke Vander Ploeg, a producer on the “Daily”; and Amanda Hess, a writer at large at The Times.

On Today’s Episode

Gina Cherelus covers dating for The New York Times.

Luke Vander Ploeg is a producer on The Daily.

Amanda Hess is a writer at large for The Times.

Photo: Mila De La Torre 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 this episode of “The Sunday Daily,” the host Rachel Abrams is joined by her New York Times colleagues Motoko Rich, Shawna Richer and Juliet Macur, who are all covering this year’s Olympic Games. They discuss how the geopolitical climate may or may not be influencing the competition, and talk about some of the extraordinary athletes who are pushing the limits of physical achievements.

On Today’s Episode

Motoko Rich is the Rome bureau chief for The New York Times.

Juliet Macur is a national reporter covering sports for The New York Times.

Shawna Richer is an editor at The New York Times, working on coverage of sports in America.

Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Images: Sarah Stier/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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At the Grammy Awards tonight, the Puerto Rican pop sensation Bad Bunny is the first Spanish-language artist to be nominated for album, record and song of the year simultaneously. For most artists, this would be the high point of their year, if not their career. For Bad Bunny, this is just an appetizer for what’s in store for him next week.

Next Sunday, he will headline the Super Bowl halftime show. His performance comes in the middle of a nationwide crackdown on immigration — an issue he’s been vocal about — and follows a backlash against the N.F.L. for booking him in the first place.

Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli, the hosts of The Times’s pop music show “Popcast,” discuss Bad Bunny’s rise to the heights of pop stardom, and explore what it means for a Puerto Rican artist to headline the world’s biggest stage.

On Today’s Episode:

Jon Caramanica is a pop music critic at The New York Times and a co-host of “Popcast.”

Joe Coscarelli is a culture reporter for The New York Times who focuses on popular music and a co-host of “Popcast.”

Background Reading:

Grammys 2026: Who Should Win the Biggest Awards

Bad Bunny Talks Coming Back Home on His ‘Most Puerto Rican’ Album Yet

Get to Know Bad Bunny in 9 Songs

Photo: Mario Anzuoni for Reuters.

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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Pop culture has not been kind to the Neanderthal. In books, movies and even TV commercials, the species is portrayed as rough and mindless, a brutish type that was rightly supplanted by our Homo sapiens ancestors.

But even 40,000 years after the last Neanderthals walked the earth, we continue to make discoveries that challenge that portrayal. New research suggests Neanderthals might have been less primitive — and a lot more like modern humans — than we might have thought.

The Times science reporters Carl Zimmer and Franz Lidz discuss recent discoveries about Neanderthals, and what those discoveries can tell us about the origins of humanity.

On Today’s Episode:

Carl Zimmer writes the Origins column and covers news about science for The Times.

Franz Lidz writes about archaeology for The Times.

Background Reading:

The Year in Neanderthals

Morning Person? You Might Have Neanderthal Genes to Thank.

What Makes Your Brain Different From a Neanderthal’s?

The Neanderthal Inside Us

Photo: Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

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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