Actuality

Male Contraception

They said it couldn't be done: The "male pill." Actuality asks why men haven't seen a new reversible contraceptive in centuries—and if we need one. We found out why Big Pharma gave up on a male pill, and meet people who want to make it happen anyway.Correction: In this episode we refer to "The Pill" by Jonathan Eig. The correct title of Eig’s book is "The Birth of the Pill [https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Pill-Crusaders-Reinvented-Revolution/dp/0393351890]."

UnAmerican Football

They said it couldn't be done: Soccer makes it in America. Actuality can't turn on the TV without seeing a soccer game — what gives? We talk with U.S. players Crystal Dunn and Matt Besler to figure out how global football became a media cash cow in America. [https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/actuality-by-marketplace-quartz/id1005250629?mt=2]

Cannabiz

They said it couldn't be done: Ending the American war on marijuana. This week, Actuality tells the ugly truth about cannabis prohibition and peeks at the green shoots of the nascent legal weed industry — but can the architects of a new market avoid the mistakes of the past? [https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/actuality-by-marketplace-quartz/id1005250629?mt=2]

Museums: Wherefore contemporary art thou?

They said it couldn't be done: New art in old museums. Actuality visits an auction house to see a billion dollars of art sold in just a week and learn how this bubbling private market is changing staid public art museums in surprising ways.

A machine to save the world

They said it couldn't be done: Nuclear fusion. We visit scientists building a clean power plant that's hotter than the sun — but can they ever deliver? Then: the strange world of cold fusion, the people who hate it and the billionaires betting on it.