Accessibility links
Devin Katayama Devin Katayama is a Senior Producer for NPR's Throughline podcast.
Stories By

Devin Katayama

Thursday

The Ghost in Your Phone (Throwback)
JUNIOR KANNAH/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

The Ghost in Your Phone (Throwback)

It's hot. A mother works outside, a baby strapped to her back. The two of them breathe in toxic dust, day after day. And they're just two of thousands, cramped so close together it's hard to move, all facing down the mountain of cobalt stone.Cobalt mining is one of the world's most dangerous jobs. And it's also one of the most essential: cobalt is what powers the batteries in your smartphone, your laptop, the electric car you felt good about buying. More than three-quarters of the world's cobalt supply lies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose abundant resources have drawn greed and grifters for centuries. Today on the show: the fight for control of those resources, and for the dignity of the people who produce them.

The Ghost in Your Phone (Throwback)

Listen · 51:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908739/1246904918" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader

American lawyer and consumer activist Ralph Nader, whose book 'Unsafe at Any Speed', led to the passage of improved car safety regulations. He is at a Senate hearing at Washington triggered by his publication. Keystone/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Keystone/Getty Images

Throughline

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader

Whether it's pesticides in your cereal or the door plug flying off your airplane, consumers today have plenty of reasons to feel like corporations might not have their best interests at heart. At a moment where we're seeing unprecedented product recalls, and when trust in the government is near historic lows, we're going to revisit a time when a generation of people felt empowered to demand accountability from both companies and elected leaders — and got results. Today on the show, the story of the U.S. consumer movement and its controversial leader: the once famous, now infamous Ralph Nader.

Ralph Nader, Consumer Crusader

Listen · 47:11
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908720/1245409257" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The 14th Amendment
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

The 14th Amendment

Of all the amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the 14th is a big one. It's shaped all of our lives, whether we realize it or not: Roe v. Wade, Brown v. Board of Education, Bush v. Gore, plus other Supreme Court cases that legalized same-sex marriage, interracial marriage, access to birth control — they've all been built on the back of the 14th.

The 14th Amendment

Listen · 49:34
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1243870144/1244015410" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

A History of Hezbollah
MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

A History of Hezbollah

Hezbollah is a Lebanese paramilitary organization and political party that's directly supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and Israel's invasion of Gaza, Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging missile fire across the border they share, causing growing fears of a regional conflict with the U.S. and Israel on one side and Iran along with its allies in Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthi rebels of Yemen on the other.

A History of Hezbollah

Listen · 49:57
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908668/1241295456" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Great Textbook War
Keystone Features/Getty Images

Throughline

The Great Textbook War

What is school for? Over a hundred years ago, a man named Harold Rugg published a series of textbooks that encouraged students to confront the thorniest parts of U.S. history: to identify problems, and try and solve them. And it was just as controversial as the fights we're seeing today. In this episode: a media mogul, a textbook author, and a battle over what students should – or shouldn't – learn in school.

The Great Textbook War

Listen · 47:40
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908644/1239778734" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel
Amir Levy/Getty Images

Throughline

The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel

For most of its early history, Israel was dominated by left-leaning, secular politicians. But today, the right is in power. Its politicians represent a movement that uses a religious framework to define Israel and its borders, and that has aggressively resisted a two-state solution with Palestinians. And its government – led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — is waging a war in Gaza which, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, has killed over 30,000 people, many of them children. The government launched the war in response to the October 7th, 2023 Hamas-led attack that, according to Israeli authorities, killed over 1,200 Israelis with an additional 250 being taken hostage.This is not the first time that tension has erupted into violence. But the dominance of right-wing thinkers in Israeli politics is pivotal to how the war has unfolded. On today's episode: the story of Israel's rightward shift.

The Rise of the Right Wing in Israel

Listen · 53:05
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908601/1236449314" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Right to An Attorney
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Throughline

The Right to An Attorney

Most of us take it for granted that if we're ever in court and we can't afford a lawyer, the court will provide one for us. And in fact, the right to an attorney is written into the Constitution's sixth amendment. But for most of U.S. history, it was more of a nice-to-have — something you got if you could, but that many people went without.

The Right to An Attorney

Listen · 50:37
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908562/1234643980" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Dance Yourself Free (Throwback)
John M Lund Photography Inc/Getty Images

Throughline

Dance Yourself Free (Throwback)

Beyonce's Renaissance brought house music back to mainstream audiences. But even when it wasn't gracing the Grammys, house never went away. Born from the ashes of disco in the late 1970s and '80s, house was by and for the Black, queer youth DJing and dancing in Chicago's underground clubs. Since then it's become the soundtrack of parties around the world, and laid the groundwork for one of the most popular musical genres in history: electronic dance music. Today on the show, the origins of house music — and its tale of Black cultural resistance — told by the people who lived it.

Dance Yourself Free (Throwback)

Listen · 50:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908541/1233000012" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Love, Throughline
WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

Throughline

Love, Throughline

We asked you to call us with your stories of looking for love in the 21st century — and man, did you come through. We heard the whole range of human experience in your stories, but one theme rang out loud and clear: dating, and especially online dating, is a struggle.

Love, Throughline

Listen · 53:17
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908521/1231574380" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Scent of History

WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 23: A young woman smells the blooms inside the branch of one of the cherry trees surrounding the Tidal Basin near the National Mall March 23, 2016 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Throughline

The Scent of History

What if we told you that the key to time travel has been right in front of our eyes this whole time? Well, it has: it's in our noses. Today on the show, the science — and politics — of smell, and how it links our past and our present.

The Scent of History

Listen · 51:28
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908502/1229881709" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Man Who Cured Aging
New York Public Library

Throughline

The Man Who Cured Aging

In 1899, Elie Metchnikoff woke up in Paris to learn that he had defeated old age. At least, that's what the newspaper headlines said. Before long he was inundated with mail from people begging him to help them live forever. The only problem? He didn't know how to do it.

The Man Who Cured Aging

Listen · 49:46
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908457/1226680667" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

The Right to Bear Arms
Marc Piscotty/Getty Images

Throughline

The Right to Bear Arms

In April 1938, an Oklahoma bank robber was arrested for carrying an unregistered sawed-off shotgun across state lines. The robber, Jack Miller, put forward a novel defense: that a law banning him from carrying that gun violated his Second Amendment rights.

The Right to Bear Arms

Listen · 51:48
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908436/1225278014" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

When Things Fall Apart (Throwback)
KenCanning/Getty Images

Throughline

When Things Fall Apart (Throwback)

Climate change, political unrest, random violence: modern society can often feel like what the filmmaker Werner Herzog calls "a thin layer of ice on top of an ocean of chaos and darkness." In the United States, polls indicate that many people believe law and order is the only thing protecting us from the savagery of our neighbors. This idea is often called "veneer theory." But is it true?

When Things Fall Apart (Throwback)

Listen · 49:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908427/1223702445" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Editing Reality (2023)
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Throughline

Editing Reality (2023)

We live in divided times, when the answer to the question 'what is reality?' depends on who you ask. Almost all the information we take in is to some extent edited and curated, and the line between entertainment and reality has become increasingly blurred. Nowhere is that more obvious than the world of reality television. The genre feeds off our most potent feelings – love, hope, anxiety, loneliness – and turns them into profit... and presidents. So in this episode, we're going to filter three themes of our modern world through the lens of reality TV: dating, the American dream, and the rage machine.

Editing Reality (2023)

Listen · 52:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908351/1221647250" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Apology: The Way Back (2023)
Planet Flem

Throughline

Apology: The Way Back (2023)

Our society is saturated in apologies. They're scripted, they're public, and they often feel less than sincere. Political, corporate, celebrity apologies – they can all feel performed. It's not even always clear who they're for. So what purpose do these apologies serve? Because real apologies are not just PR stunts. Not just a way to move on. At their best, they're about acknowledgement and accountability, healing and repair. So how did apology go from a process to a product – and how can we make it work again?

Apology: The Way Back (2023)

Listen · 52:26
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908326/1220122757" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">