The Current

Writing has shaped Margaret Atwood’s life, from childhood poems about rhyming cats to watching The Handmaid’s Tale become “an approaching reality” in Trump’s America. The Queen of CanLit sat down with Matt Galloway to discuss her new memoir, Book of Lives — and ended up giving Galloway an impromptu palm reading.

What happens if you cross ChatGPT with a Roomba vacuum? Turns out it spins into a comedic doom spiral and then rhymes to the lyrics to musicals. Researchers at a startup in San Francisco recently did an experiment where they gave a simple task to robots powered by large language models, known as LLM's, like ChatGPT. And let's just say things did not go well. Julie Bort, an editor for the tech publication TechCrunch covered this experiment and explains what went wrong, and what this says about the future of AI powered robots.

Hockey scouts live a vagabond life — driving from rink to rink, watching minor hockey games in big and small towns across Canada. Their job is to find a diamond in the rough...a young player who might have what it takes to make it to the big leagues. We talk to Sportsnet anchor Ken Reid about his new book, the Next One, pulling back the curtain on how scouts work, and what makes them tick.

Zohran Mamdani is mayor-elect of New York City. But this win reflects only one part of a wider Democratic Party civil war. New York Magazine writer Simon van Zuylen-Wood believes that the Democratic Party is in the middle of picking a new path — but is it through Mamdani, or is it something else?

Our national affairs panel weighs in on the biggest political stories of the day. Prime Minister Mark Carney released his first federal budget. Presented as a "generational" budget that is pro-growth -we look at where the Liberals say they are making new investments, and where they’re making cuts. We break it all down with CBC's Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton, Stephanie Levitz of the Globe and Mail and Ryan Tumilty of the Toronto Star.

Women use exclamation marks way more than men — and worry a lot more about it too! That's according to a new research paper co-authored by Cherly Wakslak of the University of Southern California! She says the results allowed her to fully embrace her love of the punctuation mark!

Tempers flared in a jam-packed meeting in Richmond, BC last week. Mayor Malcolm Brodie held a public information session to answer questions about the potential impact of a BC Supreme court ruling on a Vancouver suburb. We speak to the Cowichan Tribes chief negotiator - and legal experts - about the significance of the decision and whether Aboriginal title and fee simple title can co-exist.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear the challenge to Donald Trump's use of emergency tariffs. But Canadians probably shouldn't hold their breath waiting for the court to come to its rescue, says Atlantic writer and lawyer Paul Rosenzweig.

As Prime Minister Mark Carney unveils his much anticipated federal budget, the rising cost of food is top of mind for many Canadians. We'll hear from Canadians struggling to make ends meet and ask a food economist what policy tools the federal government has to control grocery costs.

Her mother Mary's death left acclaimed Indian writer, author of The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy feeling "unanchored in space with no coordinates," even though she'd often been a target of Mary's wrath. Roy talks to Matt Galloway about her new memoir, "Mother Mary Comes to Me," revealing their fraught relationship, and how her mother's trailblazing character influenced Roy's writing.

Longtime Nashville Predator Jordin Tootoo is the subject of a new documentary, Tootoo, The film highlights his life in the North, his struggle with substance abuse and how the serenity he felt on the land in Rankin Inlet was matched only by the peace he felt playing hockey.

Doctors are calling a new law passed by the Quebec government draconian and anti-democratic. The bill, which changes how doctors in the province will be compensated, is being defended by Quebec Premier François Legault. The Premier says the changes are going to improve access to healthcare in the province. Doctors in Quebec disagree — and say the new law is only going to make things worse.

He may be known as ‘the little guy from Shawinigan’, but Jean Chrétien’s impact on his hometown has been anything but small. And at 91, the former prime minister seems far from slowing down. In this exclusive documentary from The House, host Catherine Cullen travels to Shawinigan, Quebec to spend the day with the former prime minister. She learns about how the small city shaped his political career, what he’d say if he was in a room with Donald Trump, and his fiery take on Albertans who want to separate from the rest of Canada. Politics these days can seem like one big shouting match. On The House, Catherine Cullen cuts through the noise. Every Saturday she makes politics make sense, taking you to Parliament Hill and across Canada for in-depth interviews, documentaries and analysis of the week’s news. More episodes of The House are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/nLqBQW

We all make a lot of assumptions about food, and healthy eating — including the idea that if you just make different choices, you can avoid obesity, or take the weight off. Turns out it's not so simple. We talk to health journalist Julia Belluz, and research scientist Kevin Hall, co-authors of a new book called Food Intelligence, to dig into the science of what we eat, why we eat it, and how changing our food environment may be the key to a healthier future.

If you love a good scare, perhaps a haunted house is in your Halloween plans — like the ‘Haunted Hike’ in Vegreville, Alberta. It’s a nightmare-fueled experience staged in a building that was originally a creamery. But, this isn't your usual kids haunted house — this one bills itself as Alberta's scariest. So scary that some visitors are peeing their pants! We talk to the owners and creators, Jagger and Dawson Glowatsky about what it takes to create the scariest haunted house of the province.

One victory away from winning the championship. Buck Martinez, Blue Jays announcer and former Jays catcher talks about Game 6 and what the team needs to do to win the World Series. And how Canadian baseball fans are preparing for the big game, including Karla Courtney — who’s been knitting a Blue Jays post-season sweater, but only on game days.

Lecanemab is a new drug that’s being made available in Canada to slow the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease. We speak to Linda McMaster, who is on the waitlist to receive it. And Drs Sandra Cohen and Samir Sinha about the efficacy, cost and reality of how this new drug fits in with the wider Alzheimer’s care environment in Canada today.

The civil war in Sudan has been raging for more than 2 years now and the violence is only escalating. The paramilitary faction called the Rapid Support Forces pushed out the Sudanese army from most of Darfur, and have been accused of ongoing civilian massacres. It has become so bad, the results can be seen from space. Denise Brown is the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan who explains without intervention, the violence will continue unabated.

Canada has held its measles elimination status since 1998 — but medical experts say that could change in the coming weeks. We speak with Dawn Bowdish, an immunologist, and professor of medicine at McMaster University, about what's driving the spread of measles in Canada, what it means for public health, and why she thinks Canada desperately needs a National Vaccination Registry.

A new podcast, Furball Confidential, dives into one of our most intimate relationships — the ones we have with our pets. Veteran podcaster, Jen Moroz, interviews prominent actors, authors, musicians and influencers about living with their beloved animals, and speaks about what those relationships reveal about them and how they made them better humans.