Americans under 30 are ‘under profound strain’ and deeply mistrust institutions, poll finds

Listen, I’m just relieved Gen X and Millennials won’t spend our lives at the bottom of the heap after all. What has you under strain? I actually shouldn’t say publicly at the moment, so I’m just here to listen

Study Reveals the Overlooked Mental Health Challenges Faced by New Parents

It turns out being personally responsible for keeping another human being alive can be challenging. Also, they don’t stop screaming for about three years. Imagine that causing some stress. Shocking

More Stories Below, but first some new content in the News Sidequest Podcast Universe…

Auditory Anthology

SCI-FI SHORT STORIES - NARRATED BY DARREN MARLAR & PRODUCED BY KEITH CONRAD

Flowering Evil by Margaret St. Clair - A lonely aunt’s pride in her exotic, gift-giving nephew turns to dread when his latest botanical offering—the Venusian “Rambler”—proves to be a massive, blood-sucking, mind-controlling carnivorous plant that begins feeding on local animals until it finally sets its sights on her.

Flowering Evil by Margaret St. Clair Keith Conrad / Darren Marlar Episode

Listen on Apple | Listen on Spotify | Listen on Amazon | RSS Feed

Become a paid subscriber to listen to all of our episodes completely ad-free! You’ll also get access to a deeper dive on the stories we share and the authors!

Also Worth A Look…

• Is brain rot real? Researchers warn of emerging risks tied to short-form video - As is the case with most things, I think it depends on how you use it. If it’s your only source for information and entertainment, you’re probably going to end up like that guy in Idiocracy watching “Ow! My Balls!” for days on end

• Americans Gave $4B on GivingTuesday 2025 as Donations and Volunteering Gain Big over Last Year - Well done, folks

• Scientist hails ‘incredible find’ as mysterious tentacles wash up on Scottish beach - Who had “Mysterious Tentacles” on their Bingo card for December?

• Scientists Are Trying to Fix the Worst Sound in the World: the Dentist’s Drill - This seems like a good time to humble brag that I’m 43 years old and have never had a cavity. And yet I still have to deal with lectures from dentists about flossing more

• Columbia’s CEO to Flat Earthers: “Find the edge, and I’ll hand you the keys!” - I think we need a reality show where Flat Earth search for the edge. I’d actually watch that

• Murder Suspect Attempts to Explain His Search History - “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’m just a simple country lawyer. Who amongst us hasn’t searched ‘How to saw a body’?”

• Human washing machine can wash and dry you for only £300,000 - Just in case you feel like showering is too much work and you need to save all of that time

• Trump wax statue gets pulled from Texas museum after too many people punched it - The wax dummy is going to need Secret Service protection

• These Frogs Don’t Just Survive Venomous Murder Hornets—They Devour Them - All glory to the Hypnotoad

• Jan. 6 pipe bomb suspect arrested, faces explosives charges, Trump DOJ says - I mention this only to point out that it isn’t the person a certain political talking head claimed on their show. Apparently you can’t actually tell anything from “gait analysis.” Where does that person go to get their reputation back?