Show Notes
This week it’s just Jamie Reed — this weekend is the Endocrine Society’s annual conference in Chicago, so Headlines and the usual roundtable are off, and we’ll be back at full strength next week. In the meantime, you can stay current with our weekly news: every week the LGB Courage Coalition publishes a roundup of the stories that matter in gender medicine, science, and policy — the headlines you won’t see covered honestly anywhere else. Subscribe on our Substack so you never miss it. For this episode, Jamie sits down with Arthur Caplan, PhD, one of the most influential figures in American bioethics. Dr. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine. Before NYU, he created the Center for Bioethics and the Department of Medical Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, and founded the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Minnesota. He is the author or editor of thirty-five books and over 890 peer-reviewed papers, and has chaired or served on national and international committees spanning the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the National Institutes of Mental Health panel on human experimentation on vulnerable subjects, and the FDA’s Reagan/Udall Foundation. Since 2015 he has co-chaired the Compassionate Use Advisory Committee advising Janssen Pharmaceuticals. He has been named one of the most influential people in American health care, science, and biotechnology by outlets including Discover, Modern Healthcare, and Scientific American. Jamie and Dr. Caplan discuss the foundational frameworks of bioethics — where they came from, why they exist, and how they apply to medicine today. About our guest: Arthur Caplan, PhD, is the Mitty Professor of Bioethics and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU School of Medicine. He holds eight honorary degrees and received the National Science Foundation’s Public Service Award for contributions to public understanding of science.
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Independent journalist Andy Ngo joins Jamie Reed, and Cori Cohn to discuss his new book, The Zizians: Inside a Trans Death Cult (Center Street, October 13, 2026). Ngo traces how Jack LaSota, known as “Ziz,” went from a promising engineering career to the Bay Area rationalist scene, and built a group blending rationalism, radical veganism, and trans grievance politics that is now linked to at least eight deaths. We talk about the cult’s recruitment, the families left behind, why Ngo uses legal names and sex-based pronouns throughout, and why no Zizian in custody has yet been convicted. Get the book: Hardcover, ebook, and audiobook here. Follow Andy: Ngo Comment on Substack here. Informed Dissent is produced by the LGB Courage Coalition, a registered US nonprofit fully funded by small donations.
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Simon LeVay is a British-born neuroscientist who has served on the faculties of Harvard Medical School and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. He achieved international fame with a 1991 Science paper that reported on a difference in the structure of the hypothalamus between gay and straight men, a study that helped trigger an avalanche of new biological research into sexual orientation. Since retiring from laboratory science, LeVay has authored or co-authored 12 books, including Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why, the textbook Discovering Human Sexuality, and the historical novel The Donation of Constantine. His earlier books include The Sexual Brain and Queer Science: The Use and Abuse of Research Into Homosexuality (MIT Press, 1996). He has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. April 13 Provost’s Lecture with Simon LeVay - SBU News +3 Referenced in this episode * Simon LeVay, Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation (2011) * Simon LeVay, The Sexual Brain (1993) * “Gay scientist draws criticism over remarks on trans kids,” Bay Area Reporter (2016): https://www.ebar.com/story/246901/redirect