Even when an animal is not a pest, not chewing up homes or spreading disease or biting average citizens, even when it is universally loved, it can still wreak havoc when it arrives in our world. James Spring has this example from a community of harbor seals in La Jolla, California, near San Diego.

There are young single men and women at the camps, and there’s some flirting for sure. But usually it doesn’t seem to go very far.

We go to Lynnwood, Washington to retrace the steps of a rape investigation gone undeniably wrong. Producer Robyn Semien and investigative reporter Ken Armstrong of the Marshall Project tell the story.

Terriers have been bred for hundreds of years to kill rats. Ray Ray is a terrier, but he lives in a comfy apartment in New York City.

Kids are everywhere in the camps, they’re a third of the refugees. You see them around, improvising stuff to play with.

In this election year we look at the story of one small ballot initiative, in one state. We heard this referendum would gut Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), an independent organization that investigates ethics complaints about judges.

As a California game warden Terry Grosz went to great lengths — and some depths — to stop illegal fishing. Terry also tells this story in his book Wildlife Wars.

Most stories of customer satisfaction are told by the customers. In this act, we ask: is the product satisfied by life with you? We get answers, from a product itself. Simon Rich reads his short story, “Unprotected.” Please note: this story does vaguely acknowledge the existence of sex.

After Huma Abedin’s emails were discovered on her husband’s computer by the FBI, and after FBI Director James Comey publicly declared the agency would be investigating those emails, Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers dropped. What was the conversation Huma Abedin then had with her boss, Hillary Clinton? Actors Tami Sagher and Cady Huffman tried to imagine it.

Wendy Whelan was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet until 2014. She explains an undesirable side of having an incredible talent.

Doug Deason is a political donor trying to make the biggest decision people like him make every four years – which presidential candidate to back. Producer Zoe Chace follows Deason through the unpredictable primaries of the 2016 election.

The story from the prologue continues, with the researchers re-doing the canvassing experiment. And the results are even more surprising this time around.

One way to understand the split inside the Republican party is to look at immigration. It’s this urgent, emotional issue for so much of the party these days.

A staffer at St Joseph Medical Center in Houston finds a patient shot on the floor of his room. He is unarmed, and has been shot by the cops in the hospital.

French comedian Gad Elmaleh is known as the Jerry Seinfeld of France. He sells out arenas.

Host Ira Glass interviews Lindy West about her experience “coming out” as fat.

Host Chana Joffe-Walt worries she’ll have regrets in 20 years. So she finds someone 20 years older than she is to gauge how bad it gets.

Comedian Mike Birbiglia, his wife and his cat take a trip together and meet some parasitic zombie mice.

Ira talks to Rachel Rosenthal, who spent years trying to figure out who had stolen her identity. She was closing bank account after bank account, getting more and more paranoid, until she realized she knew exactly who the thief was.

Producer Dana Chivvis explores the case of a 66-year-old working lifeguard who is suing New York State for age discrimination after refusing to wear a Speedo on the job.

Producer Neil Drumming conducts an experiment to find out: can two adults, both new in town, become friends, with the right help? (16 minutes)

In this act, writer Michael Kinsley describes harnessing the power of his own mind to deal with his Parkinson's diagnosis. Michael Kinsley is a contributing columnist for Vanity Fair and the Washington Post.

Ira’s conversation with Rachel Rosenthal continues. She tells the story of why it took her so long to break up with her boyfriend, even after she figured out that he had stolen from her.

Ira talks to Biba Struja – a Serbian man who says that when he was in high school, he discovered that he seemed to have a high resistance to electricity. It’s a power that he’s utilized, but is mostly a curse.