The writer Tom Junod has spent a career crafting profiles for men’s magazines like GQ and Esquire, often of famously complicated men like Norman Mailer, Kevin Spacey and Tony Curtis. But another man loomed behind Junod’s interest in these figures, informing his own sense of masculinity and manhood: his father, Lou. Lou Junod was handsome, charismatic — a man who seemed like a celebrity, even though he wasn’t famous. He was also mysterious, a keeper of secrets that have continued to reverberate through his son’s life. On today’s episode, Michael Barbaro talks with Junod about his new book, “In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man,” which is part memoir and part detective story, as well as a powerful meditation on fatherhood.

The writer and actor, known for his profane comedic antiheroes, likes to find universal truths in human flaws.

After three months of war, Iran and the United States have agreed to end the conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The news, which was first met with joy and relief, drew a wave of criticism when the actual terms of the agreement became public this week. David Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times, explains how the Trump administration has defended the deal, which seems to favor Iran.

Warning: This episode discusses suicide. Hours after Jeffrey Epstein arrived at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, an employee expressed concern over his distraught state, saying in an email to the jail staff, “just to be on the safe side and prevent any suicidal thoughts can someone from Psychology come and talk with him.” The reporter Charles Homans details The New York Times’s major new investigation, which tries to answer the question: Did the world’s most powerful and well-connected sex offender die by his own hand or by somebody else’s? If you are having thoughts of suicide, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources.

With the school year ending, all over the country educators and parents are taking stock of the drastic shift caused by artificial intelligence in the classroom. Today, Natasha Singer, a technology reporter, discusses the year that reshaped American classrooms and how one dedicated teacher helped his students chart their own path into an uncertain future.

Almost 50 years ago, Steven Spielberg directed “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the story of an average man who discovers that humanity may not be alone in the universe. Over the decades, Spielberg has directed several movies about what would happen if humanity made contact with aliens. Would the aliens be kind like the title character in “E.T. the Extra Terrestrial”? Would they be cruel like the murderous aliens of “War of the Worlds”? And regardless of what the aliens were like, would we humans be ready to receive them? Spielberg returns to the question of whether we’re alone in the universe, and what it might mean if we’re not, with his new film “Disclosure Day.” Today, he sits down with Rachel Abrams, a host of “The Daily,” to talk about the film, and about what he has learned over five decades of making movies about aliens.

The actor-writer-director-producer on successful relationships (platonic and romantic), Hollywood’s volatility and his role in normalizing weed.

The 2026 World Cup is about to descend on North America — spread across three countries, with 48 teams, and 104 games, and with billions of fans across the globe tuning in to watch the biggest sporting event on the planet. Today, Tariq Panja, global soccer correspondent for The New York Times, breaks down everything you need to know about this year’s tournament — the arrival of historic first-timers, like Curaçao, the aging legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who are making their final appearances, and the eye-watering ticket prices that are driving fans to financial extremes just to book a seat.

Olivia Rodrigo sat down with Joe and Jon for her first in-depth conversation about her new album, “you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love,” out June 12. She discussed the many ways her creative process intersects with the extracurricular noise of pop superstardom, whether its managing relationship drama, being targeted for the way she dresses; accusations of pilfering songwriting gestures from Taylor Swift, her onetime idol, or her willingness to speak up about political and social causes in a way many of her peers won’t.

Andy Isaacson is a writer and photographer. His work for The Times has taken him to every corner of the world, and he has transmitted what he’s experienced through his images. But recently, Isaacson took a trip unlike any he’d taken before. Not because of where he traveled, but because of how he traveled. Paired with a set of unlikely travel companions, he put down his camera and experienced the word through touch, smell and sound. On today’s episode of “The Sunday Daily,” Isaacson talks with Host Michael Barbaro about a trip that forever changed the way he travels.