Podcast
Smart Girl Dumb Questions
Hosted by Nayeema Raza · EN
It's a curiosity party, and you're invited. On Smart Girl Dumb Questions, Nayeema Raza asks simple Qs to big thinkers (like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Diplo, or two 11 year olds), trying to make sense of life.
Send us your dumb Qs: nayeema.raza101@gmail.com
63episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Another Iran War? with Professor Vali Nasr (Hot War Summer 2025 Remix)
Mar 200:46:03Summary readyWho picks Iran’s Ayatollah? What are the Israelis and Americans up to? How did we get here? AND: WILL IT EVER END? Today’s SGDQ bonus drop is an IRAN 101 cutdown of a Summer 2025 conversation Nayeema had with Dr. Vali Nasr, a John Hopkins SAIS professor, Middle East expert and author of Iran’s Grand Strategy. IMPORTANTLY: The original conversation (available in the show feed) was taped in June 2025, on the heels of the Twelve Day War. We hope this version provides context and perspective to ground your curiosity. It's an escape from the doomscrolling and a supplement (not substitute) for the news. A lot has happened in the last 8-ish months so Nayeema recommends checking out Professor Nasr's most recent writings and interviews to track the evolution of the situation in Iran and his own perspective. You can find Dr. Nasr on X @vali_nasr. Follow Nayeema on IG or X too – and you can find the show on IG, TikTok & YouTube @smartgirldumbquestions. Slide into our DMs, call us at 1-855-MYDUMBQ or send your dumbest questions to nayeemaraza101@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Is It Time for An AI Boyfriend?
Feb 2701:02:36Summary readyIs it time to date ChatDaddy? Today we're playing you a debate Nayeema hosted at New York's Comedy Cellar for a show we love: Open to Debate. Nayeema moderates an academic, fun and relevant showdown between Dr. Thao Ha of University of Arizona's HEART Lab, and Dr. Justin Garcia of the Kinsey Institute around this question: Could dating an AI be better than dating a human? Be sure to get more Open to Debate on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or Substack. They share SGDQ's values of curiosity and openness and have thought-provoking debates on topics ranging from the war on drugs to US China policy and whether we should eat anything with a face. You can also get more of Justin in the SGDQ episode Are We Really Having Less Sex in the feed below or in his **newly released** book: The Intimate Animal. And in the interest of equal time and because she rocks, we'll need to have Thao Ha on soon too! Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
6 7, Ragebait, Chud - what do they even Mean? Algospeak w an Etymology Nerd
Feb 1701:20:47Summary readyIs our language becoming unrecognizable and is that the internet’s fault? Nayeema sits down with Adam Aleksic (aka Etymology Nerd), a linguistics nerd and author of Algospeak — to decode how social media is rewiring the words we use, the way we say them, and what counts as “normal” language now. They get into euphemisms, censorship, why some words go viral, why “woke” became a culture-war grenade, and what happens when the dictionary can’t keep up. Link to Yuval's speech at Davos: HERE Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Or, you know, call Congress at (202) 224-3121. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Does Marriage Kill Love? with a Million Dollar Divorce Attorney
Feb 1001:28:25Summary readyHe’s watched thousands of marriages fail — so what did he learn about love? And from mandatory prenups to a newlyweds permit, how would he redesign the process? Nayeema sits down with the legendary NYC divorce attorney James Sexton, Esquire — a courtroom “pistol” who’s handled thousands of cases, got an epic education in human relationships in the process and even written a book about how to not f* up your marriage.. Nayeema and Jim discuss: why does marriage even exist? Is it a buzzkill for romance? Is there ever a such thing as a no fault divorce? What makes someone good at breaking up and, with 50% plus marriages ending this way, should you actually marry someone you can divorce? Why does the wedding industrial complex market marriage like a romcom — at the climax — when the real story starts after the credits? … Also: tips for dating a divorcee? We’ll have a part two focused on love and money so send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS, MOM OR LOCAL LAWMAKER. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Calling Congress … Does It Work? with Rep. Melanie Stansbury
Jan 2901:14:58Summary readyAfter ICE officers shipped 5 year old Liam Ramos to a detention facility and federal agents shot and killed 37 year old ICU Nurse Alex Pretti, Nayeema called her congressperson for the first time. Turns out, it can make a dent. If you’d like to slide into those EMs, here are deets for House and Senate. Your Senator votes this week on funding for ICE and Homeland Security. So what happens when you email or vmail? Is it more impactful than posting on Insta? And, um, does Congress even matter these days? U.S. Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury (D–NM) joins Nayeema to answer all these Qs. Plus: gym gossip, the DOGE subcommittee, the Epstein-files vote, and — yes — astrology as a path to bipartisanship. Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Or, you know, call Congress at (202) 224-3121. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS, MOM OR LOCAL LAWMAKER. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
How Can I Get Rid of Stress? with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar
Jan 2701:02:23Summary readyDo you think your phone is breaking your brain? Is the stress of this news cycle rewiring our physiology? And why do we feel so behind our Jan 1 resolutions … only 3 weeks in? Nayeema asks the Qs we all have to stress expert Dr. Aditi Nerurkar — a physician on faculty at Harvard Medical School and the author of the book: The Five Resets. They get into the science of neuroplasticity (yes, your brain is changing every day), why your brain needs time to build new circuits, and why multitasking is basically “task-switching” in a trench coat — weakening attention, memory, and cognition. Plus: the case for 10-second breaks, an explanation of “revenge bedtime procrastination”and why stress can turn into emotional eating (hi, amygdala). Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS/MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Why Do Venezuelans Want This?
Jan 1901:00:41Summary readyThe US is making unwanted moves on Denmark and toying with the idea of intervening in Iran — but one country where the administration waltzed in and was welcomed? Venezuela. So … what’s up with that? Nayeema talks to 3 millennial Venezuelans to make sense of this moment — journalist Mariana Atencio, comedian/writer Joanna Hausmann, and comedian/actor Francisco Ramos. It’s an exploration. of nuance in the form of a dumb question dinner party (minus the dinner). You can follow our guests on Instagram and TikTok @marianaatencio @johaus @framoscomedy Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS/MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Can He Make America Healthy (and Trusting) Again? with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya
Jan 1301:16:41Summary readyWhether it’s the MAHA movement or COVID-19 management, can we trust American public health? Nayeema talks to NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya. He was appointed by President Trump last year, but originally came to fame in late 2020 as a Stanford Medical School Professor who challenged pandemic-era lockdowns. On the agenda: Why does the USA spend more for worse healthcare outcomes? Is Ozempic our magic bullet? With China moving so fast in biomedicine, will we rather go to Beijing or Boston for healthcare in 2050? What’s up with these changes to the childhood vaccine schedule? And what does the Director make of a White House that memes healthcare or proposes 40% cuts to his budget? Finally: by the time we’re old, can we forget that HIV or Alzheimer's ever existed? To read more about the vaccine changes you can read the HHS report or reporting from WSJ or NYT. To learn more about the NIH visit nih.gov Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS/MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
Will The Market Crash in 2026? with Andrew Ross Sorkin
Jan 601:21:32Summary readyCould Andrew Ross Sorkin outperform Nancy Pelosi’s stock performance? The 2026 market is booming, but economic vibes are no bueno. Are we headed for a 1930s Great Depression … a 2008 Great Recession or a 2000 Crash? That’s the big Q for Andrew Ross Sorkin, the journalist behind New York Times DealBook and CNBC’s Squawk Box and co-creator of Showtime’s Billions. He’s out with a hot new book 1929 that makes sense of what precipitated the greatest tumult the American economy has ever seen. Nayeema asks Sorkin - is 2026 another 1929? Is our Roaring 20s — rockets to Mars instead of towers to the sky? Why does money feel like our new religion? Are we in an AI bubble, a crypto hype dream, or “mark-to-make-believe” froth? And if a crisis hits, can we just print our way out… or does U.S. debt finally become the wild card that breaks the spell? Want to be on SGDQ? Send us your “dumb questions” on IG/TikTok @smartgirldumbquestions or by calling 1-855-MyDumbQ. Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. And obvi: SHARE THE SHOW WITH YOUR FRIENDS/MOM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary
More Mark Cuban: Can Billionaires (Still) Save Us?
Dec 2301:19:04Summary ready9 months ago we launched SGDQ with Mark Cuban and in this extended re-air of that episode Nayeema asks: Can billionaires (still) save us? And what happens on their group chat? It’s a pressing question in the midst of our A.I. series as the world’s wealth — and power — seems to be getting even more concentrated, and candidates like Zohran Mamdani are willing big on an affordability agenda that focuses on the, um, not billionaires. So is America’s love/hate relationship with the ultra-rich justified? If capitalism broke health care, can capitalism fix it? Why does buying life-saving medicine feel like getting mugged at CVS? And what actually changes when you go from your first million… to your first billion? And does Mark Cuban believe in UBI?Make sure you’re following Nayeema and the show on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Summary