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If you're unfamiliar with the science around "mirror life", well, welcome to the club. But this somewhat obscure field of research is coming under new scrutiny. Because a new study says that "mirror microbes" could actually be an existential threat to life on Earth. Host Carol Hills speaks with Vaughn Cooper, an evolutionary microbiologist at the University of Pittsburgh.

Amrith Saligrama spent the early days of the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in his Massachusetts town going on long walks with his grandfather until the lack of public restrooms on their route became a problem. Saligrama tried to make restrooms easier to locate, but he hit a bureaucratic wall. Ultimately, one of his grandfather's proverbs inspired him to try a different approach. This story comes to us fr...

International college students — and their schools in the US — are bracing for President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. College administrators insist foreign students are welcome on campus. But as GBH's Kirk Carapezza reports from Boston, that message doesn't always match the student experience.

The lithium mining boom in Nigeria is powered partly by children. Host Carol Hills speaks with The Associated Press reporter Taiwo Adebayo who recently traveled into a remote part of Nigeria to follow and interview miners operating illegal mines, where children work long hours at unsafe sites, crushing or sorting rocks, carrying heavy loads of ore, and exposing themselves to toxic dust that can ca...

The art of sake brewing has a 1,300-year-old history that represents more than just a drink — it’s a symbol of Japanese culture, craftsmanship and community. Earlier this month, UNESCO's advisory panel added sake brewing techniques to its list of intangible cultural heritage. Rebecca Rosman reports from Fukushima prefecture in Japan.

The Assad regime is over. But the work Syria needs to do to rebuild from years of war and destruction will cost billions of dollars. The World's Omar Duwaji discusses the likelihood of sanctions lifting, the current impact of sanctions on everyday life in Syria, and what needs to happen for Syrians to regain access to crucial goods and services.

You’ve probably seen those warnings about online romance scams and can’t-lose-investment schemes. Well, these days a lot of those hustles are coming out of Southeast Asia. And some of them are being committed by people who are forced to scam at gunpoint. Dina Temple-Raston from the "Click Here" podcast has the story of one man who was captured and forced into the business.

In the Mediterranean Sea, a German sailboat rescued a girl they found floating in the sea, the sole survivor of a migrant shipwreck. The 11-year-old girl is from Sierra Leone. Host Carol Hills has more.

In northern Tunisia, along the coast, farmers have been practicing a unique form of agriculture that goes back to the 17th century. It is called Ramli, where crops grow on sandy substrates in the lagoons by the sea. Because of climate change and urbanization, this unique form of agriculture is now threatened. Lilia Blaise reports from the small beach town of Ghal El Mellah.

Tinariwen is a Tuareg music collective from the Sahara Desert that fuses American blues with Tuareg and African folk styles. Their new album, "Idrache (Traces of the Past)" came out last month. Carol Hills has the story.

While most of Syria has fallen to the rebels, a triangle-shaped territory in the northeast corner of Syria is controlled by a Kurdish group called the Syrian Democratic Forces. Now, they're being targeted by rebel factions. Carol Hills speaks with Wladimir Van Wilgenburg, who has worked on two books about the Syrian Kurds and is based in Erbil, a Kurdish area in northern Iraq.

On Thursday, South Korea's embattled President Yoon Suk-sol vowed to fight on until "the very last minute" as members of his own party seem poised to side with the opposition in a second impeachment vote this weekend. Yoon justified his declaration of martial law last week as defending South Korea's democracy against "legislative tyranny." Carol Hills gets the latest from Washington Post reporter...

Governments across Europe have paused asylum applications from Syrians following the fall of President Bashar Al Assad. Germany, which is home to close to a million Syrian refugees, announced this week that it is freezing its asylum application system because the situation in Syria is so unclear. The Austrian government said it is planning a deportation program for Syrians living in the country. T...

Kenya’s Ruth Chepng'etich won the Chicago Marathon in October in the fastest time ever recorded for the distance. She crossed the finish line in just 2 hours, 9 minutes and 56 seconds. That’s faster than 5 minutes per mile. The win was so extraordinary that it had some people questioning whether it was valid. Now, the results are in and Chepng'etich’s world record is finally official. The World's...

Sometimes it feels like we’re all getting dumber. A new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) sheds light on the matter. It found reading and math scores for adults in most of the world’s high-income countries have declined during the past decade. One of the study’s authors, the OECD’s Glenda Quintini, talks with The World’s Host Carolyn Beeler about the fin...

Nuclear waste from fuel production is tricky. If mishandled, it can irradiate large areas and drinking water — and linger for decades. Canada has recently come to an agreement to bury nuclear waste deep under the ground near the remote town of Ignace. Edwin Lyman is the director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, who explains how the disposal process ideally works and wh...

The Arctic tundra is now releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than it stores. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Twila Moon, deputy director of science at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. She is the lead editor of this year's Arctic Report Card, released yesterday, which shows how rising temperatures are forcing the Arctic's plants, wildlife and the people that depend on them to ra...

The automobile industry in Japan is bracing for a big change as consumers turn towards electric vehicles, which require fewer and different parts. So, many parts manufacturers in the Shizuoka prefecture in Japan are needing to pivot to other industries. Hannah Kirshner reports on one surprising shift: A factory that used to manufacture automotive light bulbs was turned into a fancy mushroom farm.

Nigel Richards is a professional Scrabble player from New Zealand who won this year's Spanish-language Scrabble world championship despite two obvious handicaps: It was the first time he'd entered the tournament and, more importantly, he doesn't speak Spanish. Richards is a global phenom and has also won the French-language Scrabble world championship twice in recent years despite not knowing Fren...

After decades of refusing to allow a movie version of his most famous novel, the two sons of Gabriel García Márquez have sold the rights to Netflix. The series begins today. "One Hundred Years of Solitude" is an upcoming Colombian magical realism television series based on the 1967 novel of the same name. The World's Sarah Birnbaum reports.

Syrians waited in long queues at border gates in southern Turkey this week, preparing to return to the country. With a dictator gone and loved ones newly released from prison, many Syrians who have lived in Turkey for years are eager to return. Others say an evolving security situation and financial concerns are giving them pause. The World's Durrie Bouscaren reports.

As many Syrians rejoice at the downfall of the former dictatorship in their country, they also face immediate challenges. Israel has been conducting numerous strikes on targets across Syria, many of which have reportedly destroyed chemical weapons stores belonging to the former Assad regime. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks with Natasha Hall, a senior fellow at the Center for International and Strategic...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand today in his long-running corruption trial. He faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and taking bribes — all of which he denies. Host Carolyn Beeler has the details.

The universe's rate of expansion is 8% faster than all theories on the subject suggest. That's been confirmed by data from the James Webb Space Telescope in a paper published this week. The paper corroborates previous data from the Hubble Space Telescope. Host Carolyn Beeler explains the details.

In the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, the Israeli government canceled tens of thousands of Palestinian work permits, leaving many important sectors — agriculture and construction in particular — understaffed. Meanwhile, youth unemployment in India has people there looking for jobs outside their own country. That's created a new labor migration pipeline from India to Israel. Sushmita...