Consider This from NPR

'Tis the season for lists! Best films of the year, best albums, best podcasts. Lists can provoke strong emotions- from spirited debate to outrage - over who or what made the cut or ranked higher. This week, Rolling Stone magazine faced backlash over their list of the 200 greatest singers of all time, which omitted some big names (Celine Dion, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole to name a few) Lists! We...

It's been two years since rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, leaving an indelible mark on American democracy. We speak to NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson and NPR Senior Political Correspondent Domenico Montanaro, about how the events of that day continue to impact the country two years later. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you mak...

The world faces key deadlines for climate action in coming decades. But most of us are more focused on the short term — today, tomorrow, maybe next year. So what do we do about that? NPR's Rebecca Hersher explains why humans have so much trouble prioritizing climate change. And Esme Nicholson reports on climate protesters in Germany who are taking increasingly disruptive steps to demand action. In...

A small group of Republican hardliners set out to block Kevin McCarthy, their party's leader in the House of Representatives, from becoming Speaker. That same faction has taken on GOP leaders before. We speak to Paul Kane, senior Congressional correspondent and columnist for the Washington Post, about the history behind this week's standoff in the House and what it means for Congress. In participa...

High mortgage rates and a low supply of homes for sale has made homeownership feel out of reach for many Americans. And yet it remains an important way for Americans to build wealth. We speak with Chris Herbert, with the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, about how homeownership became such an important part of the American Dream, and about other ways to build wealth. In parti...

Although not widely known, 37-year-old Tobias Jesso Jr.'s name pops up on the credits of some of today's biggest musical hits. He's written for Adele, Harry Styles and FKA twigs among many others. Jesso Jr.'s body of work as a songwriter has earned him a Grammy nomination in the brand-new category Songwriter of the Year. And although he got his start in the music industry as a solo artist, he says...

It's that time of year - the ball has dropped, the champagne bottles are empty and you have a list of resolutions to start living your best life in 2023. There's plenty of expert advice to help us succeed at making a budget or running a 5K. But research and polling show that many people fail to reach their goals. If you routinely give up your resolutions by February, maybe the key to succeeding is...

The United Kingdom is, for many, synonymous with stability. But 2022 has been a year of turbulence and change for the U.K. In one, chaotic four-month stretch, the U.K. went through major transitions involving three prime ministers and two monarchs. We look back at what this turbulence meant for the United Kingdom, and ahead to what new leadership could bring, with NPR's London Correspondent Frank...

Artificial intelligence is now so much a part of our lives that it seems almost mundane. So is that something to be excited about? Or is the world a scarier place because of it? NPR's Bobby Allyn reports on how some new AI advances showcase both the power and the peril of the technology. And NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Brian Christian, author of the book "The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and...

You've heard the saying, 'Blood is thicker than water,' right? Yet for many people, family is not just about blood or DNA — it's about deep connections . For those people, chosen family could be close friends, people who share similar identities, people who went through similar experiences, or something else that forms a bond. We hear stories from people about their chosen families. We also speak...

Rep. Kevin McCarthy is the GOP leader in the House of Representatives and he's campaigning to become Speaker in the next Congress. But a handful of House Republicans say they won't support him. Associated Press' chief congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro talks about McCarthy's strategy. And NPR's Elena Moore reports on what young conservatives want from their party. In participating regions, y...

Malcolm Alexander and Frederick Clay both spent decades in prison for crimes they didn't commit. Both were eventually exonerated and released. Clay has received compensation from the state of Massachusetts, but Alexander is still battling the state of Louisiana in court. We hear from the two men about what it's like to fight for compensation for their wrongful convictions — and why that fight is a...

Even if you don't follow gossip sites, it was almost impossible this year to ignore the scandals, missteps, and legal woes of celebrities. Gossip has been a part of the media landscape almost since the advent of newspapers, gaining popularity throughout the 20th century and expanding across new media platforms. But this year, stories that might have once been relegated to sites like TMZ or Gawker...

Trauma is an inherent part of intelligence work. Think of undercover operatives deployed in dangerous places or investigating gruesome crimes. But getting help to process that trauma can be difficult. We speak with Heather Williams, a former U.S. intelligence officer, about her own experience with trauma and what she learned about how best to cope with it. In participating regions, you'll also hea...

The number of Americans experiencing anxiety has been rising, especially since the start of the pandemic. There also aren't enough providers to meet the need, making it tough to access proper treatment for millions of Americans. NPR's Juana Summers talks to Catherine Ettman, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, about how the pandemic caused anxiety to spike. An...

More and more young people are moving back in with their parents — and staying there. According to Pew Research , from 1971 to 2021, the number of adult Americans living in multigenerational households quadrupled. There are several reasons that many young adults have moved back in with their parents, including: low pay, high housing costs, caring for loved ones – and more recently, the pandemic. N...

The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Biden this year includes incentives for buying an electric vehicle, ideally to persuade people to ditch cars that run on gasoline and switch to EVs. And as interest in electric vehicles grows, so is the demand for lithium - a key component of electric vehicle batteries. One way to get more lithium is to open new mines — which could pose vari...

The House Select Committee investigating the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol held what is expected to be its final hearing. Committee members voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the Justice Department for prosecution on four criminal charges. They include inciting an insurrection, obstructing an official government proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the Uni...

The world of wine has long had a reputation for snobbery. And it has long been dominated mostly by white men. But that has slowly begun to change. From sommeliers to vineyard owners, the industry is gradually opening up to more people of color and women. Vintner's associations and vineyards have rolled out recruitment plans and scholarships to provide opportunities for equity, diversity, and inclu...

Three years into the pandemic, the world could be on the cusp of the biggest outbreak yet — in China. The country had some of the strictest COVID polices anywhere, but in recent weeks has dramatically eased them. And as China has dropped most testing and quarantine requirements, the virus is spreading largely unchecked. How could that impact China and the world? NPR China affairs correspondent Joh...

Deion Sanders' decision to leave Jackson State for the University of Colorado has stirred a lot of debate in the world of college football. LA Times sports culture critic Tyler Tynes explains why some are saying that Sanders is letting down Historically Black Colleges and Universities by leaving Jackson State. And Washington Post sports writer Liz Clarke breaks down how big money swirls around som...

Each mass shooting has a grim number attached to it. But that number is made up of individuals, each of whom had a full life and a family who continues to cope with their absence. Ten years ago, 26 first graders and staff were murdered in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. In this episode, we make space to think of the individuals who died. We spoke with the parents...

Prosecutors say the former CEO of cryptocurrency giant FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, defrauded investors and customers for years, to the tune of billions of dollars. Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday night in the Bahamas, on an extradition request by American authorities. NPR's David Gura unpacks the charges and the ongoing investigation into Bankman-Fried's activities at FTX. And Wall Street Journal re...

In November, Huy Tu found out they were one of 11,000 Meta employees being laid off. Tu is allowed to stay in the U.S. through the OPT program, which requires that they be employed. Since there is only a 90-day grace period for employees who are laid off, Tu is now racing to find a new job. That will be especially difficult because nearly 150,000 tech workers have lost their jobs this year, accord...

If you think about Jack the Ripper or In Cold Blood, true crime stories have always fascinated us. But the groundbreaking success of the 2014 podcast Serial sparked a new interest in these sordid stories. Hundreds of true crime podcasts followed in Serial's footsteps, telling tales of the murdered and the missing and the unresolved. Today true crime podcasts dominate weekly podcast charts. But wha...