An 8-year-old from Minneapolis recently pointed out a big problem with NPR’s oldest news show, All Things Considered. Leo Shidla wrote to his local NPR station: My name is Leo and I am 8 years old. I listen to All Things Considered in the car with mom. I listen a lot. I never hear much about nature or dinosaurs or things…
Tag: NPR
Another terrible year for wildfires and smoke in the US in 2020
Wildfires burned more than 10 million acres in the United States during the 2020 season. It was the worst season on record. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/us-2020-wildfire-season-record-bad…
Why Scientists Are Very Worried About the Variant From Brazil
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: New coronavirus variants seem to be cropping up everywhere. There’s one from the U.K., which is more contagious and already circulating in the United States. There’s one from South Africa, which is forcing Moderna and Pfizer to reformulate their COVID-19 vaccines and create “booster” shots, just to make sure the vaccines maintain their…
Party Like It’s 1925 On Public Domain Day
Neda Ulaby, writing for NPR: What a year it was for Anglo-American literature and the arts! 1925 was the year of heralded novels by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Virginia Woolf, seminal works by Sinclair Lewis, Franz Kafka, Gertrude Stein, Agatha Christie, Theodore Dreiser, Edith Wharton, Aldous Huxley … and a banner year for musicians, too. Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, the Gershwins,…
Samples from Ryugu Asteroid Revealed After Delivery to Earth
Mashable reports: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency showed off a collection of samples from the asteroid Ryugu on Thursday following the return of the Hayabusa2 probe. The black, gravelly samples from Ryugu contain a whole bunch of small chips collected from the asteroid’s subsurface… Normally, space rocks like these are collected after they enter Earth’s atmosphere at surface-scorching speeds. These samples…
How Astronauts on The ISS Got a Visit from Santa
Since 1955 the U.S./Canadian operation that monitors North American airspace with radars and satellite to maintain air sovereignty has also, at Christmas time, been tracking Santa. And this year their trackers received additional support from the U.S. Space Command, a joint-military command drawing its units from five military service branches (including the U.S. Space Force). That command “launched a new reindeer…
Russia Lawmakers Pass Bills That Could Block Social Media Sites
Russian lawmakers have approved a range of new measures that could further stifle dissent and allow tighter restrictions on online content — including blocking websites like YouTube and Twitter. NPR reports: One bill would allow for the blocking of foreign websites that it says “discriminate” against Russian media. A second law would allow it to levy large fines against companies that…
MIT Electrical Engineer Selected For US Senate
oort99 writes: MIT Electrical Engineering graduate and California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has been selected by California governor Gavin Newsom to replace Kamala Harris. He will join Steve Daines and Martin Heinrich as one of three U.S. Senators with engineering credentials currently serving in the Senate. “Padilla, 47, the son of Mexican immigrants, will be the first Latino from the…
More Than 70 West Point Cadets Accused Of Cheating In Academic Scandal
Seventy-three suspected cheaters, one critical mistake. Dozens of cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were caught cheating on a calculus final exam in May after they all made the same errors on the test, according to officials. From a report: Instructors at the Army’s premier training ground for officers revealed the academic scandal on Monday, saying it’s the…
Is Warner Bros’ Shift To Streaming New Movies ‘A Great Danger’?
Christopher Nolan isn’t too happy with Warner Bros’ decision to send all 17 of its films slated for release in 2021 to HBO Max on the same day they’re released. Nolan, whose blockbuster movies for Warner Bros have made billions, called HBO Max “the worst streaming service,” adding that this shift in Hollywood is “a sign of great danger for the…