Science In Action - Wildfires and winds in California

The Santa Ana in the south, and the Diablo in the north, are winds that are fuelling the terrible fires raging in California this week. They’re also blamed for bringing down power lines that sometimes start the fires. Roland Pease talks to Janice Coen of the National Center for Atmospheric Research NCAR who has been developing a highly detailed model to forecast how wind, mountains, and flames interact during a wildfire.

The glaring gaps in human genetics are in Africa – much overlooked because the companies and universities sequencing DNA are mostly based in Europe, the US and other advanced economies. A ten-year attempt to fill in some of those gaps came to fruition this week, with the release of a study covering thousands of individuals from rural Uganda. Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University London, explains the data reveal both new medical stories, and the scale of past migration within Africa.

There are also gaps in the climate record from Africa. Knowing past climates could help massively in understanding the prospects for climate change in coming years on the continent. Journalist Linda Nordling has just published an article in Nature that shows that the records exist – old weather data collected since the 19th Century. It’s just they’re scattered, unexamined, in vaults and collections across Africa.

Adam McKay of Nasa and Alan Fitzsimmons of Queens University Belfast talk to Roland Pease about the latest observations of the interstellar interloper Comet Borisov. (Photo: A firefighter sets a back fire along a hillside during operations to battle the Kincade fire in Healdsburg, California. Credit: Philip Pacheco/AFP/Getty Images)

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Deborah Cohen

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - Where Have Chicago’s Manufacturing Jobs Gone? And This Week’s What’s That Building

Manufacturing on Chicago’s South and West Sides kept whole communities squarely in the middle class. But when those jobs left in the 1960’s and 70’s, there was no plan to re-invigorate the neighborhoods or retrain the people. Those areas of the city are still feeling the effects of the economic shift. We take a deep dive with 4 WBEZ reporters who’ve been telling the story of Chicago’s manufacturing losses.

Plus Dennis Rodkin brings us the history of the ornate Murphy Auditorium just off the Magnificent Mile on E. Erie.

Bay Curious - Secret Tunnels Under San Francisco?

San Francisco is 49 square miles, but contains more than 1,000 miles of sewer mains, running under every block. Take a trip with Bay Curious reporter Carly Severn into the depths of the city, and discover an otherworldly cave that has reached legendary status with some urban explorers.

VIDEO: Take A Trip Into San Francisco's Sewer System

Web story: Tunnels Under San Francisco? Inside the Dark, Dangerous World of the Sewers


Reported by Carly Severn. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Jessica Placzek, Suzie Racho and Rob Speight. Additional support from Julie Caine, Paul Lancour, Patricia Yollin, Vinnee Tong and Ethan Lindsey.

The Intelligence from The Economist - Iraq in a hard place: deadly protests continue

Demonstrations have been growing for a month and show no signs of abating. But would the reforms that the protesters are demanding actually work? We examine a pioneering bit of Lithuanian software that excels at fake-news detection. And why Germans are resistant to calls for speed limits on the Autobahn

For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/radiooffer

The Best One Yet - Twitter bans political ads, Mirror raises $34M, and Fiat Chrysler & Peugeut are mega-merging

Jack Dorsey just took a jab at Mark Zuckerberg by banning political ads from Twitter, via tweet. Peloton rival Mirror snagged $34M in fresh funding from Lululemon, Karlie Kloss, and Steve Cohen’s hedge fund, so we’re looking at who could buy them. And Fiat Chrysler and Peugeut are planning to merge to create Earth’s 4th biggest car company, because merged car companies live longer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Partisan Gerrymandering Is Over in North Carolina

State court rulings have ended partisan gerrymandering in North Carolina on both the state and congressional levels. The rulings could lead the way for progressive activists who’ve been shut out at the Supreme Court.

This episode is a part of Slate’s Who Counts? initiative. In the run-up to the 2020 election, Slate will be investigating who counts in the voting booth, who counts as an American, whose money counts in the democratic process, and whose doesn’t. And we need your help. Your support will let us assign more stories, travel to overlooked places, commission special podcast projects, and pay for reporting we otherwise would not be able to do. To learn more about this project and how to support our work, please go to slate.com/whocounts.

Guest: Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern  

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What A Day - Morrison Talks and Deadspin Walks

  • Big impeachment updates: Alexander Vindman tells Congress that the White House hid details of Trump’s perfect call, and we tell you what’s to come in must-see T (T is testimonies). 
  • Deadspin writers resign en masse following a letter from their corporate owners telling them to “stick to sports." 
  • And in headlines: Epstein plot thickens, Kamala downsizes, and Obama doesn’t want you fighting in his menchies.

Short Wave - The Zombies That Walk Among Us

The idea of human zombies probably seems pretty far-fetched. But there are real zombies out there in the animal kingdom. Ed Yong of The Atlantic creeps us out with a couple of examples. Hint: they involve fungus. Follow Maddie on Twitter - she's @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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