More or Less: Behind the Stats - Tracking Covid 19

This year has shown us the importance of good robust data - as Covid-19 spread around the world it was vital to track where it was, how many people it was infecting and where it might go next. On More or Less we?ve spent months reporting on data inaccuracies and vacuums, but what makes for good or indeed bad data? I?ve been speaking to Amy Maxmen, Senior reporter at the scientific journal ?Nature? about which countries are getting data collection right and which aren?t.

Everything Everywhere Daily - The House of David

What do you get when you take one part religious cult and one part Harlem Globetrotters and one part Troy Polamalu’s hair and put them all together? You wind up with the House of David Baseball Team. One of the most popular baseball barnstorming acts of the early 20th Century. Learn more about the House of David, both the religion and the team, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Byzantium And The Crusades - The Decline of the Crusaders Episode 9 “The Growing Empire of Saladin”

In this episode, we hear how Saladin continued to build his empire by taking Aleppo in 1183, which he added to his control of Damascus, so that he ruled a state stretching from Egypt to the borders of modern Turkey, completely encircling the Crusaders. Meanwhile, the Byzantine Empire had faded after its defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Myriokephalon in 1076, and the Crusaders themselves suffered from the lack of a capable leader, and were increasingly dominated by the irresponsible and self-seeking Reynald of Châtillon.

Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.

CoinDesk Podcast Network - BREAKDOWN: What Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary Means for Bitcoin and Markets

NLW looks at price action in crypto, the ETH 2.0 Beacon chain launching Dec 1, the Dow at 30,000 and Janet Yellen’s nomination as Treasury secretary.

This episode is sponsored by Crypto.com and Nexo.io.

On this edition of The Breakdown weekly recap, NLW looks at what was an absolutely action-packed holiday week, discussing:

  • Bitcoin’s price action 
  • The Dow’s 30,000 psychological milestone 
  • Eth 2.0 cleared for Beacon chain launch 
  • The implications of Janet Yellen’s nomination for Treasury secretary


This week on The Breakdown:

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The NewsWorthy - Special Edition: The Science of Happiness

Today we’re talking about what makes humans happy.

The CEO of The Happiness Research Institute joins us to share the science and research behind happiness, including what role our daily decisions and even our genetics play.

So as we celebrate the holidays and think about our goals or New Year’s resolutions for 2021, we hope this episode helps you find a little more happiness in your everyday life…

Today’s episode is brought to you by ButcherBox.com/newsworthy and Liquid IV (listen for the discount).

Be sure to tune-in again each weekday (M-F) for our regular episodes to get quick, unbiased news roundups in ~10 minutes! 

Get ad-free episodes by becoming an insider: www.theNewsWorthy.com/insider 

 

This Machine Kills - 23. The Great Decoupling (patreon teaser)

We continue our discussion on Huawei by laying out the ways that network infrastructure has become a site for proxy battles as the US/UK and China pursue different agendas for national security and industrial policy. Subscribe to hear more analysis and get more premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl).

Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons - WBEZ’s Weekly News Roundup

Millions travel for the holiday against the advice of medical experts and local leaders trying to flatten the surge of coronavirus. Meanwhile, Mayor Lightfoot gets her 2021 budget, and Mike Madigan tries to hang on to his speakership in the Illinois House. WTTW’s Heather Cherone and WBEZ’s Becky Vevea take on all the big local and state stories in our Weekly News Roundup.

For more Reset interviews, please subscribe to this podcast and leave us a rating. That helps other listeners find us. 

For more about the program, you can head over to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.


Consider This from NPR - Student Debt Is Weighing Americans Down. Here’s How Biden May Address It

Student loans can crush an individual. And when a lot of people have more debt than they can handle, the effects ripple into the larger economy.

Judith Scott-Clayton, an associate professor at Columbia University, discusses the economic impact of the $1.6 trillion Americans collectively owe in student debt.

President-elect Joe Biden and some members of Congress have proposed different ways to erase some amount of student debt across the board. NPR's Anya Kamenetz explains the likelihood of those proposals actually working out.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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CrowdScience - Can we prevent wildfires?

This year, dramatic wildfires wreaked havoc across the globe from Australia to Siberia. CrowdScience listener Melissa wants to know the extent to which climate change is a factor in blazes that appear to be increasing in both frequency and intensity.

Presenter Anand Jagatia hears how scientists use alternative worlds in computer models, to understand the role that global warming plays. After Siberia’s hottest ever year on record, he discovers the impact of increasing temperatures on boreal forests – and how they could help release huge stocks of carbon that has been stored in the soil. But is there anything we can do to prevent this happening? He visits the UK’s Peak District region, where conservationists are re-wilding a massive area with a special species of moss, which may offer a solution to an increase in infernos.

Presented by Anand Jagatia and Produced by Melanie Brown for the BBC World Service.

[Image: Forest Fire. Credit: Getty Images]