Back in March, nobody knew how long kids would be learning from home and isolating from their peers. Now, with some kids returning to schools after 10 months away, one school counselor says getting kids back into physical classrooms is just the start to healing from the massive toll the pandemic has had on their mental health.
Guest: Jan Desmarais-Morse, school counselor in Goshen, Indiana.
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How did humans evolve some key cooperative behaviors like sharing? NPR Science Correspondent Jon Hamilton reports back from a bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where scientists are trying to answer that very question.
In 1933, Maurice Wilson — First World War hero, drifting veteran, and amateur aviator, lands in the aerodrome at Purnea in British India. His goal is to be the first man to climb Mt. Everest. And nothing — not his complete lack of climbing experience, the lack of official permission, and the efforts of British civil servants — will stop him.
Ed Caesar’s The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everest (Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster, 2020) tells Wilson’s tale, tracing his story from the First World War, through drifting across the English-speaking world to his sudden drive to climb the world’s tallest mountain. He buys a biplane, flies to India, sneaks into Tibet and attempts to climb Everest, only to succumb to the elements on its slopes in 1934, like so many before and after.
In this interview, Ed and I talk about the story of Maurice Wilson, and the two stages of his quest to Everest’s summit: the flight to India, and the climb up the mountain’s slopes. We discuss how the geopolitical situation of the day affected his travels, and where Ed’s interest in this failed summit attempt comes from.
Ed Caesar is an author and a contributing writer to The New Yorker. Before joining The New Yorker, he wrote stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Outside, and the Smithsonian Magazine, He has reported from a wide range of countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Russia, and Iran. His first book, Two Hours: The Quest to Run the Impossible Marathon (Penguin UK: 2015), was awarded a Cross Sports Book of the Year award. He can be found on Twitter at @edcaesar and Instagram at @byedcaesar.
Nicholas Gordon is a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. In his day job, he’s a researcher and writer for a think tank in economic and sustainable development. He is also a print and broadcast commentator on local and regional politics. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon.
At the Biden team's first public health briefing, officials noted that the number of COVID cases and hospitalizations in the US is on a downward trend, and they also emphasized the importance of genomic sequencing for detecting coronavirus variants.
Over 10 million people are still out of work due to the pandemic, and recent data suggest that the economy isn't getting any better. We spoke to people who have lost their jobs about what they are going through right now, months and months into the crisis.
And in headlines: a Seattle Seahawks player arrested on suspicion of felony domestic violence, Biden signs executive orders directed at climate change, and another banner day for stonks.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed a divisive executive order that could ultimately lead to the end of women’s sports as we know them.
The order gives biological males who identify as women a pathway to compete in female sports and enter women’s-only spaces, such as bathrooms.
Natasha Chart, the executive director of Women’s Liberation Front, explains the implications of Biden’s executive action and why we now face an emergency in the battle to protect women’s athletic opportunities from men.
We also cover these stories:
President Joe Biden takes major action on climate change.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says he will listen to the evidence presented during Trump’s impeachment trial.
The CDC predicts that America may reach as many as 514,000 COVID-19 related deaths by Feb. 20, 2021.
A recent article by Jonathan Jarry made a few waves on the internet recently, as it claims that the Dunning-Kruger effect might not actually be real! Official SIO Science-splainer Lindsey Osterman is on with a full breakdown! Is the effect real or is it just statistical noise? Tune in and find out!
Rob explores the C+C Music Factory’s debut hit “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” by discussing the group’s rise to popularity from the underground dance scene and the controversy surrounding their exclusion of featured singer Martha Wash.
This episode was originally produced as a Music and Talk show available exclusively on Spotify. Find the full song on Spotify or wherever you get your music.
On the Gist, you can’t trouble us with your labels.
In the interview, what is In & Of Itself? The new Hulu special by Frank Oz and Derek DelGaudio is so much more than just a made-for-TV version of DelGaudio’s live show. As creators, Oz and DelGaudio discuss the stigma of illusion, an art form which relies on sleight of hand and audience participation, and talk about how they were able to bring to life their special for people sitting at home. Both Oz and DelGaudio elucidate the assumptions around their respective careers, professions which have historically been viewed as sitting lower on the performing arts totem pole, and urge viewers to refrain from taking things simply on face value. In & Of Itself is available now on Hulu.
In the spiel, understanding the difference between lies and delusions.
In the latest installment in our series Closing the Gap, Reset explores disparities in COVID-19 vaccine access and distribution in the greater Chicagoland region.
