NPR's Book of the Day - Danielle Evans and Brit Bennett on the lies we tell ourselves

Today, two takes on stories we tell to make ourselves feel better and the consequences of believing them. First, author Danielle Evans' short story collection, The Office of Historical Corrections. The title story is about a fictional agency that fact checks in real time but, as she told former NPR host Noel King, it's less powerful than you might think. Then, the story of a Black woman's decision to pass as white and the decades-long fallout of that choice, in The Vanishing Half. Author Brit Bennett told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that the point of the story isn't to moralize.

Short Wave - If Monkeys Could Talk…

... Could a monkey host this podcast?

Aaron Scott and Resident Neuroscience Nerd Jon Hamilton discuss the vocal capabilities of our primate relatives. From syllables and consonants to rhythm and pitch, certain monkeys and apes have more of the tools needed for speech than was once thought. Now scientists are looking to them for insights into the origins of human speech.

What animal should we study next? Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

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It Could Happen Here - The Burning Food Factory Myth

We sit down with a researcher to discuss the disinformation campaign around burning food factories.

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Strict Scrutiny - Just how bad is the Supreme Court’s EPA decision?

Kate and Leah break down the "free-wheeling, free association analysis" of the Supreme Court's opinion in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. Basically, it's bad! And not just because of the impending climate apocalypse!

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