Who would Travis Bickle– the protagonist of the 1976 film Taxi Driver – be today? That question sparked the new novel by Priya Guns, Your Driver Is Waiting. It follows Damani, a queer Tamil ride-share driver who is struggling to pay her bills while people on the street around her protest for cause after cause that she can't seem to keep track of. Then she meets Jolene, who is the epitome of the privilege Damani does not have. As Guns tells NPR's Scott Simon, it's a relationship that forces her protagonist to reckon with her own preconceptions of wealth and whiteness.
As a leading expert on paleogenomics, Beth Shapiro has been hearing the same question ever since she started working on ancient DNA: "The only question that we consistently were asked was, how close are we to bringing a mammoth back to life?"
In the second part of our conversation (listen to yesterday's episode), Beth tells Short Wave co-host Aaron Scott that actually cloning a mammoth is probably not going to happen.
"But there are technologies that will allow us to resurrect extinct traits, to move bits and pieces of genes that might be adapted to a large animal like an elephant living in the Arctic."
In today's episode, how Beth Shapiro's initial work mapping the dodo genome laid the groundwork to bring back a version of it from extinction, and how the knowledge scientists gain from de-extinction could help protect species under threat now.
Silicon Valley Bank was the 16th largest bank in America, the bank of choice for tech startups and big-name venture capitalists. Then, in the span of just a few days, it collapsed. Whispers that SVB might be in trouble spread like wildfire through group texts and Twitter posts. Depositors raced to empty their accounts, withdrawing $42 billion in a single day. Last Friday, after regulators declared that SVB had failed, the FDIC seized the bank.
As the dust settles on the biggest bank failure — and bank rescue — in recent memory, we're still figuring out what happened. But poor investment choices, weak regulation, and customer panic all played their parts. We'll look into the bank's collapse to understand what it can teach us about the business of banking itself.
This episode was produced by Willa Rubin, with help from Dave Blanchard. It was edited by Keith Romer, and engineered by Brian Jarboe. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Our acting executive producer is Jess Jiang.
Texas Judge mulls plan to ban abortion pill in the state. U.S search for downed drone continues. Legal woes continue for former President Donald Trump. CBS News Correspondent Monica Rix has tonight's World News Roundup.
Matthew Desmond's story in the New York Times Magazine, "Why Poverty Persists in America" contradicts Mike's understanding, past coverage, and narrative of progress in America. But that doesn't make it wrong. Plus, Dr. Judith Herman discusses her new book Truth And Repair: How Trauma Survivors Envision Justice.
A group of volunteers is braving artillery barrages to evacuate residents from towns and cities in Ukraine's Donbas region, including Bakhmut, the epicenter of fighting in the eastern part of the country.
NPR's Frank Langfitt speaks with two rescuers, Kuba Stasiak, 29, a former journalist from Poland, and Andre West, 22, from Germany, who document their rescues on Instagram
Paul Vallas has positioned himself as the “tough on crime” candidate. Meanwhile, Brandon Johnson is calling for a comprehensive approach to public safety. Northwestern University professor Andrew Papachristos joins Reset to discuss what’s shaping the candidates’ views and what research shows about efforts that really work on the ground.
Illinois is now the third state in the U.S. to mandate paid leave to be used for any reason. Reset checks in with WBEZ statehouse reporter Alex Degman for the latest details of the Paid Leave for All Workers Act, which Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Monday.
The Swiss bank hit an all-time low in its stock price when its biggest shareholder said it wouldn’t invest more.
Following the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature, markets are holding their breath for more trouble in the banking sector. Wednesday morning, comments from one of the biggest investors in Credit Suisse sent that company’s stock tumbling. Numerous European banking stocks followed Credit Suisse lower, leading some to wonder if the U.S. banking crisis was moving overseas.
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“The Breakdown” is written, produced and narrated by Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with today's editing by Jonas Huck, research by Scott Hill and additional production assistance by Eleanor Pahl. Jared Schwartz is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. Music behind our sponsor today is “Foothill Blvd” by Sam Barsh. Image credit: EThamPhoto / Getty Images, modified by CoinDesk.
Join the most important conversation in crypto and Web3 at Consensus 2023, happening April 26-28 in Austin, Texas. Come and immerse yourself in all that Web3, crypto, blockchain and the metaverse have to offer. Use code BREAKDOWN to get 15% off your pass. Visit consensus.coindesk.com.
