Author and journalist Katherine Stewart joins us today to discuss her reporting on religious nationalism, as well as the organization and structure behind these efforts, and what we can do in the face of it all.
Tom Vice is the CEO of Sierra Space, a company that’s trying to build an economy in low-Earth orbit (LEO), a mere 250 miles above our heads. Ricky Mulvey caught up with Vice for a conversation about the future of space commercialization. They discuss:
- The magic of microgravity, and its impact on everything from biotech and batteries to chemistry and computing.
- Rent in low-Earth orbit.
- Defense systems and the hope of a space-based “McDonald’s Effect.”
AI Created Music; News Items: Sweetened Drinks and Atrial Fibrillation, One Degree, Birth Control Misinformation, Iridology; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Mel's Mystery Hole, Positive Thinking; Science or Fiction
Some car companies are looking for workarounds to get their vehicles from ships to dealers after the Baltimore bridge collapse. Demonstrations turn violent in Europe as farmers protest European Union environmental policies and cheap Ukrainian imports. Chocolate lovers will have to pay more for treats as cocoa prices skyrocket.
In this installment of Best Of The Gist, the rise of women’s college basketball knows no (re)bounds, and yet somehow has still been overstated. We also listen back to his 2018 interview with Barbara Lipska, whose career as a neuroscientist did not prepare her to identify the dark effects of her own brain tumors diagnosed in 2015. There’s studying a damaged brain, and then there’s having one. Lipska is the author of The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind: My Tale of Madness and Recovery.
With a new album out next month, Lizz Wright joins Reset to discuss “defining loves” in her life, the artistry she finds in cooking, and growing up steeped in gospel music.
For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.
In Dark Star: A New History of the Space Shuttle (MIT Press, 2023), Dr. Matthew Hersch challenges the existing narrative of the most significant human space program of the last 50 years, NASA's space shuttle. He begins with the origins of the space shuttle: a century-long effort to develop a low-cost, reusable, rocket-powered airplane to militarize and commercialize space travel, which Hersch explains was built the wrong way, at the wrong time, and for all the wrong reasons. Describing the unique circumstances that led to the space shuttle's creation by President Richard Nixon's administration in 1972 and its subsequent flights from 1981 through 2011, Dr. Hersch illustrates how the space shuttle was doomed from the start.
While most historians have accepted the view that the space shuttle's fatal accidents—including the 1986 Challenger explosion—resulted from deficiencies in NASA's management culture that lulled engineers into a false confidence in the craft, Dark Star reveals the widespread understanding that the shuttle was predestined for failure as a technology demonstrator. The vehicle was intended only to give the United States the appearance of a viable human spaceflight program until funds became available to eliminate its obvious flaws. Hersch's work seeks to answer the perilous questions of technological choice that confront every generation, and it is a critical read for anyone interested in how we can create a better world through the things we build.
This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose forthcoming book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.
Every year, Christians around the world celebrate Easter.
However, when they celebrate Easter can vary dramatically. In fact, the possible dates of Easter can vary by over a month.
What most people don’t know is that setting the date for Easter was one of the biggest controversies in the early Christian church. In fact, it was a major reason behind one of the most important councils in history.
Learn more about the Easter Controversy, aka Quartodecimanism, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today we're talking about a top issue to American voters: immigration.
To do that, we're joined by the woman known as 'America's Government Teacher.' Sharon McMahon of the viral Instagram account @SharonSaysSo helps explain current immigration laws, which levels of government can actually make change, and why this issue matters to so many people.
This is the first of two special episodes we're sharing to help you better understand what's happening at the southern border, and what can be done about it moving forward.
