Here on Unexpected Elements, we've been glued to the drama of the Paralympic games in Paris. But it's not just the thrill of the competition that's got us hooked, we've also become obsessed with some of the high-octane training regimes undertaken by the athletes.
Take American 'Armless Archer' Matt Stutzman, who shoots arrows through the windows of his own house and car to recreate the high pressure of the Olympic stadium. He's chasing a thrill, and so are we!
We hear about the research on one extraordinary woman who had a medical condition which caused her to have no fear.
And we follow the fate of an extraordinary marine creature, who detaches his own arm in his quest for a mate.
We hear about why humans love to be scared - as long as it's all in good fun.
And we hear about the space debris falling to earth, and the thrilling quest of a plane full of scientists who want to watch it fall.
That and loads more unexpected elements in this week's show.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Tristan Ahtone and Affelia Wibisono
Producer: Emily Knight, with Harrison Lewis, Dan Welsh and Noa Dowling
Sound engineer: Gwynfor Jones
Watch this episode on YouTube. Today, we’re catching up with Kamala Harris and Donald Trump as they hit the campaign trail, a Chinese spy working for Governor Hochul, the latest FIRE college rankings, and the influence of social media in elections. Don’t miss it!
Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed.
Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we’ll be tried as war criminals.” Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later.
Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.
Andrew O. Pace is a historian of the US in the world who specializes in the moral fog of war. He is currently a DPAA Research Partner Fellow at the University of Southern Mississippi and a co-host of the Diplomatic History Channel on the New Books Network. He is also working on a book about the reversal in US grand strategy from victory at all costs in World War II to peace at any price in the Vietnam War. He can be reached at andrew.pace@usm.edu or via andrewopace.com. Andrew is not an employee of DPAA, he supports DPAA through a partnership. The views presented are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of DPAA, DoD or its components.
What to know about historic charges filed against the father of the suspected high school shooter in Georgia.
Also, a surprise guilty plea: why Hunter Biden has taken steps to avoid a trial in his tax case.
And we'll tell you about former President Trump's plans for billionaire Elon Musk if he's elected to the White House.
Plus, an extreme heatwave is hitting the western U.S., new data shows progress in lowering the number of teens vaping, and a bittersweet announcement from a U.S. soccer star…
Those stories and even more news to know in just over 10 minutes!
Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign kicked off a weeks-long reproductive freedom bus tour this week, with a 50-stop route that runs through some of the biggest swing states in the upcoming election. It's an issue that plays to Harris' strengths — and former President Donald Trump's biggest weaknesses. While Trump loves to take credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices that ultimately helped overturn Roe v. Wade, he's spent the years since trying to moderate his stance on abortion and reproductive healthcare, angering members of his socially conservative base in the process. Shefali Luthra, who covers reproductive care for The 19th, explains how Trump's muddled stance has angered both sides of the abortion debate.
In Arizona, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate J.D. Vance got an icy reaction when he told a crowd Thursday, "It's very simple, we lost Arizona" in 2020. Election denialism has become a feature of the Republican Party since Trump became its leader, trickling down through the ranks of many state GOP parties, including Arizona's. Jane Coaston, former politics reporter for Vox, a contributor to The New York Times opinion section — and WAD's newest host — examines how Arizona politics went from the party of John McCain to the epicenter of election denialism.
And in headlines: Georgia police arrested and charged the father of the suspect in Wednesday's fatal shooting at Apalachee High School, Trump pleaded not guilty to the revised criminal charges in his election interference case, and President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden pleaded guilty to nine charges related to federal tax evasion and fraud.
As the final campaign sprint begins, both candidates roll out plans on the issue that matters most to undecided voters: the economy. Republican truth-teller Liz Cheney throws her support behind Kamala Harris, while other Republicans quietly cross their fingers for a Trump defeat—even as Harris and Walz remain, in their campaign manager’s words, “clear underdogs.” Then, CNN’s Dana Bash joins the show to talk about the debate that changed everything and what to expect in next week’s big face-off.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
Last year, a dog named Bunny went viral on TikTok for pressing buttons with words on them to "communicate" with her owner. But can dogs even understand those words on a soundboard in the first place? A new study in the journal PLOS One seeks answers. Host Regina G. Barber and producer Rachel Carlson break down that story and more of the week's news with the help of All Things Considered's Ari Shapiro.
Have other viral headlines that you want us to put to the test for its scientific truth? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we might cover it on a future episode!
A month after a federal judge declared that Google was operating as a monopoly because of its search engine, the Justice Department has alleged that Google’s ad business was breaking antitrust law as well.
What if Google loses again?
Guest: Leah Nylen, Bloomberg antitrust reporter.
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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Cheyna Roth.
