Salman Rushdie lived for decades under a death sentence and survived a knife attack three years ago. His latest book The Eleventh Hour is his first work of fiction since that near-death experience. These short stories and novellas center around the end of life, what might come after, and the idea of personal legacy. In today’s episode, Rushdie joins Here & Now’s Scott Tong for a conversation that touches on mortality, changes to the author’s writing process, and his first ghost story.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Around 250 million years ago, one of Earth’s largest known volcanic events set off The Great Dying: the planet’s worst mass extinction event. The eruptions spewed large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, temperatures rose globally and oxygen in the oceans dropped.
And while the vast majority of species went extinct, some survived. Scientists like paleophysiology graduate student Kemi Ashing-Giwa want to know why, because lessons about the survivors of The Great Dying could inform today’s scientists on how to curb extinctions today.
Interested in more Earth science? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Shortly after he took office, Trump started signing executive orders imposing tariffs on America’s trading partners. He declared April 2 “Liberation Day,” and enacted a broad package of import duties from Canada to China and way beyond, upending U.S. economic policy and reshaping global trade.
He did it all without input from Congress. And that might, or might not, have violated presidential power under the Constitution.
So, are the Trump administration’s tariffs legal?
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a major case about the administration’s use of tariffs.
President Trump has long touted the power of tariffs as a tool for trade negotiations and even for ending conflict.
But now the justices will hear about how that tool may be misused.
NPR's Scott Horsley and Danielle Kurtzleben discuss President Trump's tariff policy and its economic impact.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org. This episode was produced by Connor Donevan and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Courtney Dorning, Rafael Nam and Dana Farrington. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
In Austria, three nuns, all in their 80’s, recently ran away from a nursing home. With the help of supporters, and a locksmith, they broke into their former convent in defiance of church orders. They’re determined to fulfill their vows and grow old on their own terms. These sisters are now taking Instagram by storm where they’re being supported by a growing community. We go to Salzburg to meet them.
Voters in New York, Virginia and New Jersey choose new leaders today, and a redistricting vote in California could reshape the balance of power in Congress. The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP benefits, but only partially, leaving millions of families uncertain about how they’ll eat this month. Aid groups warn of a deepening crisis in Sudan after a paramilitary force accused of genocide seized the last major city in Darfur, killing thousands of people and trapping many more without food or water. And former Vice President Dick Cheney has died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from his family. He was 84 years old.
Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Ben Swasey, Catherine Laidlaw, Kate Bartlett, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas
We get engineering support from Stacey Abbott. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Last month, the Trump administration asked Apple to remove an app from its App Store that crowdsourced sightings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Today on the show, we explain what an ongoing legal battle involving the developer of the video game Fortnite has to do with Apple’s latest move to comply with the Trump administration.
Why does the New York City skyline look the way it does? In part, because of what happened there 500 million years ago, says geologist Anjana Khatwa, author of the new book Whispers of Rocks. In it, she traces how geology has had profound effects on human life, from magnetism of the ocean floor to voter trends in the Southern U.S.
Interested in more geology episodes? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
As a newborn, Ed Archie NoiseCat was found in an incinerator at a Catholic-run Indian boarding school. In a new book We Survived the Night, his son, Julian Brave NoiseCat, writes about this trauma in the broader context of Native history in the United States and Canada. The book blends memoir and reporting, exploring a culture of silence around Native stories. In today’s episode, Julian Brave NoiseCat speaks with NPR’s Michel Martin about his efforts to understand both his father’s story and Native identity.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday