Wanna know where tech is headed this year? MIT Technology Review has answers. They compile an annual list called "10 Breakthrough Technologies". Today, host Regina G. Barber speaks with executive editor Amy Nordrum about the list, and they get into everything from commercial space stations and base-edited babies to batteries that could make electric vehicles even more green. We also do a lightning round of honorable mentions you won't want to miss out on!
Check out the full list from MIT Technology Review.
Interested in more science? Check out our episode on last year’s top 10 technologies to watch and our episode on building structures in space.
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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy. It was edited and fact-checked by Rebecca Ramirez. The audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez.
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1A - How Change Affects Our Brains And Identities
Life can bring major, unexpected changes without warning. How can we adapt when our best-laid plans are suddenly upended?
Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist. Her latest book, “The Other Side of Change,” attempts to answer this question by looking at how change affects the brain and our identities.
She joins us to talk about the neuroscience behind how we deal with different circumstances.
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Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist. Her latest book, “The Other Side of Change,” attempts to answer this question by looking at how change affects the brain and our identities.
She joins us to talk about the neuroscience behind how we deal with different circumstances.
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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State of the World from NPR - The ceasefire in Gaza enters the next phase. What does that mean?
President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, says the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is beginning. He said “phase two” will establish a new Palestinian administration in Gaza, and begin the full demilitarization and rebuilding of the territory. Our reporter tells us what all of this could mean for Gaza in practice. And we hear reaction to the plan from people living in Gaza City.
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Consider This from NPR - Do federal agents have ‘absolute immunity?’
Vice President J.D. Vance says the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Macklin Good last week has "absolute immunity." Some legal experts have pushed back.
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 Kathryn Fink. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Up First from NPR - FBI Search Journalist’s Home, U.S. Greenland Talks, Mental Health Funding
The FBI searches the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of a leak investigation, raising concerns among press advocates about an escalation against press freedom.
U.S. talks with Denmark and Greenland end without a deal on Greenland’s future, but a new working group forms as allies push back on President Trump’s security-driven claims.
And after widespread confusion and backlash, the Trump administration reverses course and restores roughly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.
Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.
U.S. talks with Denmark and Greenland end without a deal on Greenland’s future, but a new working group forms as allies push back on President Trump’s security-driven claims.
And after widespread confusion and backlash, the Trump administration reverses course and restores roughly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.
Want more 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 Emily Kopp, Rebekah Metzler, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.
It was produced by Kaity Kline, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.
We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.
Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - Why Trump resurrected the Monroe Doctrine
203 years ago, President James Monroe declared the Western Hemisphere off limits to powerful countries in Europe. Fast forward, and President Trump is reviving the Monroe Doctrine to justify intervening in places like Venezuela, and threatening further action in other parts of Latin America and Greenland. On today’s show, how is Trump redefining the Monroe Doctrine and what does it mean for the world?
Related episodes:
Add to cart: Greenland
Is the Panama Canal a rip-off?
Venezuela didn’t steal U.S. oil. Here’s what happened
Can Europe stand without the U.S. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Vito Emanuel. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Freedom on the Sea’ is a biography of Robert Smalls – by his great-great-grandson
Robert Smalls’ dynamic life story – his daring escape from slavery, his pivotal role in the Civil War, and the political career that ensued – was almost lost to history. But now there are plans to preserve and celebrate him. A new monument honoring Smalls is set to be unveiled outside the South Carolina Statehouse. In today’s episode, Michael Boulware Moore, Smalls’ great-great-grandson and author of the book Freedom on the Sea, joins Here & Now’s Anthony Brooks to talk about Smalls' legacy.
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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
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Consider This from NPR - Reflections on an ‘electrifying’ round of protest in Iran
What began two weeks ago as a demonstration against an economic crisis has become a broader antigovernment movement, in cities and towns across Iran.
Iran’s authoritarian government has responded with violent repression. More than 2,500 people have been killed, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. NPR has not been able to independently verify that number.
Many who watch Iran now believe the current round of protests feels different.
We hear from the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, who was imprisoned by the Iranian government while serving as a foreign correspondent for the newspaper. His op-ed this week is titled: “I’ve waited for this electrifying moment in Iran for 10 years.”
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Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Linah Mohammad with engineering support from Ted Mebane. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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1A - Trump, Greenland, And The Future Of The Arctic
The Trump administration’s recent evisceration of Venezuela’s government has leaders in Washington wondering where else they can meddle. And President Donald Trump’s eyes have wandered back to a familiar target: Greenland.
Trump has said he wants to buy the island or control it. Now, he could look to follow through on that threat.
This renewed focus caused Denmark and Greenland to send their foreign ministers to Washington D.C. on Wednesday for a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
What could a takeover of Greenland mean for its people, NATO, and the U.S.? And what’s in store for the future of the Arctic as it continues to warm faster than anywhere else in the world?
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Trump has said he wants to buy the island or control it. Now, he could look to follow through on that threat.
This renewed focus caused Denmark and Greenland to send their foreign ministers to Washington D.C. on Wednesday for a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
What could a takeover of Greenland mean for its people, NATO, and the U.S.? And what’s in store for the future of the Arctic as it continues to warm faster than anywhere else in the world?
Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
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State of the World from NPR - We hear from an eyewitness to the protests in Iran
Protests are sweeping Iran and the government is cracking down hard, fearing the uprisings pose a threat to the theocratic regime. There is an internet blackout in the country making it hard to get information. We hear a rare first-person account of the protests from a Johns Hopkins professor who visits the Iran frequently and who recently attended a protest there.
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