Short Wave - Itchy? Air Pollution May Be Making It Worse

Short Wave producer Hannah Chinn has adult-onset eczema. They're not the only one. Up to ten percent of people in the United States have it, according to the National Eczema Association — and its prevalence is increasing. Despite its ubiquity, a lot about this skin condition remains a mystery.
So today, Hannah's getting answers. In this encore episode, they sat down with Raj Fadadu, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Diego, to ask: What is eczema? What triggers it in the first place? And might climate change make it worse sometimes?

If you liked this episode, check out our episode on the science of itchiness. Also, follow us! That way you never miss another episode.

Interested in hearing more about climate change and human health? Email us at shortwave@npr.orgwe'd love to hear your feedback!

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Consider This from NPR - Flooding is common in Texas Hill Country. This was different

Imagine standing in water shallow enough to just barely hit the soles of your feet. And then it rises so fast that in just about ten minutes, it's up to your neck. That's how fast the Guadalupe River in Texas rose last week, according to state officials.

Twenty-six feet in less than an hour.

That flooding left dozens dead, devastated homes and businesses. Officials, emergency crews and volunteers are hoping more survivors will be found. But in a press conference today, officials warned the death toll will continue to rise.

In the Texas Hill Country, climate change and geography conspired to create one of the worst floods in generations.

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1A - ICYMI: The Megabill, Medicaid And Rural Americans

On Friday, President Donald Trump celebrated the passage of his signature tax and spending bill into law.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. It will also reduce Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. That will result in an estimated 11.8 million people losing health insurance coverage. Among those who will be hardest hit? Rural Americans.

We discuss what kind of challenges people living in rural areas could face with the new law and what ripple effects the law could have across rural public health systems.

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1A - ‘If You Can Keep It’: American Values

Who are we as a nation? What's important to us? And who do we want to be?

1A recently spent some time at the Aspen Ideas Festival where Gallup Research unveiled data that indicates most Americans can agree broadly on the answers to those queries, but differ on which ones are the most important.

We sit down and get into what values make an American, an American.

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Up First from NPR - Texas Flooding Update, Trump And Netanyahu Meeting, Tariff Plans

In central Texas, crews are continuing the search for victims of last week's flash flooding, and local officials have been fielding questions about why residents were not warned to evacuate. Also, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Trump to advance a cease-fire deal for Gaza and see Hamas release some hostages, and the President says his administration is on the verge of many new deals with countries regarding tariff rates.

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 Russell Lewis, Miguel Macias, Dana Farrington, Janaya Williams and Lisa Thomson. It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Claire Murashima and Christopher Thomas. We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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NPR's Book of the Day - Ten years later, Ta-Nehisi Coates says ‘Between the World and Me’ is no longer his

Ten years ago, Ta-Nehisi Coates published Between the World and Me, written as a letter to his then-15-year-old son. The book was released shortly after a shooting at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston left nine people dead – and it became a literary phenomenon as many Americans searched for answers about the state of race relations in the United States. In today's episode, Coates reflects on the 10 year anniversary of Between the World and Me. He speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about the book's dedication, efforts to ban his work, and the role of writers in the public sphere.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Why can’t we insure trees?

In the U.S., we insure most everything we sell. So why not trees? Today on the show why trees aren't insured like other crops, and what it would take to get that insurance with extreme weather events on the rise.

Related episodes:
When insurers can't get insurance (Apple / Spotify)

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Short Wave - Sea Camp: Why Are Ocean Currents Shifting?

A warming climate doesn't just affect dry land — it affects the ocean, too. For years, Earth's ocean has acted as a heat sink for climate change: A large part of the heat generated by human use of fossil fuels is being absorbed by the ocean. And while the deep sea is largely unaffected by this heat absorption, oceanographers have discovered that the upper ocean currents are accelerating. That acceleration has the potential for huge knock-on effects, including sea level rise, changing fish migration cycles, shifting storm patterns, and more.

This is the first episode of Sea Camp, Short Wave's summer series exploring the intriguing and otherworldly depths of the ocean. Follow us every Monday through August as we travel from the sunlit zone to the sea floor.

Interested in more stories about the ocean? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Consider This from NPR - When it comes to vaccines, how are pediatricians restoring trust?

If you're a parent, decisions about vaccines have gotten a lot more confusing recently. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s health department is walking back longstanding recommendations.

NPR's Pien Huang speaks with a pediatrician and a vaccine researcher to discuss how the changes may affect public health - and how frontline conversations are going between pediatricians and families.

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