In "Joy Goddess," journalist and historian A’Lelia Bundles brings to life a fascinating and misunderstood figure of the early 20th century. A’Lelia Walker was more than a glamorous socialite. She was a cultural catalyst whose salons and soirées became the vibrant center of the Harlem Renaissance. Geoff Bennett spoke with Bundles, who is Walker’s great-great-granddaughter, about her new book. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Atoms are unfathomably tiny. It takes fifteen million trillion of them to make up a single poppy seed—give or take a few billion. And there’s hardly anything to them: atoms are more than 99.9999999999 percent empty space. Yet scientists have learned to count these slivers of near nothingness with precision and to peer into their internal states. In looking so closely, we have learned that atoms, because of their inimitable signatures and imperturbable internal clocks, are little archives holding the secrets of the past. David J. Helfand reconstructs the history of the universe—back to its first microsecond 13.8 billion years ago—with the help of atoms. He shows how, by using detectors and reactors, microscopes and telescopes, we can decode the tales these infinitesimal particles tell, answering questions such as: Is a medieval illustrated prayer book real or forged? How did maize cultivation spread from the highlands of central Mexico to New England? What was Earth’s climate like before humans emerged? Where can we find clues to identify the culprit in the demise of the dinosaurs? When did our planet and solar system form? Can we trace the births of atoms in the cores of massive stars or even glimpse the origins of the universe itself? A lively and inviting introduction to the building blocks of everything we know, The Universal Timekeepers demonstrates the power of science to unveil the mysteries of unreachably remote times and places.
In 1960, a commercial flight was struck by a flock of birds, resulting in a deadly crash. Evidence was sent to the Smithsonian, where a woman named Roxie Laybourne successfully identified the species of bird involved. That case began her career as the first forensic ornithologist – and Laybourne’s work is the subject of Chris Sweeney’s new book, The Feather Detective. In today’s episode, Sweeney joins NPR’s Scott Simon for a conversation about Laybourne’s unique expertise, her influence on aviation safety, and the sexism she faced as a female scientist.
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Harvey Milk’s name returned to headlines after the defense secretary ordered the name of the slain gay rights advocate, who served in the Navy, removed from a naval ship. But Milk’s legacy lives on in other ways, including in an opera that carries a powerful story of its own. Jeffrey Brown reports for our look at the intersection of art and health, part of our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Dr. Melody Glenn was a burned-out emergency physician who had grown to resent the large population of opioid dependent patients passing through her ER. While working at a methadone clinic, she realized how effective harm reduction treatments could be and set out to discover why they weren’t used more broadly. That’s when she found Dr. Marie Nyswander. In the 1960s, Nyswander defied the DEA and medical establishment to co-develop methadone maintenance as a treatment for heroin addiction. According to some addiction specialists, its discovery could be considered as monumental as the discovery of penicillin. Yet, it still carries a stigma today. Deftly weaving together interviews, media coverage, and historical documents, Glenn recovers Nyswander’s important legacy and reveals how the forces of racism, fearmongering politicians, and misinformation colluded to set us back decades in our understandings of opioids. With Nyswander as her guide, Glenn also shares her journey through addiction medicine as she confronts her own personal and philosophical quandaries around bias, ambition, and saviorism in the medical field. As the US continues to struggle with opioid and fentanyl use in communities, Mother of Methadone is a powerful reminder of the ways biases have prevented doctors from saving countless lives.
Lisa Smith’s debut novel Jamaica Road is a coming of age story and romance set in 1980s London. The story follows Daphne, a young girl born to a Jamaican family, and her best friend Connie over the course of 12 years as they contend with love, hatred and some historical events in British history. In today’s episode, Smith talks with Here & Now’s Deborah Becker about growing up as “the posh Black girl,” writing patois, and a surprising character’s presence in the novel.
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The U.S. altered the course of history 80 years ago when it dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. It was an audacious move that ultimately led to the end of World War II. The motivation and secrecy surrounding its development and the devastating consequences of its use are the focus of a new oral history from Garrett Graff. He sat down with Amna Nawaz to discuss “The Devil Reached Toward the Sky.” PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
The Law and Politics of International Legitimacy (Cambridge University Press, 2025) examines the significance of the issue of political legitimacy at the international level, focusing on international law. It adopts a descriptive, critical, and reconstructive approach. In order to do so, the book clarifies what political legitimacy is in general and in the context of international law. The book analyzes how international law contributes to a sense of legitimacy through notions such as international membership, international rights holding, fundamental principles and hierarchy of rights holding, rightful conduct, and international authority. In addition, the book stresses the severe limitations of the legitimacy of international law and of the current international order that it contributes to regulate and manage. This leads the book to identify the conditions under which international order and international law could overcome their problems of legitimacy and become more legitimate. The book is interdisciplinary in nature, mobilizing international law, political and legal theory, philosophy, history, and political science.
Jean-Marc Coicaud is Distinguished Professor of Law and Global Affairs, Rutgers School of Law, New Jersey, USA and Fellow, Academia Europaea. He is also Fudan Distinguished Chair Professor at Fudan Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (Shanghai, China).
Leo Bader is a senior at Wesleyan University studying political theory and history.
Words like "rizz" and "skibidi" didn’t exist just a few years ago, but now they’re used and understood by millions of people. In his new book, Algospeak, linguist and content creator Adam Aleksic argues our language is evolving at a rapid pace. And he says this is driven in large part by social media algorithms that amplify linguistic trends. In today’s episode, Aleksic speaks with NPR’s Adrian Ma about the engagement treadmill, influencer accents and why the word "skibidi" will be out of style within the year.
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In Katie Yee's debut novel 'Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar,' the unnamed protagonist is contending with the end of her marriage and a breast cancer diagnosis. But these topics are approached with humor, which Yee says is essential to stay sane. In today's episode, the author joins Here & Now's Asma Khalid for a conversation about the relationship women have with their bodies, the affair at the center of the novel, and writing about race and identity.
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