The Red Sea is a crucial piece of the global supply chain, accounting for around 15% of the world's shipping. This includes oil tankers and massive container ships transporting everything from microchips to furniture. Recent attacks by Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, have destabilized the region and prompted the U.S. to organize a multinational naval force to protect commercial ships. Today on the show, what's going on with shipping in the Red Sea.
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There are an infinite number of numbers, but some numbers are more important than others.
One number, which might just be the most important number, lies hidden in a wide variety of things in the natural world. It can be found in everything from the mathematics of radioactive decay to population growth and even compound interest.
The number even turns out to have a central role in calculus and mathematics's most elegant equation.
Learn more about e, also known as Euler’s Number, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Phil McDaragh is a great Irish poet; he was also a lousy husband and father, abandoning his family to pursue his writing. In Anne Enright's new novel, The Wren, The Wren, three generations of women in the McDaragh family contend with the absent patriarch's complicated legacy. Enright spoke with NPR's Scott Simon about writing fiction about a great writer, and how the poet's bad behavior in his personal life impacts the McDaragh women's own passions, years down the road.
Thousands of years ago, the first humans accidentally created the first beer and wine. This occurred naturally when yeast in the air converted sugars into alcohol.
However, it wasn’t until thousands of years later that new techniques were developed to process those beverages, but even then, the products they created weren’t designed for consumption.
Eventually, these techniques were perfected to a point where they could be consumed, and they resulted in entirely new categories of beverages.
Learn more about Spirits and Liqueurs, what the difference is, and the various types on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In the 19th century, a butcher living in Australia claimed to be the long-lost heir of a British fortune. The Tichborne trial, which sparked much controversy and even more attention in Victorian England, is at the center of Zadie Smith's new novel, The Fraud. In today's episode, the author tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how she became captivated by the outrageous lies the man told in court, and how the way his believers still dug their heels and supported him echoes the state of politics in the 21st century.
During the 14th century, the world saw one of its most traumatic episodes.
A plague spread through Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
In some locations, over half of the population died. Those who survived found themselves in a whole new world where the social and economic rules had been totally changed.
Learn more about the Black Death, how it happened, and how it changed the world on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
After wars, natural disasters and all kinds of emergencies, the World Central Kitchen — the organization founded by chef José Andrés — flies in to help feed people. A new cookbook now brings forth some of the recipes the nonprofit relies on to comfort and nourish those affected. In today's episode, Andrés speaks with Here & Now's Scott Tong about the importance of working in community with local restaurants and chefs when serving an area, prioritizing the familiar flavors and cuisine, and making delicious food an essential part of humanitarian aid.
How often do you hang out with people in a different socioeconomic bracket than you? And where do you meet and congregate? Economist Maxim Massenkoff, and his co-author Nathan Wilmers, looked at cell phone location data to figure out where people with vastly different incomes commune together. Today on the show, Maxim discusses his research, and Darian and Alexi head to a restaurant to try and witness some of this class mixing in action.
From the years 59 to 53 BC, three high-ranking Romans conspired to control the Roman political system for their own benefit. They called this system a triumvirate.
A decade later, Rome found itself under the control of three more men and yet another triumvirate.
This one was very different than than the first. It was given actual legal authority, and it was far more deadly.
Learn more about the Second Triumvirate, how it started, and how it ended on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.