In a small North Carolina town in 1976, three siblings are shot to death. That's the mystery at the center of De'Shawn Charles Winslow's new book, Decent People – and it's one the segregated town's white police officers aren't paying much attention to. In today's episode, Winslow tells NPR's Scott Simon about the heroine who takes it upon herself to solve the case, and why the author feels a need to paint a nuanced portrait of even the antagonists in his books.
Author and podcast host Aubrey Gordon brings up an important reminder early in today's episode: In the United States, the average size is plus-sized. And yet there's an overwhelmingly negative connotation attached to both the word "fat" and to fat bodies. Gordon explores those societal taboos – as well as some of the misinformation surrounding them – in her new book, You Just Need to Lose Weight. She tells NPR's Juana Summers that there's a lot of power in reframing concerns about body image, especially when it comes to addressing judgments we may hold against ourselves.
There is nothing faster in the entire universe than the speed of light. Not only is it the fastest thing, but nothing can be faster than light.
For the longest time, humans didn’t even know that light had a speed, and once they figured out that light wasn’t instantaneous, it took several centuries to figure out what that speed was.
Learn more about the speed of light and its implications for physics and engineering on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
In the early 19th century, the most abundant bird in North America, and perhaps the entire world, was the passenger pigeon. An estimated three billion of them would fly in flocks so large that they could blot out the sun.
However, within a century, the entire species had gone extinct.
It was one of the fastest and most disastrous turnarounds for any species in recorded history.
Learn more about the passenger pigeon and how they went extinct on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Today's episode features interviews with two authors whose books on trans and queer gender identity are facing challenges in school districts across the U.S. First, NPR's Steve Inskeep sits down with writer and photographer Susan Kuklin to discuss her book, Beyond Magenta, which features the photos and narratives of six trans and nonbinary teens around the country. Then, NPR's Rachel Martin asks Maia Kobabe about Gender Queer, the graphic memoir detailing Kobabe's own experience navigating gender and communicating that journey to friends and family.
A UC Berkeley study estimates there are about 38,000 acres of land owned by faith groups in California, an area roughly the size of Stockton, that are largely going unused. Some churches want to build affordable housing on that extra land— but building any kind of housing in California means jumping through a lot of hoops. Reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi finds out what it would take for houses of worship to house people in God's backyard.
This story was reported by Adhiti Bandlamudi. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard. Special thanks to Erika Kelly, Christopher Beale and Paul Lancour for their help on this story.
On July 17, 1944, one of the worst disasters to befall the American military during World War II occurred. It didn’t occur in Europe or the Pacific, however. It took place on US soil.
The events leading up to this calamity and its aftermath permanently shaped the United States military.
Learn more about the Port Chicago Disaster and the lasting changes it brought about on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
