In this episode, two nonfiction books explore the Russian invasion of Ukraine from two completely different experiences. First, 12-year-old Yeva Skalietska from Kharkiv reads one of her diary entries from the early days of the war to Here and Now's Deepa Fernandes. Then, former White House Russia expert Andrew Weiss speaks with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly about his new graphic novel biography of Vladimir Putin (illustrated by Brian "Box" Brown) – and why the Russian leader built a nefarious political image for himself that may not be entirely factual.
UC Berkeley graduate student Ziad Shafi was surprised when he arrived in the Bay Area and saw that BART trains only have one route through San Francisco. He'd taken metro trains in Prague, Stockholm and Washington, D.C., where the route maps are shaped like spiderwebs — allowing riders to get in striking distance of anywhere in the city. But BART looks more like a tree. He asked: "Why do four of the five BART lines go all the way from West Oakland to Daly City together?" KQED transit editor Dan Brekke gives us some BART history and offers an outlook for what's next for public transit in the Bay Area.
This story was reported by Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Brendan Willard. Our Social Video Intern is Darren Tu. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.
Every few years, without any schedule or planning, officials at the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service will add an extra second to the year.
The reason why this is done does make sense, but adding an extra second to a year can cause a host of problems, and many are wondering if it is a practice that should be continued.
Learn more about Leap Seconds, why they exist, when they happen, and if they should continue to exist on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Men in Blazers' Roger Bennett knows football – or soccer, as Americans call it. His new book, Gods of Soccer, lists 100 players who've made their mark on the sport one way or another. He tells Mary Louise Kelly about how he managed to compile that list, and why the book delves into the origin stories and cultural impact of a wide range of players – not just the Ronaldo and Messi household names, but the lesser-known figures who are iconic in their own right.
In 1942, Allied forces attempted a landing on the coast of France to gain a toe hold on the continent.
Thousands of men took part in the landing…and it was a disaster. Over a thousand men were killed, and over 2,000 were captured.
Despite being a massive failure, the lessons learned from that raid paved the way for the massive success of the invasion of Europe almost two years later.
Learn more about the raid on Dieppe and how the lessons from the raid were used to make the invasion of Normandy a success on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
Michelle Obama wants young people to know "going high" isn't about being complacent – it's about being strategic while pushing for change. In this episode, the former first lady sits down with NPR's Juana Summers to discuss her new book, The Light We Carry, and the toolkit she relies on to navigate the realities of partnership, parenthood and privilege.
Human beings have been around for hundreds of thousands of years. For the vast majority of that time, the total population of humans has been quite small.
Then, quite suddenly, at least in the grand sweep of history, the population of humanity exploded.
Now, it appears that humans might be on the cusp of a new era of demographics, the likes of which we haven’t experienced before.
Learn more about the global population since the dawn of humanity and what is in store in the future on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
