Category: DailyShorts

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Bay Curious - Deep in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, Your Mind Will Play Tricks On You

Listener Clayton Schloss sent Bay Curious this question: "Why do so many people have bumper stickers on their cars from the Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz? What is that place?" Reporter Amanda Font takes us on a journey to "the Spot," where perception appears to bend reality.

Additional Reading/Listening:


Reported by Amanda Font. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Help on this episode from Suzie Racho, Victoria Mauleon, Sasha Khokha. Additional support from Erika Aguilar, Jessica Placzek, Kyana Moghadam, Paul Lancour, Carly Severn, Lina Blanco, Ethan Lindsey, Vinnee Tong and Jenny Pritchett.

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Everything Everywhere Daily - Why Does Monaco Even Exist?

Located on the French Riveria, just a few kilometers from the border of Italy, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, is the tiny country of Monaco. Monaco has several distinctions among the countries in the world, not just for its size, but for its population and its history. Learn more about Monaco, the smallest and wealthiest principality in the world, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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Curious City - Chicago Is Where Black Cinema Took Root

Chicago was like Hollywood before Hollywood became the movie capital we know today. And Black directors were an important part of that early industry. In 1913 Willam Foster became the first Black director to make a film with an all Black cast. Yet most people have never heard of him. Reporter Arionne Nettles shares his story and the legacy he left behind.
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Curious City - Chicago Is Where Black Cinema Took Root

Chicago was like Hollywood before Hollywood became the movie capital we know today. And Black directors were an important part of that early industry. In 1913 Willam Foster became the first Black director to make a film with an all Black cast. Yet most people have never heard of him. Reporter Arionne Nettles shares his story and the legacy he left behind.
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NPR's Book of the Day - Karl Ove Knausgaard didn’t mean to write a 666-page book

The Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard gained an international reputation thanks to his breakout autobiographical series My Struggle -- but he actually made his literary debut in the world of fiction. Now, he's returned to that world with his novel The Morning Star, a dark tale of the uncanny events that unfold after a new star appears in the sky. Unlike his previous series, the book features multiple perspectives and otherworldly incidents that seem ripped from the pages of the Bible. But as the author explains to NPR's Leila Fadel, those acts of God happen alongside the mundanity of everyday life, in true Knausgaardian fashion.
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Everything Everywhere Daily - Navajo Code Talkers

Secrecy is a huge part of military success. You want to be able to communicate with your own forces without the enemy finding out what your plans are. As America entered World War II, they were in need of a method of communication that couldn’t be cracked by Germany or Japan. They found the answer they were looking for in the languages of Native Americans. Learn more about Navajo Code Talkers and the other Native American languages used in World War II

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NPR's Book of the Day - Stephanie Grisham is — yes, really — taking our questions now

Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham famously held no press briefings during her time in the White House — but now, she's ready to talk. Her memoir, I'll Take Your Questions Now, is the latest tell-all from a former Trump staffer — and Tamara Keith, from NPR's Politics Podcast, hit her with some tough questions about whether the book is simply an image rehab project. "Too many books have been out there to help one person's reputation so they can be rehabilitated ... or to try to rewrite history," Grisham says. "I just want to tell my story and have people take what they want from it."
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Everything Everywhere Daily - How LIGO Works

To explore the universe humans have made any manner of telescopes. These telescopes can observe visible light, infrared light, radio waves, and even x-rays. One of the most important forces in shaping the universe is gravity. How can astronomers observe gravity? In 2002, the National Science Foundation, Caltech, and MIT managed to build a gravitational observatory.

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NPR's Book of the Day - How Colin Powell Wanted The World To Remember Him

When Colin Powell died on October 18 at the age of 84 from COVID-19 complications, he left behind a long, decorated career in Washington and the U.S. Army. He spent much of his life in the military, eventually rising to the rank of four-star general, and went on to become the first Black Secretary of state and chairman of the Joint Chiefs. But, as he discussed in a 2012 interview with NPR's Robert Siegel about his memoir It Worked For Me, Powell's reputation was tarnished when he used faulty evidence to push for the Iraq War: "I'll never leave it behind."
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Everything Everywhere Daily - El Niño and La Niña

Weather systems on Earth aren’t stable. There are cycles that weather patterns go through which can have enormous effects around the globe. There is probably no more important weather cycle than the one meteorologists called the Southern Oscillation. This cycle can have dramatic implications for temperatures and rainfall all over the world. Learn more about El Nino and La Nina and the Southern Oscillation on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

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