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Two new history books make a strong case for why learning about the past is critical to understanding the world today. First, History Matters is a posthumous collection of writings by American historian David McCullough. In today’s episode, co-editor Dorie McCullough Lawson and historian Jon Meacham tell NPR’s Scott Simon about McCullough’s endless curiosity. Then, in Midnight on the Potomac, Scott Ellsworth explores little-known corners of Civil War history. In today’s episode, he speaks with Here & Now’s Sarah McCammon about long-held myths about the period.
In the North Sea — between the United Kingdom, Norway and Denmark — thousands of flies swarmed an oil rig. Engineer Craig Hannah noticed they’d stay still on the rig for hours, suddenly taking off all at once. He was seeing hoverflies. Often confused with bees, they’re unsung pollinators. And they migrate, often hundreds of miles – including, it seems, to the middle of the ocean.
Today on the show: The mystery of why these insects are landing in the open ocean. Plus, a surprising finding in the Amazon rainforest and the sounds of life in a coral reef.
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Get ready for a Progress Report season finale packed with good news as Emma shares some life-changing breakthroughs! The Gates Foundation is funding a game-changing GBS vaccine, while a cutting-edge AI stroke diagnosis system in England is significantly improving recovery rates. Plus, China steps up with a bold pledge to slash greenhouse gas emissions while NASA’s James Webb Telescope just uncovered an astonishing 6,000 new planets.
OA1195 - How much of the federal government has actually shut down, and why? We explore the truth behind the spin, and Matt breaks the exclusive story of how at least one part of the executive branch appears to be illegally operating at full capacity.
We then then connect some of the most fast-moving stories of the past few weeks to bring out the terrifying relationship between the obvious legal issues around the Trump administration’s threats to invade Venezuela, underreported executive actions on “Antifa” and “domestic terrorism” and their broad potential consequences, and the Trump’s recent threat to use US cities as “training grounds” for US troops.
Then: good news! Jenessa shares a win on voting rights out of Pennsylvania, and Matt celebrates a resounding victory for the free speech rights of non-citizen students like Rumeysa Ozturk and Mahmoud Khalil from a Reagan-appointed federal judge. Finally, today’s footnote confirms that the Wu Tang Clan is as a matter of law indeed nothing to fuck with.
Police have named the man who killed two people at a synagogue in Manchester. Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British man of Syrian descent, was shot and killed by officers outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue. Also, Donald Trump has declared the US is now in an armed conflict with drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea. A man alleged to be a high-up figure in the Tren de Aragua gang has been arrested in Colombia. A former Israeli hostage who was held in captivity in Gaza for 16 months has called on Hamas to sign President Trump's peace plan. The disgraced rapper, Sean Diddy Combs, is set to be sentenced on prostitution charges. Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri is formally abdicating his throne. There is a rogue planet gobbling up gas and dust at an unprecedented rate. Open AI's Sora app raises yet more concerns about artificial intelligence and copyright.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.
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Gil Feig, co-founder and CTO of Merge, joins the show to explore Merge’s approach for reducing third-party APIs to a single call, the complexities of and need for data normalization, and the role that AI and MCP plays in the future of API functionality.
Episode notes:
Merge connects you to any third-party system for fast, secure integrations for your products and agents.
The gang discuss the government shutdown, War Department plans to deploy troops to US cities, ICE raids in Chicago, new border wall construction, and a National Security Presidential Memo targeting political violence indicators like “anti-capitalism, anti-christianity, and extremism on migration, race, and gender.”
Police in Britain named Jihad al-Shamie, “a British citizen of Syrian descent”, as the suspected attacker in a car-ramming and stabbing at a synagogue in Manchester, an English city.
