Names like Laundry Bear and Chatty Spider don’t exactly inspire fear, but cybersecurity professionals have long used them as shorthand for hacker groups out to spread havoc around the world. Now, some online-security pros are trying to end this cute trend. Plus, employees looking for a reward after using AI tools to finish their work faster will probably be disappointed. Patrick Coffee hosts.
Whether you love spiders or can't be within 10 feet of them, you probably think of them crawling around on land. Historically, most researchers would probably say the same thing: Based on the fossil record, they've thought the earliest arachnid ancestors existed around 450 million years ago, living and diversifying exclusively on land. But a new study out this week in the journal Current Biologysuggests arachnid brains may have originated much earlier in the ocean.
Want to hear more stories about the history of animals on Earth? Email us and let us know at shortwave@npr.org.
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It's ... Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news.
On today's episode: Nigeria gets a GDP surprise, Magic the Gathering mutes tariff impact for Hasbro, and Bitcoin reaches record highs following the passage of the GENIUS Act.
Missoula, Mont. is the setting for the inaugural festival of literature, music, and other arts known as Indigipalooza. Musician and former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) headlines the list of talent offering their perspectives on the state of Indigenous storytelling.
We’ll also hear from filmmaker Adam Piron about his curated selection of films screened in New York highlighting Native American urban relocation.
And we’ll get context for President Donald Trump’s demand that sports teams return to their offensive names and mascots.
Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz (Lumbee Tribe), assistant professor at the University of Iowa and director of the Native Policy Lab
Chris La Tray (citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians and a descendent of the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians), author, Poet Laureate of Montana, and a coordinator for IndigiPalooza
Adam Piron (Kiowa and Mohawk), filmmaker and film curator
Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca), executive director of the National Congress of American Indians
Break 1 Music: The Wild One (song) Link Wray (artist)
Break 2 Music: Steamboat Akalii Song (song) Jay Begaye (artist) Horses Are Our Journey World (album)
Two new books explore how culture shapes our identity. First, Lawrence Burney's essay collection, No Sense in Wishing, is an appreciation of the arts and artists that shaped him as he grew up in Baltimore. In today's episode, he speaks with NPR's Juana Summers about his influences, from Gil Scott Heron to local Baltimore rappers. Then, Nora Princiotti's Hit Girls takes a serious look at the impact of female pop stars from the 2000s. In today's episode, she talks with NPR's Ayesha Rascoe about her obsession with millennial pop culture.
To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Was the Late Show too unprofitable, or too political?
Guest: Eric Deggans, NPR TV critic and media analyst, Knight Chair, Journalism and Media Ethics, Washington & Lee University.
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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.
Even when MMT advocates are correct that colonial governments at times burned money after receiving it for tax revenues, they still manage to get both the history and the causes wrong.
The gang discuss Trump’s attempts to distract from Epstein, the construction of a 5,000 bed ICE detention camp at Fort Bliss, and cuts to the EPA and public broadcasting.
