Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, investigating child mortality rates at a local level, and building genes from non-coding DNA.
In this episode:
00:43 A regional view of childhood mortality
Researchers map countries’ progress towards the UN’s Sustainable Developmental Goals. Research Article: Burstein et al.; World View: Data on child deaths are a call for justice; Editorial: Protect the census
07:22 Research Highlights
Astronomers identify a second visitor from beyond the solar system, and extreme snowfall stifles animal breeding in Greenland. Research Highlight: The comet that came in from interstellar space; Research Highlight: Extreme winter leads to an Arctic reproductive collapse
09:22 Evolving genes from the ground up
Natural selection’s creative way to evolve new genes. News Feature: How evolution builds genes from scratch
15:43 News Chat
A spate of vaping-related deaths in the US, and Japan’s import of the Ebola virus. News: Scientists chase cause of mysterious vaping illness as death toll rises; News: Why Japan imported Ebola ahead of the 2020 Olympics
Listen to the latest from the world of science, with Benjamin Thompson and Shamini Bundell. This week, modelling embryonic development, and an analysis of male dominated conferences.
REV Ocean will be equipped for conducting missions that cover the entire marine ecosystem. It will be used by scientists and innovators for ‘solutions’ oriented research that explore issues such as the impact CO2 emissions have on the ocean, plastic pollution, and unsustainable fishing. REV Ocean will be an inclusive global vehicle for testing and proliferating ocean solutions. The vessel is 182.9 meters long and will have the capacity of holding 55 scientists and 35 crew. Equipment onboard includes scientific trawls, sonar systems, laboratories, auditorium and classrooms, moonpool, AUV and submarine, an ROV with 6000 meters depth capacity, and advanced communication equipment.
…of the top ten most desired locations to move to, the share of out-of-state searches on realtor.com ranges from 48% to 59.8%.
NPR’s Tamara Keith and Joshua Johnson join William Brangham to discuss the latest political news, including policy proposals among 2020 Democrats, rumors of an upcoming recession and how a weakening economy could affect President Trump’s reelection and momentum for new gun security measures after El Paso and Dayton massacres.
The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson and Karen Tumulty join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest in politics, including our analysis of upcoming 2020 Senate races and potential candidates, the controversy over Israel’s barring a visit from Reps. Omar and Tlaib, how trade tensions between the U.S. and China are affecting the economy and President Trump’s apparent interest in purchasing Greenland.



An emblem of the hippie era in America, the car was marketed in the U.S. as adorably uncool. Volkswagen promoted the Beetle with cheeky advertising campaigns using slogans like “Live below your means” and “It’s ugly, but it gets you there.” In 1969, one of the vehicles cost $1,799.
It feels as if nobody read the Mueller report. That’s a shame, because it’s an important document, depicting possible crimes by a sitting US president.