New temperature records were set in the southwest U.S. as climate change continues to push global temperatures to their extremes.

Meanwhile, U.S. Special Climate Envoy John Kerry spent time in China this week discussing climate change and carbon with officials in President Xi Jinping's government. Little progress seems to have been made.

And President Joe Biden invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit him at the White House before the end of the year. Biden, however, is also urging Netanyahu to not push proposed judicial reforms in his home country.

We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.

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Ludwig Göransson isn't a stranger to the power music can play in film.

He's the composer behind the blockbuster "Black Panther" series, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Original Score in 2019.

Now, he's back with "Oppenheimer." It's a historical epic that tells the life story of the father of the atomic bomb.

He joins us to talk about his many collaborations and the music that shapes his life and work.

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Strikes. Picketing. Protests. One thing has become clear across dozens of industries in recent years. Workers are dissatisfied.

To resolve some of their workplace qualms, many workers have taken to organizing. But unions, and the collective bargaining agreements they try to secure, are often stalled by employers.

Enter, strikes.

A study from Cornell found that strikes were up by 52 percent in 2o22 and involved more than 224,000 workers. And while more than 16 million workers in the United States (about 1 in 10) were represented by a union in 2022, the share of workers represented by a union is declining.

That's because union jobs are growing at a slower rate than non-union jobs.

It's all happening at a time when most Americans are expressing support for unions. The tight labor market is also in the worker's favor. So, why aren't unions booming?

We discuss unions, strikes, and the future of the labor movement.

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About one in ten people have an autoimmune disease, according to a population study of more than 2.2 million people. Autoimmune disease varies widely, and falls into subspecialties across the medical world: dermatology, gastroenterology, neurology , and more — and getting a diagnosis for an autoimmune disease can be long and difficult.

Autoimmune diseases affect women and women of color on a far more frequent basis. Lupus is one of these diseases, affecting African American women three times more than white women.

We discuss why the diagnostic process for an autoimmune disease is so complicated and why rates of disease are higher for women and women of color.

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It's about that time of year when your garden may be looking lush or... a little sad. And with this weekend's heatwave hitting a large swath of the U.S., it's getting harder to keep plants alive.

Research from the University of Colorado Boulder found that people who started gardening not only experienced decreased levels of stress and anxiety but also reduced risk of chronic diseases.

Gardening may be good for the body and soul, but it can also be frustrating.

We assemble a group of expert gardeners to answer all your planting questions and make your backyard garden dreams come true – or at least try.

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Vermont and New York are bracing for more rain and flooding. The capital of the Green Mountain state, Montpelier, was swamped this week after storms dumped two months' worth of water on the city in two days. President Joe Biden declared an emergency in the state and authorized the Federal Emergency Management Agency to begin distributing aid.

Meanwhile, overseas, President Biden met with NATO leaders in Lithuania this week and promised heads of state that the U.S. would remain committed to its allies despite "extreme elements" of the GOP signalling otherwise.

The Brazilian government announced that deforestation in the Amazon rainforest is down by more than a third this year, so far.

The longest-serving prime minister of the Netherlands announced he would step down this week, paving the way for a general election.

We cover all this and more during the News Roundup.

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More than 20 states across the country have public accommodation laws to prevent businesses from discriminating against customers based on things like race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation.

But a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision could put these protections at risk.

Last month, in a 6-to-3 decision, the court ruled in it would be unconstitutional under the First Amendment for Lorie Smith, the plaintiff in 303 Creative v. Elenis, to have to create a message she opposes – in this case, a wedding website for a same-sex couple.

The case raises big questions about what counts as creative speech under the First Amendment and also about questions about the fate of anti-discrimination protections across the country.

We unpack the implications of the Supreme Court decision with legal and First Amendment scholars.

This show is part of our Remaking America collaboration with six public radio stations around the country. Remaking America is funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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Americana music encompasses country, bluegrass, folk, and blues and has deep roots in Black musical traditions.

Long before Lil Nas X pushed the boundaries of what constitutes country music, Black musicians across Americana were reclaiming space in the genre.

Many of those musicians found celebration and support in the Black Opry, a collective of Black artists that perform Americana music, founded online by Holly G in Nashville.

This year, the Black Opry partnered up with WXPN to launch the Black Opry Residency, a weeklong program that provides resources and support for unsigned Black Americana musicians.

We explore how and why the residency program came to be and what it means for the future of Black Americana musicians.

This is a part of our series called "Local Spotlight," where we'll cover local stories that deserve national attention. Have a suggestion about what we should feature? You know where to find us.

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While you may not be a fan of the heart pumping, adrenaline boosting feeling of a roller coaster's twists and turns, for others, it's the best part of the warmer months or even a core memory of their childhood.

But recently, two roller coasters hit the headlines for less than awesome reasons. Riders at a Wisconsin festival were stuck upside down for around three hours after a mechanical failure. And a North Carolina man spotted a massive crack in a coaster support beam after his family had been on the ride.

We discuss the safety of roller coasters and what's next for coaster engineering.

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Noise is unavoidable. Whether it's the rumbling of a freight train as it moves along the tracks in your backyard or the constant drip of your leaky faucet – we're surrounded by it.

Qualities of sound, like frequency and loudness, impact how your body responds to a particular source of noise.

A growing body of research says that chronic noise exposure is putting nearly a third of Americans at heightened risk of hypertension, stroke, and heart attacks.

In this installment of our series, "In Good Health," we explore noise and its impact on our lives.

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