Short Wave

NPR's Joanna Kakissis has been reporting on the life of Ukrainians as Russia continues to amass troops on the country's border. And will Russian President Vladimir Putin's continued aggression drive a wedge between the United States and Europe?

This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, international correspondent Joanna Kakissis, and national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

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Humans have scalp hair. But why is human scalp hair so varied? Biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi wanted to find out. And while completing her PhD at Penn State University, she developed a better system for describing hair — rooted in actual science. (Encore)

To hear more from Tina, check out these webinars: Why Care About Hair (https://bit.ly/3liJZ96) and How Hair Reveals the Futility of Race Categories (https://s.si.edu/3Dik6g8). And to dive deep into Tina's research, we recommend her paper, The constraints of racialization: How classification and valuation hinder scientific research on human variation (https://bit.ly/3DfDrOS).

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Inflation is particularly potent as a political issue because it touches everyone, but President Biden still rarely addresses the topic substantively in public appearances. How much of an issue will it be in November?

And a joint database, designed to prevent voter fraud, lets states track those Americans registered to vote in multiple places. But the program has recently become the target of a far-right disinformation campaign that's already led one state to stop participating.

This episode: White House correspondent Asma Khalid, White House correspondent Scott Detrow, voting reporter Miles Parks, and chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley.

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Deep below our city streets lie intricate networks of underground piping built to carry away excess rainfall run off. These stormwater systems mostly go unnoticed until heavy rains overwhelm them, causing streets to flood. Now, with rising rainfall averages in much of the nation, cities need to plan for more water. Guest host Dan Charles talks to climate correspondent Lauren Sommer about the challenges of such planning and why many cities aren't set up to handle the coming rains.

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With President Biden's agenda stalled in Congress, lawmakers are turning their attention to bipartisan reform proposals meant to increase public trust in government. Two ideas that have garnered attention: barring legislators from trading individual stocks and clarifying the Electoral Count Act, which sets the process for certifying presidential election results.

This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, acting congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and congressional reporter Claudia Grisales.

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Kyne is the stage name of Kyne Santos, a drag queen math communicator. The former Canada's Drag Race contestant posted her first video explaining a math riddle in full drag on TikTok during the pandemic.

Since then Kyne's math videos, under the username @onlinekyne, have have attracted 1.2 million followers and generated 33.2 million likes. Kyne talks to host Emily Kwong on how to present math to the masses – and about bringing STEM to the drag scene.

Check out Kyne's TikTok videos: tiktok.com/@onlinekyne

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Progressives point to a law that gives the education secretary the unilateral power to discharge federal student debt as a mechanism Biden can use to fulfill his promise to forgive $10 thousand in student loans for all borrowers. The White House has so far insisted the move would require an act of Congress.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Asma Khalid, and education correspondent Cory Turner.

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For Black History Month, Short Wave is celebrating Black voices in STEM - bringing back some of our favorite conversations, as well as new guests with expertise and insights to share. In this encore episode, former Short Wave host Maddie Sofia talks to inventor James West about his life, career, and about how a device he helped invent in the 60's made their interview possible. (Encore)

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The White House, which has known about Eric Lander's behavior for weeks following an internal investigation, faces questions about why Biden failed to fire the Cabinet-level official sooner. Also: 900,000 Americans have died of COVID. As states give up on mitigation efforts, what does the future of the pandemic look like?

This episode: White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, congressional reporter Claudia Grisales, and health reporter Will Stone.

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At Short Wave, it's an unspoken goal to ask and answer every question under the sun — after all, science underpins the entire universe. Today, we think we've finally met our curiosity match in mathematician Hannah Fry and geneticist Adam Rutherford. They're the duo behind the science mystery podcast The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry and co-authors of the new book Rutherford & Fry's Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything (Abridged). In the book, they ask questions like: How old is the Earth? Does your dog love you? And, is there free will?

Obviously, the middle question is of particular interest.

Are you also curious about a scientific mystery? DM us the old-fashioned way — over email at [email protected]. We'll open an investigation.

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