Short Wave

Health Correspondent Allison Aubrey updates us on the Biden Administration's goal to have 70 percent of U.S. adults vaccinated by the July 4. Plus, as vaccine makers plan for the possibility that COVID-19 vaccine boosters will be needed, they're pushing ahead with research into new-generation flu shots and mRNA cancer vaccines.

Questions? Existential dread? Optimism? We'd love to hear it — write us at [email protected].

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The Supreme Court unanimously sided with college athletes in their challenge to NCAA compensation rules. The court's ruling was narrow, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh seemed open to going further saying, "the NCAA's business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America."

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and senior political editor and correspondent Carrie Johnson.

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The anus is an evolutionary marvel. But how and when did this organ evolve into what it is today? Today on Short Wave, Maddie gets to the bottom of these questions with The Atlantic's science writer Katherine Wu.

For more of Katherine's reporting, check out 'The Body's Most Embarrassing Organ Is an Evolutionary Marvel' from The Atlantic.

If you have stories ideas or comments — email us at [email protected].

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Nearly 1 billion people speak Mandarin Chinese. But Short Wave host Emily Kwong is not among them. As a third generation Chinese American, Emily's heritage language was lost through the years when her father, Christopher Kwong, stopped speaking the language at a young age in order to adjust to life in the U.S. Now, at age 30, Emily's trying to reclaim Chinese by attending virtual Mandarin classes for the first time. In conversation with her father, Emily explores how being 'Chinese enough' gets tied up in language fluency, and how language is a bridge that can be broken and rebuilt between generations — as an act of love and reclamation.

Check out more of the Where We Come From series here.

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Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman is part of a new class of progressive lawmakers hoping to push their party left on issues like police reform, healthcare and racial justice. A proponent of reparations legislation, the former New York principal tells NPR that President Biden's position "falls short" when it comes to reparations for survivors and descendants of victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre.

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Hey, Nerd! NPR takes Juneteenth off. We'll be back Sunday with a special episode from NPR's Where We Come From series. It focuses on Emily Kwong's relationship to her heritage language and journey to learn Mandarin as an adult.

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The Supreme Court threw out a Republican-led challenge to the Affordable Care Act, and the justices ruled unanimously in favor of a Catholic foster agency denying service to LGBTQ couples. Plus, the Biden administration expanded transgender and gay student protections, setting up potential legal battles in conservative states.

This episode: Congressional correspondent Kelsey Snell, White House correspondent Asma Khalid, national justive correspondent Carrie Johnson, and education correspondent Cory Turner.

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#BlackBirdersWeek emerged last year from a groundswell of support for Christian Cooper, a Black man and avid birder, who was harassed by a white woman while birding in Central Park. This year is all about celebrating Black joy. Co-organizer Deja Perkins talks about how the week went and why it's important to observe nature wherever you live.

Send us your birding highlights! We're at [email protected].

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In Geneva, President Biden and Russia President Vladimir Putin met for hours. At separate news conferences Putin described the talks as "constructive" and Biden said he did what he came to do. Both leaders agreed to keep talking.

This episode: White House correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Ayesha Rascoe, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and NPR's Moscow correspondent Lucian Kim.

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Becoming fluent in a second language is difficult. But for adults, is it impossible? Short Wave hosts Maddie Sofia and Emily Kwong dissect the "critical period hypothesis," a theory which linguists have been debating for decades — with the help of Sarah Frances Phillips, a Ph.D. student in the linguistics department at New York University.

You can watch a related video about Emily learning Mandarin here. It's part of the Where We Come From series.

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