Short Wave

OpenAI head Sam Altman appeared before a Senate panel this week to talk about his ChatGPT product and the future of artificial intelligence. Lawmakers acknowledge the broad upsides of the fast-moving technology but hope to craft regulation in order to blunt the social and civic drawbacks that arrived alongside past tech breakthroughs.

This episode: political reporter Deepa Shivaram, disinformation correspondent Shannon Bond, and congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Race is a social construct — so why are DNA test kits like the ones from 23andMe coded like they reveal biological fact about the user's racial makeup? This episode, Short Wave Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber talks to anthropologist Agustín Fuentes about the limits of at-home genetic tests and how misinformation about race and biology can come into play.

Using science at home to decode your life? Email us at [email protected].

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Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed a bill banning abortion in North Carolina after 12 weeks. But as Republicans hold supermajorities in both houses of the state legislature, it is likely the veto will be overridden, and restrictions could take effect as soon as this summer.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, senior political editor & correspondent Domenico Montanaro, and WFAE politics & government reporter Steve Harrison.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Four senators — two Democrats, two Republicans — are joining forces on a bill to regulate how social media companies can interact with users under the age of 18. They're one of many groups in Congress trying to increase oversight and regulation in this field, but given the country's polarized politics, does their legislation have any chance of making its way to President Biden's desk?

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh, and technology correspondent Dara Kerr.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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The COVID-19 public health emergency has ended, but millions across the globe continue to deal with Long COVID. Researchers are still pursuing basic questions about Long COVID — its causes, how to test for it and how it progresses. Today, we look at a group of researchers studying the blood of some Long COVID patients in the hopes of finding a biomarker that could let physicians test for the disease.

Questions? Thread of scientific research you're loving? Email us at [email protected] — we'd love to hear about it!

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Lawmakers have yet to reach a deal to avert U.S. default, which could come as soon as next month. In Ohio, Republican lawmakers are attempting to amend the state's constitution to waylay reproductive rights activists' push to safeguard access to abortion. And, in Can't Let It Go, news of a dog who is very old.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, political correspondent Kelsey Snell, senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro, and Ohio Statehouse News Bureau Karen Kasler.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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There's a lot for scientists to learn about the origins of humans' musical abilities. In the last few years, though, they've discovered homo sapiens have some company in our ability to make musical rhythm. That's why today, producer Berly McCoy brings the story of singing lemurs. She explains how their harmonies could help answer questions about the beginnings of humans' musical abilities, and what all of this has to do with Queen.

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Social Security provides retirement money to U.S. workers who have paid into the system via taxes. The program could be forced to cut payments within the next decade if Congress doesn't act to shore up its funding.

One bipartisan plan, still in its early days, comes from Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, and Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats: an independent endowment seeded by a $1.5 trillion investment from the federal government.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, political correspondent Susan Davis, and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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This episode includes discussion of sexual violence.

Jurors found former President Donald Trump liable for battery and defamation in the civil lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, who says Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store.

While the jurors did not find that Trump raped Carroll, they agreed that he "sexually abused" her and that he defamed her when he denied her story.

Carroll was awarded $5 million in total damages for both claims.

And New York Republican Rep. George Santos, infamous for lies about his background, has pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal charges.

This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, reporter Andrea Bernstein, national political correspondent Mara Liasson, and national justice correspondent Carrie Johnson.

The podcast is produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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This week, the American Psychological Association issued its first-of-kind guidelines for parents to increase protection for children online. It comes at a time of rising rates of depression and anxiety among teens.

This episode, NPR science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff looks into the data on how that seismic change has shifted the mental health of teenagers. In her reporting, she found that the seismic shift of smartphones and social media has re-defined how teens socialize, communicate and even sleep.

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