Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, infectious disease clinician and researcher at Columbia, ProHEALTH chief of the division of Infectious Disease, senior fellow for Infectious Disease at UHG Research and Development, and president of Parasites Without Borders and Joseph Osmundson, microbiologist and writer, share updates on the monkeypox outbreak, including the symptoms, treatment and vaccine rollout, and Joseph Osmundson and talks about how this is affecting the queer community in NYC.

The majority of the New York City Council members are new and are part of a class that is the most diverse and progressive in city history. Over the next year Brian Lehrer will get to know all 51 members. This week, Councilmember James Gennaro talks about his priorities for District 24, which includes the neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Pomonok, Electchester, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, Briarwood, Parkway Village, Jamaica Hills, and Jamaica.

His "show and tell"?  Glaciers!  Specifically, Goose Pond in Jamaica's Captain Tilly Park, formed by a retreating glacier 12,000 years ago.

Catch up with all the interviews here.

Rebecca McMackin, director of horticulture for Brooklyn Bridge Park and Pawel Pieluszynski, Brooklyn Bridge Park’s wetland gardener, share how they make Brooklyn Bridge Park attractive to wildlife, like the fireflies now appearing at dusk on the Bridgeview Lawn.

You could call a group of fireflies an "illumination"

@BrianLehrer I just went to the firefly sanctuary in New Canaan, Ct. It was spectacular!

Insect life cycles are often based on temperature, so in warm years, emergence can happen earlier. But right around early July is pretty normal for us. You can actually use this amazing app (iNaturalist) to go observe observations and get a sense of their emergence timing.

Different species of firefly will display at different times of the evening. But sometimes it can take ages for males to pick which female to mate with. They have to, because some female fireflies (of different species) will trick and then eat them!

It can be difficult, since both groups love moist environments. But while mosquitoes need (even tiny patches of) open water to breed, fireflies just need wet ground and leaves. So it is possible to have wet areas with no open water but keep an eye on open water is important.

The fireflies are the same size as individuals (as much as I would LOVE giant beetles in our park) but populations may be larger due to environmental factors like the wet spring we had.

THE BEST!

Jay Varma, physician and epidemiologist, director, Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response, professor of Population Health Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine talks about the latest wave of cases caused by BA.5, the possibility of an Omicron-specific booster shot this fall and more COVID news.

Terri Jackson, executive director of the Women's National Basketball Players Association and Kavitha Davidson, sportswriter and correspondent for HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel” join to discuss the trial of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia on drug smuggling charges for the possession of two cannabis-derived vape cartridges.

Mayor Adams released the administration's housing plan last month, but it didn't include a targeted number of new apartments the city would allow to be built. Matthew Murphy, executive director of the NYU Furman Center, talks about the perennial housing affordability crisis in the city, and what he thinks needs to be done.

Listeners call in to share what made them stop and notice inflation (cherries? butter?) and how they're adjusting their behavior in response.

Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, talks about how the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade connects to civil rights, and the importance of voting rights as states will now regulate reproductive rights.

The European Union — facing a potential fuel crisis as it tries to avoid using Russian oil and gas -- announced that gas and nuclear energy are "green," immediately setting off a controversy. Somini Sengupta, international climate reporter for The New York Times and lead writer for the Climate Forward newsletter, explains the decision and talks about why critics think this move will prolong Europe's reliance on fossil fuels.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZero Media, foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large at TIME magazine, professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and the author of many books, including The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats – and Our Response – Will Change the World (Simon & Schuster, 2022), explains why he thinks responding to some of the biggest crises can actually help improve outcomes, plus weighs in on the latest on the war in Ukraine.