The Exchange

With winter weather here, superintendents around the state have had to make the call on whether or not to close schools in their districts. And even with advances in forecasting, it can be a tough decision to make. We ask how they do it and also why some districts use so-called "blizzard bags," which allow students and teachers to work from home.

Population growth has been a concern for environmentalists, and other interest groups, for more than a century. But the anxiety over the loss of space, and resources, as a result of human growth and consumption, is not simple. We talk with Sam Evans-Brown, host of Outside/In , NHPR's podcast about the natural world and how we use it, about his two-part show on the history of the anxiety of overpopulation. Listen to the episodes of Outside/In on overpopulation here .

We learn about the miracle of fungi, from mushrooms, to yeast, to mold on your shower curtain. Fungi are in a vast yet little-known kingdom of their own, closer to animals than plants, and one of the oldest and largest organisms on earth. In addition to tasty mushrooms foraged in fall, we learn about the important role fungi plays in the ecosystem, their relationship to trees, and promising areas of research for the future.

Joshua Johnson, host of NPR's 1A , has been hosting focused, incisive conversations about all manner of subjects since early 2017, and recently he paid a visit to New Hampshire to host a few hours of the program here. While he was here, NHPR's Peter Biello spoke with him on stage at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord. They discussed the art of interviewing, how he started in public radio, and the place of public radio in the media landscape.

Lakes Region General Hospital is just the latest hospital in New Hampshire to close its unit that cares for women in labor and delivers babies. It's the ninth hospital since 2000 to do so. We examine what's behind this national trend and how the state is responding. Among the solutions: freestanding birth centers and maternity training for emergency dispatchers.

For the most American holiday, steeped in tradition, a new book on "The Mayflower: The Families, The Voyage and The Founding of America." British historian Rebecca Fraser focuses on Edward Winslow, who she calls the most important, but least remembered, of the group of separatists known as the Pilgrims. We discuss the challenges they faced in England and in the New World, as well as the role of women and their changing relationship with the Native Americans.

Gone are the days when shopping required visiting multiple establishments -- the butcher, the baker, the fishmonger. Now, we can find just about everything under one roof. But there are major changes underway in how we gather food -- including both high-tech innovations and the revival of some traditional ways of shopping. We take a deep dive into shopping trends -- from meal kits and in-store drinking and dining to no-frills shopping and self-scanning. What grocery stores do you gravitate to --

We learn about new ways of growing our food. There's aquaculture; growing fish and crops in coastal waters and the open ocean. At the mouth of the Piscataqua River, a UNH-led team has designed a raft that serves as a pen for steelhead trout, with mussels and sea kelp that benefit from the fish. Then there's aquaponics - using the wastewater from farming fish to provide nutrients for plants grown without soil. And then, we hear Peter Biello's interview with Joshua Johnson of 1A when he visited

Two barrels. Four bodies. And the decades-long mystery that led to a serial killer. A podcast about a cold case that's changing how murders will be investigated forever. D.N.A testing was crucial in identifying the victims and finding the killer, and has become a powerful new tool for crime investigators and law enforcement. But should we be concerned about privacy issues?

We discuss leadership changes at the New Hampshire House, after Democrats gain control of both chambers in the midterm elections. The New Hampshire ACLU is filing a federal lawsuit against the Northwood Police Department for what they say was an illegal immigration stop based on racial profiling. Another ACLU lawsuit contends that mental health patients in New Hampshire are routinely denied their constitutional rights by being detained in emergency rooms without a hearing. And a judge has ruled