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Tomorrow, the Great American Eclipse will sweep across North America, and millions will experience total darkness.

It’s an eerie and mysterious experience even though at this point, we know exactly what’s happening: the moon passes in front of the sun, casting a shadow over earth.

But imagine you lived in the ancient world, with no warning that an eclipse was about to happen, as the sun’s disk suddenly disappeared and the day fell dark and cool. Unsurprisingly, eclipses were often seen as bad omens.

That was true in Mesopotamia, the region that today includes Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Turkey. But even then, ancient Mesopotamian astronomers were looking for other explanations.

Watching an eclipse is one of humanity’s oldest rituals, and it’s been inspiration to scientists since the beginning of time.

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The American response to Israel’s war with Hamas could be a major factor in the upcoming Congressional elections.

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Bird flu has spread to cows. And now a human has contracted the virus from an infected cow. What kind of risk does this virus pose to people, and are we prepared to treat it?

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The recent transplant of a genetically modified pig kidney into a living human raises hopes that lives will no longer depend on the availability of human donor organs.

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One week after a massive container ship crashed into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to collapse, a massive effort is underway to clear the wreckage. But it’s still unclear how long the cleanup will take.

Meanwhile, with much of the Port of Baltimore shut down, the economic impact is being felt locally, regionally and in the broad economy.

Host Mary Louise Kelly gets the latest from NPR’s Laurel Wamsley, on the ground in Baltimore, and Camila Domonoske, who covers the auto industry for NPR. Baltimore is a major national hub for the import and export of vehicles.

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When news outlets shut down in a city, that creates what’s often called a news desert. But in Richmond, California, NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik says the situation is more like a news mirage.

Energy giant Chevron is the biggest employer – and the biggest polluter in the California city. Chevron also owns the local news site. How does that impact the community there?

NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Folkenflik and Miranda Green, director of investigations for the news site Floodlight – about what happens when a major corporation owns the local news.

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Hawaii is no stranger to extravagant homes owned by the super-rich. But when a tech billionaire started buying up land in Waimea, a small, rural town on the Big Island, the community got curious – and worried.

Locals fear it will become even more difficult for Native Hawaiians to afford to live in Waimea and buy property. In Hawaii, the average home price is close to a million dollars.

Who’s purchasing all this land in rural Hawaii and how will it affect the already high cost of housing in Waimea?

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Shirley Chisholm made history in 1968 as the first Black woman ever elected to Congress. Four years later, the New York representative made history again when she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, the first woman and the first African American to do so. A new Netflix movie, called simply “Shirley,” tells her story.

Host Ailsa Chang speaks with Regina King, who plays Shirley Chisholm and the film’s director John Ridley.

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This week Russian authorities extended the detention of American journalist Evan Gershkovich. Authorities have yet to provide any evidence to backup charges that Gershkovich was spying, and no trial date has been set.

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People who work on ways to end poverty have been trying a simple approach lately: just giving money to those in need, with no strings attached.

Universal basic income, or UBI, once seemed like a radical idea in the US. But now, many places in the country are pushing to make UBI a permanent part of the social safety net.

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