Category: International

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of the universe that have stunned both scientists and the public. But for more than twenty years before its launch, the mission faced multiple delays, cost overruns, technical difficulties and threats from Congress to kill it altogether.

We’ll speak with some of the leaders of the Webb telescope mission who fought to keep it alive — and hear from astronomers whose work is now changed forever by its images.

This episode also features reporting from NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Food, gas, rent — prices are climbing across the board. As inflation hit a 40-year high last month, millions of Americans are adjusting their spending and looking for ways to stretch their budgets.

The Federal Reserve is taking action, too. Policy makers are meeting this week to consider whether and how much to raise interest rates in an effort to curb inflation.

We talk to NPR’s chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley and business correspondent David Gura.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This week dozens of family members of victims of the Uvalde Texas school shooting showed up at the town’s first school board meeting since a gunman killed 19 students and two teachers in May.

The atmosphere became tense and emotional as families confronted board members, demanding assurances that students and staff would be safe in the coming school year.

The school board meeting followed the release of surveillance footage from the day of the shooting and an investigative report released by the Texas House of Representatives.

The investigation found that a total of 376 local, state, and federal officers converged on the scene. But due to “systemic failures and egregiously poor decision making” on the part of the police, more than an hour passed before anyone confronted the gunman.

Many Americans feel that the police stand between order and chaos. Yet the massive failure by law enforcement in Uvalde may change how the public views police and how police view themselves.

NPR’s Michel Martin speaks with Seth Stoughton, a professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This week the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol wrapped up its first set of public hearings. The final hearing focused on former President Trump’s actions – or lack of action – as rioters breached the Capitol.

As the hearings continue, the Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation. And Attorney General Merrick Garland is under pressure from the left to bring criminal charges against Trump.

We spoke to former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann about the evidence that the House Select Committee has presented and what the attorney general may be considering. Weissmann was a senior prosecutor on Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Talking about abortion can be difficult even among adults. So how do you talk to kids about it? We asked listeners to send us their questions — and brought together two experts to answer them.

Reena B. Patel, a parenting expert and licensed educational psychologist in San Diego, California, and Dr. Elise Berlan, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist in Columbus, Ohio, join us to talk about ways to broach the conversation around abortion with kids of all ages.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Record high temperatures have wreaked havoc around the world this week. In Southern England, railway tracks bent from the heat. In China, the roof tiles on a museum melted. In Texas, heat and a dry spell have caused nearly 200 water main breaks over the past month.

And extreme heat puts lives at risk, too. It’s more deadly than tornadoes, hurricanes, and all other weather events combined.

Extreme temperatures, and the attendant misery, are connected to global warming, which is driven by human activity and accelerating.

Reporters from around the globe talk about what they’re seeing and how governments are responding. NPR’s Rebecca Hersher, who reports on climate science and policy from the US, NPR’s John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Willem Marx in London.

This episode also features reporting from NPR’s Franco Ordoñez.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

How serious is the U.S. about investigating Russian war crimes in Ukraine? They put Eli Rosenbaum on the case. He’s best known for directing the Department of Justice special investigations unit which tracked down Nazis who had gone into hiding after World War II.

He lays out the challenges of conducting an investigation in the midst of an ongoing war.

This episode also features reporting from NPR’s Jason Beaubien and Brian Mann on Russian airstrikes that killed Ukrainian civilians.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Interest in birth control and emergency contraception has surged since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion. But safe and reliable birth control isn’t always easy to access.

Now the FDA is considering whether to make birth control pills available without a prescription. If approved, it would be the first over-the-counter oral contraceptive in the U.S.

We also hear from NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce about the most popular form of contraception for women in the U.S. – permanent contraception, colloquially known as “getting your tubes tied” – and why barriers to access leave many requests for this procedure unfulfilled.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The televised probe into the mob attack on the Capitol has dropped plenty of bombshells as insider testimonies pull back the curtain on the efforts of former President Donald Trump and his allies to hold onto power after he lost his reelection bid.

But at Tuesday’s hearing, one of the most compelling witnesses was not a former staffer or official but Stephen Ayers. A staunch believer in Trump, Ayers came to D.C. on Trump’s command and stormed the Capitol. After his arrest, he looked at the facts about the 2020 election and realized he was fed and had believed a lie.

Polls, studies and surveys warn that Americans are deeply and bitterly divided by politics. Can the January 6 hearing help close that partisan gap? We speak with Didi Kuo, Associate Director for Research at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Public health experts know what it takes to get a disease outbreak under control – widespread testing and treatment, and vaccines made available to communities most at risk.

But in the last two months of the Monkeypox outbreak, the response has not met the need. And there’s been criticism that the missteps look a lot like the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, with more than 1,400 confirmed cases in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more help is on the way. Testing capacity is increasing along with vaccine doses.

NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about the federal government’s response to Monkeypox and whether it’s enough to contain the outbreak.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.