Hawaii’s destructive, spectacular, endless eruption

The Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island has been erupting for more than 30 years; this week new rifts in a nearby subdivision destroyed more than 35 structures. As long as there's magma moving underground, the destruction could continue.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Some potential 2020 presidential candidates want to promise a job for everyone. Here’s how that would work, and what could go wrong The election of Donald Trump and the strong 2016 campaign of Bernie Sanders have moved some big ideas from the political fringe toward the mainstream. A job guarantee would make employment offices literal, putting anyone who came in right to work — in the case of Sen. Cory Booker’s plan, with strong wages and benefits. "The idea is that we would then drive bad jobs out of existence," says the co-architect of one proposal. But some economists see big risks. Sara Ariel Wong for NPR For kids who are both gifted and struggling with learning disabilities, often only one is addressed. A new book suggests solutions Scott Barry Kaufman was placed in special education classes as a kid, but once his anxiety and auditory disability were addressed he got degrees from Yale and Cambridge. He says there are a lot of kids like him out there, with both big strengths and big challenges – “great problem solver, wide range of interests, but also high anxiety, easily frustrated,” for instance. He also says creativity is undervalued, making us “miss out on a lot of these kids that are going to really shake up the world.” U.S. Geological Survey via AP Kilauea lava is like 'a burst pipe' — and no one can tell how long the volcano will keep gushing into a Hawaii neighborhood For weeks, the Pu'u O'o crater on Hawaii's Big Island inflated like a balloon. Then the magma suddenly drained away, and flowed east underground, setting off earthquakes before burbling up into a subdivision. (See the photos.) Dozens of homes have been destroyed, and 1,700 residents have been evacuated. Scientists have no idea when — or even if — they'll be able to go home. Jay Westcott for The Washington Post/Getty Images It 'would be a game-changer, almost a miracle cure': A sepsis treatment that drew scoffs is getting large-scale research Vitamin C can't actually do much for your cold, but some researchers think that, combined with B1 and steroids, it could cure the much deadlier inflammatory condition. A Nofolk, Va., doctor announced the combo early last year; some doctors called it snake oil, but Dr. Paul Marik says "the response is reproducible." If it works, "this is something that's going to be very, very cheap and accessible throughout the world." Renee Klahr and Brittany Mayes/NPR Months away from the next major election, the many U.S. voting systems remain vulnerable. How secure is your county's? While most areas have moved away from voting equipment that doesn’t produce a paper trail (see if yours has here) much of the rest of the process — registration, finding your polling place and more — has gone digital. And as one cybersecurity expert notes, “nobody has ever built a secure computer.” One local business official says such stark reminders are "putting our city on therapy." You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002