Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
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The activity on Facebook and Instagram included organizing counter-protests for a white nationalist rally in Washington. There's evidence of links to previous Russian disinformation efforts.
It's well after dark and your stomach is rumbling. Which foods are your healthiest options? Here are 15 late-night snacks that may even help you sleep better. Read on
Probiotics are live microbes that offer a wide range of health benefits. Find out if taking probiotics regularly can positively impact your heart health. Read on
Whether you're fighting fatigue, trying to boost immunity, or recovering from an injury, these eight foods can help prevent and manage certain health problems. Read on
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The former chairman of the Trump campaign is on trial on bank and tax fraud charges. The trial is expected to focus less on Manafort's work for then-candidate Trump or Russia and more on how Manafort spent his allegedly ill-gotten gains from work he did for the government of Ukraine.
For the U.N.'s International Day of Friendship, a roundup of our favorite NPR stories
Today is the U.N.'s International Day of Friendship, and to celebrate, we’re rounding up some of our favorite NPR stories on kinship and camaraderie. We hope it gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling today!
Finding a long-lost friend
Courtesy of Sharony Green
In the 1970s, two little girls met at an elementary school in Miami and became close friends. One was black, and one was white.
Sharony Green is now an assistant professor of history at the University of Alabama, and she said her friend Beth helped her during a tough time.
But over time, the two girls grew apart. They found other friends and began to spend less and less time together. And race might have played a part in that, Green says. But Green never forgot her childhood friend.
NPR looked for Green's friend via social media and found that the two women weren't very far from one another at all. Read how we helped them reconnect.
2 goat pals stuck on a bridge
Todd Tilson/PA Turnpike Commission
In April, two goats climbed on a beam under a Pennsylvania Turnpike bridge in rural western Pennsylvania and got stuck. No one knows why they did it. They’re not talking.
But goats do love to climb and explore, notes goat specialist Susan Schoenian of the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. So these two goats, who are probably pals (because goats are social animals), escaped from the nearby yard where they lived and went on an adventure. Read about their dramatic rescue.
'I am calling randomly to say hi'
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
For two decades, Eritrea and Ethiopia were bitterly divided by the cold war that followed one of the deadliest conflicts on the African continent. That came to an end in July, when the countries’ two rulers promised a new spirit of cooperation. They said citizens of each other’s countries could travel freely. And phone lines that had been dormant for decades came to life.
That’s when Frehiwot Negash made a random phone call. She Googled Asmara, the Eritrean capital, and came up with the number for the Crystal Hotel. "When I called," she said, "the receptionist answered, and I said, 'I am calling from Ethiopia to say congratulations.' And I told her, 'I am very happy.'"
The receptionist told her she was happy, too. Negash told her that someday she would fly to Asmara. And the receptionist replied, "We will welcome you." Read the full story.
A virtual friendship turned IRL
Last summer, a 22-year-old rapper from Harlem named Spencer was playing Words With Friends, the online game. The game matched him with Roz, an 81-year-old retiree in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The two played more than 300 games together and struck up a close friendship. In December, Spencer flew down to Florida to meet Roz in person. Photos of the two hugging went viral -- because even the Internet knows a real thing when it sees it. Listen to the story.
'Hi old person. Today's my birfday'
Courtesy of Tara Wood
After his wife died, Dan Peterson didn't know what to do with himself. He spent a lot of time in his garden remembering his wife's favorite flower, white roses. One day on a dreaded grocery run, Dan felt particularly depressed.
"And all of the sudden I come to the end of the hall, er aisle, and here's this little girl, and she's sort of bouncing up and down and pointing at me," Dan says. "And she said, 'Hi old person. Today's my birfday.'" Norah seemed to know Dan needed some extra cheer; she ended up brightening his whole life. Read about their unexpected friendship.
This email was written by Malaka Gharib, deputy editor of NPR’s Goats and Soda. Make her day by tweeting her your best stories about friendship at @MalakaGharib.
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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation: Moonrise doesn't usually look this interesting. For one thing, the full moon is not usually this dark -- but last Friday the moon rose here as it simultaneously passed through the shadow of the Earth. For another thing, the Moon does not usually look this red -- but last Friday it was slightly illuminated by red sunlight preferentially refracted through the Earth's atmosphere. Next, the Moon doesn't usually rise next to a planet, but since Mars was also coincidently nearly opposite the Sun, the red planet was visible to the full moon's upper right. Finally, from the vantage point of most people, the Moon does not usually rise over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Last Friday's sunset eclipse, however, specifically its remarkable MicroBlood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse, was captured from Rio's Botofogo Beach, along with an unusually large crowd of interested onlookers.
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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
This is an automated email. If you notice any problems, just send me a note at gtracy@gmail.com. You can add and remove email addresses to this distribution list here, https://apodemail.org.Unsubscribe
Have you been asked by a doctor or nurse to rate your pain on a scale of 0 to 10 – with 0 meaning no pain at all and 10 indicating the worst pain you can imagine. Chances are you have. The rating system has become a routine part of care.
"I never look at just the pain scale," says Dr. Chrystina Jeter, an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist with UCLA Health in Southern California.
Now health care providers are trying to come up with a system that involves words, not numbers. Using words to describe pain brings greater specificity to the measurement of pain and can help focus care so it’s more effective.
If you’re in pain, try a metaphor, describe the course of your day and talk about how pain interferes with what you’d like to be doing.
Wren Vetens thought she'd figured out a great plan to make her gender-confirmation surgery affordable.
She chose a doctoral program in physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a school that not only embraced transgender students like her, but also granted insurance coverage for her gender-confirmation surgery when she enrolled in 2016.
But things got complicated in a hurry. An online price estimate put the cost at $19,000-$25,000. The hospital's billed price to her insurer was $91,850. Vetens and her mom soon felt they had been "the victims of a bait-and-switch scam."
Read more in the latest story in our Bill of the Month series, a collaboration between NPR and Kaiser Health News.
You find a tick on your scalp or maybe somewhere below the belt.
What are the chances that the tick’s bite will have infected you with bacteria that cause Lyme disease?
The odds range from zero to roughly 50 percent. The exact probability depends on three factors: the tick species, where it came from and how long the tick was feeding, NPR’s Paul Chisholm reports.
Your Shots editor, Scott Hensley
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The traditional 0 to 10 scale works for triaging, but for longer-term management, your medical providers need to know not just how much you're hurting, but also how the pain is affecting you — the things it is stopping you from doing.
CBS Photo Archive/CBS via Getty Images
Democratic socialist groups are booming in America. Here’s what they believe — and what they want to do
Membership in the Democratic Socialists of America has gone up sevenfold, to about 43,000 nationwide, in three years. The group views capitalism as oppressive and “fundamentally undemocratic” and believes some sectors of the economy, like health care and utilities, should be government-controlled — though it’s pragmatic in its pursuit of those ideals.
Fewer teens have summer jobs than ever; guidance counselors think that’s great
Flipping burgers or stocking shelves won’t prepare them for a career as well as an unpaid internship or a good summer camp will, one high school counselor says. Teens won’t need much convincing — their participation in the workforce has fallen in the past 20 years to 35 percent.
If your doctor misunderstands your pain, you won’t just be uncomfortable — it could hamper your treatment and recovery
Being clear not just about how much pain you're feeling but also about how it's limiting you can help clinicians choose the right mix of therapies or medications. For injuries, that could mean being able to properly do your physical therapy. For chronic pain, it could allow you to stay as active as possible.
In some cities, you can’t work construction unless you know your archaeology
Gilberto Pagani is a bulldozer operator working to expand Rome's subway system near the Coliseum. But even 40 feet deep, the crew keeps running into artifacts — "gold rings … glasswork laminated in gold depicting a Roman god, some amphoras." Even an entire house belonging to a military commander, its vibrant decorations intact.
When no one is watching, it’s easy for women to disappear without a trace
Annita Lucchesi discovered no one was keeping track of the number of native women who go missing or are mysteriously killed in the United States and Canada, which may be as high as 300 a year. Most cases don’t need to be reported to national authorities like the FBI. Lucchesi so far has documented about 2,000 cases from recent years.
