Student loan repayment has resumed. Are you ready?

Plus, how Japanese scientists are trying to revolutionize human reproduction.

View this email online by Suzanne Nuyen October 1, 2023 Good morning. This week, NASA safely sent asteroid samples to Earth, the government sued Amazon, and a regulatory agency took steps to make synthetic horseshoe crab blood more accessible.   Best of NPR The good news: Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown! The bad news: The student loan pause is over. Prepare to pay up.  LA Johnson/NPR Borrowers like me have enjoyed a respite from our student loan bills and interest for three and a half years. A lot has changed since then. It can be overwhelming for borrowers who have been paying off loans for years, let alone the millions of new borrowers who graduated during the pandemic. Luckily, NPR is here to help. Don't worry if you've ignored your bills until the last minute — there's still time to prepare for your first payment.  💵 Log on to your student loan portal (seriously, what are you waiting for?!) and figure out a repayment plan that works for you. Here are 12 things to consider as you get started. 💵 If you're a brand-new borrower, these seven tips will help you start your journey toward paying off debt. 💵 Parents with young kids: Now's the time to start thinking about college. Here's how to make sure you're saving enough for tuition. 💵 Make sure to check out the new SAVE repayment plan. Under this plan, your monthly payment could be $0, depending on your income and family size.  Read all of NPR's coverage on the student loan restart. Newsletter continues after sponsor message Starting tomorrow, NPR is dedicating a week to spotlighting climate solutions. It’s easy to feel hopeless about the future. That’s why reporters across the NPR Network have been searching the world for climate change innovators. Now, they’re ready to share what they’ve found for NPR’s Climate Solutions Week. The Week That Was When Takeoff, a member of the rap group Migos, was fatally shot last year, it left the hip-hop community shaken and irrevocably altered the lives of his loved ones — including Quavo, his best friend, uncle and bandmate. Quavo founded the Rocket Foundation to honor Takeoff's life and legacy and recently traveled to D.C. to speak on gun violence and tell his story.  California Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in her home this week at age 90. She was first elected in 1992, but rose to political prominence in 1978 when she became San Francisco's interim mayor after the assassination of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. "She broke down barriers and glass ceilings but never lost her belief in the spirit of political cooperation," California Gov. Gavin Newsome said in a statement. These Japanese scientists could revolutionize the way humans reproduce. They're researching in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG. Their goal is to create "artificial" eggs and sperm from almost any cell in the human body. IVG could make new kinds of families possible — but it comes with ethical problems.  Taylor Swift has done what Midwesterners could not: Make the nation fall in love with ranch (or seemingly ranch) dressing. The singer has dominated the internet since last weekend when she attended a Kansas City Chiefs game with tight end Travis Kelce's mom. A tweet of Swift smiling, mid-snack, next to a chicken tender and "seemingly ranch" dip went viral immediately.  Podcast Picks Tatyana Deryugina/Gies College of Business Planet Money: Give the Planet Money team any topic, and they can tie it back to the economy. They'll break it down for you and explore the forces that shape your life. 🎧 Scientists say climate change is making natural disasters worse. Economics and natural disaster expert Tatyana Deryugina's research has some surprising implications for how we should be responding to them.  Outside/In, from New Hampshire Public Radio: Host Nate Hegyi takes you to where curiosity and the natural world collide.  🎧 Billions of dollars have been invested in charging infrastructure to speed up the transition to electric cars. But EVs won't solve every problem. Listen to why transit activists say we must rethink how we get around. Below the Waterlines: Houston After Hurricane Harvey, from Houston Public Media: Examine the efforts Houston has made to make the region more resilient after Hurricane Harvey.  🎧 From floating wetlands to an abandoned golf course-turned-nature preserve, take a look at the innovative ways infrastructure can slow down, absorb and filter floodwaters. One Donation at a Time Ignite curiosity, amplify storytelling, and strengthen independent journalism by backing the NPR Network. Your donation nurtures a deep understanding of the voices in your community and around the world. If you think your gift won't make a difference, you couldn't be more wrong. Grassroots support has sustained public radio for more than a generation. All it takes is everyone giving what they can, when they can. Help today. Donate Now Scott's Thoughts Carmen Mandato/Getty Images  I doubt the sight of a Miami Dolphin’s backup quarterback taking a knee to stop play on the 28-yard line of the Denver Broncos will make highlight reels. It’s not a long bomb of a touchdown pass, a kick-off return, or an ankle-twisting tackle.   But that play last Sunday — called in the dwindling moments of the 4th quarter by Miami head coach Mike McDaniel — could become a celebrated example of sportsmanship.   It was in the last seconds of a game. The Dolphins had romped (and I think that’s the word) for 726 yards and 70 points. Denver scored ... 20. Miami’s quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, was given a 4th quarter rest after completing 23 of his 36 passes for 309 yards. His arm must have been tired.     The Dolphins had a chance to score three points with a last-second field goal. This would tie the all-time NFL record of 73 points, scored by the Chicago Bears in 1940. The hometown Miami crowd chanted, "Three more points! Three more points!"   "It felt like chasing points and chasing a record. That's not what we came to the game to do," Coach McDaniel told the press after the game. Instead, he called for his quarterback to take a knee and run out the game clock, even as the crowd groaned.  "It's not the way you want to get the record,” the coach said."That's called karma."   I don’t know when karma got added to the vocabulary of NFL coaches. But I like it. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). This newsletter was edited by Carol Ritchie. Enjoying this newsletter? 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