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Thursday

Rooted in Motown, Detroit style skating rolls on into the next generation

Inside RollerCade in the 1970s Kyle Black hide caption

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Kyle Black

Culture

Rooted in Motown, Detroit style skating rolls on into the next generation

Social media has fueled a roller resurgence and brought many new skaters into the city's longstanding Black skate community. Detroit style moves may be decades old, but they evolve over time.

Rooted in Motown, Detroit style skating rolls on into the next generation

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Sunday

Holidays are about tradition. What happens when everything starts to change?

Childhood friends. From left to right, Valeria Lemos, Daniel Molina Acosta, Paula Rueda, Paula Molina Acosta; bottom row, Carmen Molina Acosta, Veronica Lemos Maria Angelica Sotomayor hide caption

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Maria Angelica Sotomayor

Perspective

Holidays are about tradition. What happens when everything starts to change?

Carmen Molina Acosta reflects on what the celebration of the Novena de Aguinaldos means for her Colombian community — and how it's changed over the years.

Holidays are about tradition. What happens when everything starts to change?

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Saturday

Thursday

Henrietta Lacks' hometown will build statue of her to replace Robert E. Lee monument

Artist Bryce Cobbs stands next to the drawing he created of Henrietta Lacks, which was unveiled in Roanoke, Va., on Monday. The drawing will be used in the design process of a larger-than-life bronze statue. Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP hide caption

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Matt Gentry/The Roanoke Times via AP

Race

Henrietta Lacks' hometown will build statue of her to replace Robert E. Lee monument

A statue of the woman, whose cells were taken without her consent and became integral in several major medical breakthroughs, will be built in Roanoke, Va.

God Wants You To Be Rich (2021)
Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty I

Throughline

God Wants You To Be Rich (2021)

In the New Testament, Jesus says it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. In the United States today, many Christians believe in something radically different. In what's known as the prosperity gospel, wealth is a sign of virtue and God's favor. The effects of this belief can be seen throughout American life from business to politics to social Policy.

God Wants You To Be Rich (2021)

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Wednesday

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

Lan Phu and young Lisa Phu at Six Flags Great Adventure in 1982 Lisa Phu hide caption

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Lisa Phu

Code Switch

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

It wasn't until Lisa Phu had her own child that she started unlocking her mother's history. In her new 5-part series called Before Me, Lisa asks her mother, Lan, the questions she should have asked years ago. Lisa tells us what she learned in getting to know Lan in this way.

Unlocking family history in 'Before Me'

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Sunday

She made civil rights history in Selma. Now, she guides visitors through its past

JoAnne Bland has been giving tours of Selma, Ala., for more than 30 years. Above, Bland is seen at her home in Selma on Dec. 15. Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR hide caption

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Lynsey Weatherspoon for NPR

The Civil Rights Generation

She made civil rights history in Selma. Now, she guides visitors through its past

JoAnne Bland was 11 when she marched in Selma on March 7, 1965, known today as "Bloody Sunday." Her tours are a window into the violence of that day and her city's role in the fight for civil rights.

She made civil rights history in Selma. Now, she guides visitors through its past

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Saturday

J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was wrongly revoked, energy secretary says

American nuclear physicist and father of the atom bomb J. Robert Oppenheimer is pictured in the 1940s. Agence France Presse/Getty Images hide caption

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Agence France Presse/Getty Images

J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance was wrongly revoked, energy secretary says

J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, lost his security clearance "through a flawed process that violated the Commission's own regulations," according to the Department of Energy.

Friday

A century and counting: Ukraine's ongoing fight to free itself from Russia

Ukrainians in the capital Kyiv take part in the 2004 "Orange Revolution." The demonstrators protested against what they said were Russian attempts to rig the country's presidential election. Ukrainians say Russia's invasion this year is the latest attempt by Moscow over the past century to maintain control and influence over Ukraine. Ivan Sekretarev/AP hide caption

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Ivan Sekretarev/AP

Ukraine invasion — explained

A century and counting: Ukraine's ongoing fight to free itself from Russia

This month marks 100 years since Ukraine joined the Soviet Union. It did so after Ukraine lost in a bid for independence. Ukraine once again finds itself in another life-and-death battle with Moscow.

A century and counting: Ukraine's ongoing fight to free itself from Russia

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Thursday

Congress votes to remove a bust of the Dred Scott decision's author from the Capitol

A marble bust of Chief Justice Roger Taney is displayed in the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the U.S. Capitol on March 9, 2020. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

America Reckons With Racial Injustice

Congress votes to remove a bust of the Dred Scott decision's author from the Capitol

The bill calls for replacing the bust of former Chief Justice Roger Taney, who wrote the decision upholding slavery, with one of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black person to serve on the high court.

Road to Partition
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Throughline

Road to Partition

What happens when a nation splits apart? It's a question many of us are asking ourselves today. It happened 75 years ago with Partition, when India and Pakistan became independent nations, divided by a somewhat arbitrary line that separated neighbors, families, and communities. 15 million people were displaced, leaving a trail of chaos and violence that in some ways has never ended. In today's episode, NPR politics reporter Asma Khalid takes us back in time to learn how the road to Partition was paved, and to try to understand how people and nations reach a tipping point when neighbors realize it's no longer possible to live side by side.

Road to Partition

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Wednesday

From Scientific Exile To Gene Editing Pioneer

Recombinant DNA technology allows scientists to cut, edit and clone individual genes. Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop hide caption

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Malte Mueller/Getty Images/fStop

Short Wave

From Scientific Exile To Gene Editing Pioneer

Gene editing was a new idea in the mid-1970s. So when Harvard and MIT planned new research in recombinant DNA, alarm bells went off. "People were worried about a 'Frankengene,'" says Lydia Villa-Komaroff, then a freshly minted PhD. Amidst a political circus, the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts banned research into recombinant DNA, forcing scientists like Villa-Komaroff into exile. But that turned out to be just the prelude to a breakthrough. In this episode, Dr. Villa-Komaroff tells Emily Kwong the story of overcoming the skeptics and coaxing bacteria into producing insulin for humans.

From Scientific Exile To Gene Editing Pioneer

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