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Tuesday

Revelers celebrate the new year on Jan. 1, 1942 in Times Square.

Revelers celebrate the new year on Jan. 1, 1942, in Times Square. Its New Year's Eve ball drop attracts millions of viewers — at home and in the streets of New York City — every year. Matty Zimmerman/AP hide caption

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Matty Zimmerman/AP

Why do we drop a ball on New Year's Eve? The Times Square tradition, explained

Watching a huge ball descend down a pole in Times Square has been a beloved New Year's Eve tradition for over a century. Here's how the spectacle started and what's changed over the years.

Sunday

Officials sign the Panama Canal treaties Sept. 7, 1977, at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. From left: President Jimmy Carter; Organization of American States Secretary-General Alejandro Orfila; and Panama's head of government Omar Torrijos.

Officials sign the Panama Canal treaties Sept. 7, 1977, at the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. From left: President Jimmy Carter; Organization of American States Secretary-General Alejandro Orfila; and Panama's head of government Omar Torrijos. Anonymous/AP hide caption

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Anonymous/AP

World

Jimmy Carter gave Panama control of the canal. It's one of his most controversial achievements

Handing control of the Panama Canal from the U.S. over to the Central American country was one of President Jimmy Carter's most controversial, and most overshadowed, foreign policy achievements.

Saturday

Mike Cupo, a systems operator for Public Service Electric and Gas Company, uses a special red phone to talk via radio to PSE&G staffers in the field, during a simulated Y2K drill at company headquarters in Newark, N.J., on April 9, 1999. Power plant operators across the country held drills to make sure they could keep electricity flowing if year 2000 computer glitches prevented them from communicating with each other.

Mike Cupo, a systems operator for Public Service Electric and Gas Company, uses a special red phone to talk via radio to PSE&G staffers in the field, during a simulated Y2K drill at company headquarters in Newark, N.J., on April 9, 1999. Power plant operators across the country held drills to make sure they could keep electricity flowing if year 2000 computer glitches prevented them from communicating with each other. Mike Derer/AP hide caption

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Mike Derer/AP

Moments in history

Y2K seems like a joke now, but in 1999 people were really freaking out

People feared the computer glitch would mean "the end of the world as we know it." Thankfully, Y2K didn't live up to the hype after years and billions of dollars were spent on painstaking preparation.

Moment in History - Y2K

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Thursday

A relative of a victim of a 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami participates in its 20th anniversary at Tsunami Memorial Park at Ban Nam Khem, Takuapa district of Phang Nga province, southern Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024.

A relative of a victim of a 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami participates in its 20th anniversary at Tsunami Memorial Park at Ban Nam Khem, Takuapa district of Phang Nga province, southern Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. Wason Wanichakorn/AP hide caption

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Wason Wanichakorn/AP

Asia

Mourners mark 20 years since Indian Ocean tsunami that killed some 230,000 people

Triggered by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the catastrophic event was the deadliest tsunami in recorded history.

A Tour of Gaza's Ancient Sites, Now Lost to War (Encore)

What is left of Pasha's Palace amid Israel's bombardment of Gaza. Historians of Gaza say Napoleon slept there for three nights in 1799. Omar El Qattaa for NPR hide caption

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Omar El Qattaa for NPR

State of the World from NPR

A Tour of Gaza's Ancient Sites, Now Lost to War (Encore)

Among the vast destruction of buildings in Gaza, some historically valuable and irreplaceable sites are now in ruins. In a story we first brought you in February, our correspondent visited some of these places before the war and brings us to them, then and now.

A Tour of Gaza's Ancient Sites, Now Lost to War (Encore)

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History of the Self: Love
WANG Zhao/Getty Images

Throughline

History of the Self: Love

How did love – this thing that's supposed to be beautiful, magical, transformative – turn into a neverending slog? We went searching for answers, and we found them in surprising places. On today's show: a time-hopping, philosophical journey into the origins of modern love. (This episode first ran as Love, Throughline)

History of the Self: Love

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Tuesday

A Sound Mirror: Notre Dame Cathedral's Restoration Can Be Heard in Its Resonance

Olivier Latry, Notre Dame's longest-serving organist, poses beside the refurbished instrument, ready for the reopening ceremonies after the destructive fire in 2019. Philippe Guyonnet/Notre Dame Cathedral hide caption

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Philippe Guyonnet/Notre Dame Cathedral

State of the World from NPR

A Sound Mirror: Notre Dame Cathedral's Restoration Can Be Heard in Its Resonance

Notre Dame's longest serving organist Olivier Latry tells of the cathedral's transformed acoustics. After a horrific fire in 2019, craftspeople resurrected the cathedral in just five years. The organist says the thorough cleaning of the instrument and the structure's stone makes the cathedral even more reverberant. Sign up for State of the World+ to listen sponsor-free and support the work of NPR journalists. Visit plus.npr.org.

A Sound Mirror: Notre Dame Cathedral's Restoration Can Be Heard in Its Resonance

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Embedded: The Black Gate
Luke Medina for NPR

Throughline

Embedded: The Black Gate

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. Many haven't been heard from in years, and more still are desperately searching for their families. Western governments have called this crackdown a cultural genocide and a possible crime against humanity.

Embedded: The Black Gate

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Thursday

History of the Self: Smell and Memory
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Throughline

History of the Self: Smell and Memory

"History" can seem big and imposing. But it's always intensely personal – it's all of our individual experiences that add up to historical events. Over the next few episodes, we're exploring the personal and how it's changed history: from the story of romantic love, to the man who tried to cure aging, to the contents of our dreams...

History of the Self: Smell and Memory

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Wednesday

What we learned from Elián González, 25 years later
Ranfis Suárez Ramos

Code Switch

What we learned from Elián González, 25 years later

Twenty-five years ago, a boy named Eliaán Gonzaález appeared — remarkably alive — in the waters off the coast of Miami. Immediately, his fate became the subject of an international debate: Should he stay in the U.S.? Or should he be returned to Cuba, to live with his father? From our play cousins at Futuro Studios, this is part of their series Chess Piece: The Elián González Story.

What we learned from Elián González, 25 years later

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Monday

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Nov. 6, in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump arrives at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP hide caption

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Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

Politics

Trump claims a 'massive' mandate, but presidents often overread their victories

There's a long history of presidents claiming that their win means the will of the people is behind their agendas. But elections are rarely full-throated endorsements of a candidate's every policy.

Do election victories really give presidents a 'mandate'?

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Saturday

Glenn Miller wearing an American military uniform.

Glenn Miller wearing an American military uniform. D. Hess/Getty Images/Hulton Archive hide caption

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D. Hess/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Moments in history

80 years later, Glenn Miller's sudden disappearance remains unsolved

Glenn Miller was the swing era's biggest star. Then, he vanished without a trace.

80 years later, Glenn Miller's sudden disappearance remains unsolved

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Thursday

When Christmas Went Viral
Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Throughline

When Christmas Went Viral

Christmas wasn't always a national shopping spree — or even a day off work. But in 19th-century London, it went viral. When Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, the book's tale of miserly Scrooge and the ghosts that transformed him transformed the holiday too, especially in the U.S.

When Christmas Went Viral

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Wednesday

Kimberly Guilfoyle speaks at the Republican National Convention.

Trump has nominated Kimberly Guilfoyle, pictured speaking at the Republican National Convention in July, to be the U.S. ambassador to Greece. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Politics

Kimberly Guilfoyle is the latest Trump family ally chosen for an ambassadorship

Kimberly Guilfoyle, who got engaged to Trump's son in 2020, is the latest appointee he's chosen from his family tree. There's a long and controversial history of presidents picking relatives for jobs.