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Friday

Yellow-shafted Flicker, Northern Flicker, Colaptes auratus.

Woodpeckers are known for banging on wood, but some individuals living in urban environments also bang on metal. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images hide caption

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Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

'Chimney caps, vent pipes, gutters': Why some woodpeckers are major metal heads

When an NPR reporter heard a startling loud metallic noise in her house, she was about to get an interesting lesson in animal behavior.

Woodpeckers aiming to make a lot of noise, switch from wood to metal

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A silky shark named Genie swam 17,000 miles, a record-breaking migration
Pelayo Salinas / CDF

Short Wave

A silky shark named Genie swam 17,000 miles, a record-breaking migration

A silky shark named Genie traveled from the Galapagos Islands out to the open ocean and back – over 17,000 miles – over the course of a year and a half. That's an average of 31 miles per day, making Genie's journey the longest recorded migration for a silky shark.

A silky shark named Genie swam 17,000 miles, a record-breaking migration

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Thursday

(April 13, 2024) Alok Shukla walks across the Paturiyadand forest of Korba district in India's state of Chhattisgarh. Shukla has led a decade-long grassroots campaign against some of India's conglomerates, including one operated by Adani Group, helmed by Asia's second-richest man, seeking to tap one of the country's richest subterranean stores of fossil fuels.

Alok Shukla walks across the Paturiyadand forest of Korba district in India's state of Chhattisgarh. Shukla has led a decade-long grassroots campaign against some of companies seeking to develop coal mines in forested areas. Idrees Mohammed/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Idrees Mohammed/AFP via Getty Images

Goats and Soda

He frolicked in forests as a kid. Now he's saving them from a coal mine plan

Alok Shukla is one of the winners of the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize. He's cited for a campaign to keep a company from felling a forest in India to excavate the coal that lies beneath.

Wednesday

A microbiome transplant could help people with bacterial vaginosis

Like the gut, microbes are important for a healthy vaginal ecosystem. Getty Images/Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library hide caption

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Getty Images/Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library

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A microbiome transplant could help people with bacterial vaginosis

Humans rely on our symbiotic relationship with good microbes—in the gut, the skin and ... the vagina. Fatima Aysha Hussain studies what makes a healthy vaginal microbiome. She talks to host Emily Kwong about her long-term transplant study that asks the question: Can one vagina help another through a microbe donation?

A microbiome transplant could help people with bacterial vaginosis

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Tuesday

Young girls queue to enter the primary school in Sheno, Ethiopia on October 18, 2017. In partnership with UNICEF, the Sheno Primary School developed a program with counseling on menstruation and sanitary pad for young student girls. Both male and female students participate in lessons on the girls menstruation for a better understanding and integration in schools.

Girls at a primary school in Sheno, Ethiopia. In partnership with UNICEF, the Sheno Primary School developed a program to educate both girls and boys about menstruation — and provide sanitary pads. A new UNICEF report says that only 39% of the world's schools offer such instruction. Zacharias Abubeker/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Zacharias Abubeker/AFP via Getty Images

Goats and Soda

Teaching girls (and boys) about menstruation takes moxie

A pioneering program in Ethiopia teaches all students about this "taboo" topic. A new UNICEF report, released on “World Menstrual Hygiene Day," assesses how countries respond to menstrual issues.

Monday

This Memorial Day, here's a smarter way to use sunscreen
Oscar Wong/Getty Images

Short Wave

This Memorial Day, here's a smarter way to use sunscreen

Each year 84,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with melanoma. About 90% of these skin cancers are linked to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Sunscreen does protect the skin, but dermatologists have found six very common mistakes people make when it comes to using it. NPR science correspondent Allison Aubrey talks to host Regina G. Barber about the science behind sunscreen and how to avoid making these mistakes this summer. They also get into which sunscreens may be better than others.

This Memorial Day, here's a smarter way to use sunscreen

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Sunday

Synchronous fireflies, known as Photuris frontalis, blink in the woods near the Congaree River on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Congaree National Park holds an annual event for visitors to view the fireflies, which blink for a few weeks every May and June.

Synchronous fireflies, known as Photuris frontalis, blink in the woods near the Congaree River on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. Congaree National Park holds an annual event for visitors to view the fireflies, which blink for a few weeks every May and June. Sam Wolfe for NPR hide caption

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Sam Wolfe for NPR

Witnessing the spectacle of synchronous fireflies is ‘like magic’

For a few weeks in late spring, thousands of fireflies emerge at the Congaree National Park in South Carolina to blink in synchrony. Scientists are trying to learn their secrets and to protect them.

Friday

How Israel is using facial recognition in Gaza

Palestinians walk along Salah al-Din Road in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. NurPhoto/Getty Images hide caption

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NurPhoto/Getty Images

Short Wave

How Israel is using facial recognition in Gaza

After the Hamas attack of Oct. 7 triggered Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began fleeing from the North of Gaza to the South. As they fled, many Palestinians reported passing through checkpoints with cameras. Israel had previously used facial recognition software in the West Bank, and some Palestinians reached out to The New York Times reporter Sheera Frenkel to investigate whether the same was happening in Gaza.

How Israel is using facial recognition in Gaza

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Thursday

A member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) hold a sign with the word We Want a Vaccine as they march to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) offices in Pretoria, on June 25, 2021. They are demanding that vaccines from Russia and China be supplied to South Africans. - Hundreds of protesters rallied in South Africa's capital Pretoria on June 25, 2021 calling for the country's medicines regulatory body to give the greenlight to China's Sinovac and Russia's Sputnik vaccines, amid a third coronavirus wave. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP) (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images)

A member of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) hold a sign with the word We Want a Vaccine as they march to the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) offices in Pretoria, on June 25, 2021. They are demanding that vaccines from Russia and China be supplied to South Africans. - Hundreds of protesters rallied in South Africa's capital Pretoria on June 25, 2021 calling for the country's medicines regulatory body to give the greenlight to China's Sinovac and Russia's Sputnik vaccines, amid a third coronavirus wave. (Photo by Phill Magakoe / AFP) (Photo by PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP via Getty Images) Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images/AFP hide caption

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Phill Magakoe/AFP via Getty Images/AFP

Goats and Soda

The deadline is nearly here. Will the global pandemic treaty be finished in time?

The goal is to have a treaty to present at a major World Health Organization meeting next week. But the countries of the Global South and the Global North aren't exactly seeing eye to eye.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopment disorders among children.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopment disorders among children. SIphotography/Getty Images hide caption

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SIphotography/Getty Images

Shots - Health News

ADHD diagnoses are rising. 1 in 9 U.S. kids have gotten one, new study finds

ADHD is an ongoing and expanding public health concern, according to researchers studying the disorder. One million more U.S. children were diagnosed in 2022 compared to 2016, a new study shows.

Wednesday

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

Harlan Gough holds a recently collected tiger beetle on a tether. Lawrence Reeves hide caption

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Lawrence Reeves

Research News

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

A study of tiger beetles has found a possible explanation for why they produce ultrasound noises right before an echolocating bat swoops in for the kill.

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

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Up to 80 percent of women will have a uterine fibroid by age 50

Earlier this year, Virginia designated July as Uterine Fibroids Awareness Month. Tatyana Antusenok/Getty Images hide caption

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Tatyana Antusenok/Getty Images

Short Wave

Up to 80 percent of women will have a uterine fibroid by age 50

Fibroids are benign uterine tumors. So why does it matter that the majority of people with a uterus will have one before they are 50 years old? Physician Rachell Bervell, founder of the Black OBGYN Project, explains that when symptoms arise, they can be quite serious — from extreme menstrual bleeding to fertility problems. Plus, why they're very likely to affect you or a loved one.

Up to 80 percent of women will have a uterine fibroid by age 50

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Tuesday

New research on Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier could reshape sea-level rise predictions

The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is seen in this undated image from NASA. Areas of the glacier may be undergoing "vigorous melting" from warm ocean water caused by climate change, researchers say. NASA via Reuters hide caption

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NASA via Reuters

Climate

New research on Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier could reshape sea-level rise predictions

At 80 miles across, Thwaites is the world's widest glacier. It has been nicknamed the "Doomsday Glacier" for the catastrophic effects its thawing could have on global sea-level rise.