Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a company that stores renewable energy by hoisting large objects in massive “gravity batteries.”
Also on this week’s show, Erick Lundgren, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University, talks about how water from wells dug by wild horses and feral donkeys provides a buffer to all different kinds of animals and plants during the driest times in the Sonora and Mojave deserts.
A.M. Edition for April 29. WSJ White House reporter Sabrina Siddiqui on key moments from President Biden’s speech to Congress as he pushes a broad economic agenda.
A look at the markets as the president marks 100 days in office. Amazon workers are set for a pay raise. Marc Stewart hosts.
Ultra-precise measurements connect brain activity and energy use in individual fruit-fly neurons.
In this episode:
00:45 How brain cells use energy
A team of researchers have looked in individual fruit-fly neurons to better understand how energy use and information processing are linked – which may have important implications for future fMRI studies in humans.
Research Article: Mann et al.
07:04 Research Highlights
A tough but flexible material inspired by lobster underbellies, and research reveals that red meat consumption hasn’t dropped since the 1960s.
Research Highlight: Material mimicking lobster belly cracks the code for toughness
Research Highlight: Meat lovers worldwide pay climate little heed
10:15 Briefing Chat
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, early results for a new malaria vaccine look positive, and researchers unearth the latest chapter in a long-running plant experiment.
Nature News: Malaria vaccine shows promise — now come tougher trials
BBC News: Malaria vaccine hailed as potential breakthrough
New York Times: One of the World’s Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt
Europe’s parliament has overwhelmingly voted to extend a stopgap trade agreement. But the rancour behind the vote, and the deal’s thin measures, say much about future relations.
Female soldiers are entering armed forces in big numbers, but they still face barriers both in getting the job and in doing it. And China’s homegrown Oscar-winning director is scrubbed from its internet.
A.M. Edition for April 27. WSJ’s Nicole Friedman discusses the new WSJ/Realtor.com housing list. Major tech companies are set to release earnings this week.
The U.S. and other nations offer assistance as Covid-19 surges in India. A clash over coffee in Italy. Marc Stewart hosts.
A.M. Edition for April 26. WSJ’s Chip Cutter on vaccine requirements among some employers. The U.S. offers aid to India as its Covid-19 cases skyrocket.
WSJ’s Quentin Webb looks at which nations will lead the economic recovery from the pandemic. This year’s Oscar winners. Marc Stewart hosts.
A selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Putin’s next move, the pandemic in India (10:20) and the rise of the robot critic (18:35).
Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, talks to film producer Solène Léger, Rob Cox from Reuters and Christoph Amend from ‘Zeit Magazin’. Plus, contributions from Monocle’s team around the world.
Stefanie Bolzen of ‘Die Welt’ on Germany’s federal elections; Lance Price on the papers; Andrew Mueller’s weekly news roundup; and the London Library celebrates a big birthday.
On a special LARB Book Club episode of the Radio Hour, Boris Dralyuk and Medaya Ocher are joined by George Saunders, author of four collections of virtuosic short stories and of the novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which won the 2017 Man Booker Prize.
His latest work is A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life. Examining individual works by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Ivan Turgenev, and Nikolai Gogol from a variety of angles, Saunders teases out lessons for writers and readers alike. During the conversation, he discusses what fiction can teach us about ourselves and each other, shares his experiences teaching these stories over the past two decades, and reflects on the role of humor in his work.
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