Tag Archives: NPR

Business, Podcasts, Travel

Top Podcasts: “The Future Of Air Travel” (NPR 1A)

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NPR 1A PodcastAirlines were soaring towards record travel numbers at the start of this year. Then, COVID-19 hit like a lightning bolt.

The average number of passengers on a domestic flight is now about 17. That’s about a single passenger per row. And American taxpayers gave U.S. airlines a $50 billion bailout to help pull the industry out of a financial nose-dive. Will that be enough?

And what will the future of air travel look like in a post-pandemic world?

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News, Politics, Videos

Politics: “South Carolina Democratic Debate Recap”

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Seven candidates took the stage Tuesday, often talking over one another as they faced off in the final Democratic debate before the South Carolina primary and Super Tuesday. NPR’s Domenico Montanaro and Danielle Kurtzleben take a look at some of the top moments. •

Read “4 Takeaways From The South Carolina Democratic Debate” 

Health, Podcasts, Politics, Reviews

Politics: Bernie Sanders “Medicare For All” (NPR)

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NPR PodcastsAs we head into South Carolina’s primary and gear up for Super Tuesday, the 2020 candidates are looking to stand out to voters. But perhaps no policy proposal has marked this election more than Sen. Bernie Sanders’s push for Medicare for All.

While the Democratic candidates agree on expanding health coverage, they’re divided on how to insure everyone, whether to insure everyone, and, of course, how to pay for it all.

Bernie Sanders Website

So how are they similar? How are they different? And how does that compare to President Trump?

Rachana Pradhan, correspondent for Kaiser Health News; Noam Levey, national healthcare reporter for The LA Times; and Dan Diamond, health reporter for Politico and host of the “Pulse Check” podcast helped us break down where each candidate stood on health care.

Arts & Literature, Interviews, Music, Podcasts, Videos

Interviews: 71-Year Old Singer James Taylor On His Audiobook “Break Shot”

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NPR Weekend Edition Sunday logoJames Taylor has been a household name for a long time now. Taylor was just 20-years-old when he released his self-titled debut in 1968; in the half century since then, he has sold over 100 million albums and cemented his status as one of the most successful American singer-songwriters.

But in Break Shot: My First 21 Years, his audio memoir on Audible, Taylor narrates his life before fame — including details of his struggle with drugs, alcohol addiction and time in psychiatric institutions. Taylor is also looking back with American Standard, a new album that revives the American Songbook tunes of his childhood.

NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro spoke with Taylor about revisiting his fraught early memories, dealing with fame at an early age and his connection to The Beatles. Listen to their conversation in the player above and read on for highlights from the interview — including a few audio excerpts from Break Shot.

Aging, Health, News, Podcasts

Heathcare Podcasts: An Inside Look At Benefits & Costs Of Hospice (NPR)

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NPR logoAccording to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, seven in 10 Americans say they would prefer to die at home. And that’s the direction the health care system is moving, too, hoping to avoid unnecessary and expensive treatment at the end of life.

Hospice allows a patient deemed to have fewer than six months to live to change the focus of their medical care — from the goal of curing disease to a new goal of using treatments and medicines to maintain comfort and quality of life. It is a form of palliative care, which also focuses on pain management, but can be provided while a patient continues to seek a cure or receive treatments to prolong life.

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Culture, Interviews, Media, News, Podcasts

Interview Podcasts: 68-Year Old “Fresh Air” Host Terry Gross (New Yorker)

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The New Yorker Politics and More PodcastsDavid Remnick has appeared as the guest of Terry Gross on “Fresh Air” a number of times over the years, talking about Russia, Muhammad Ali, and other subjects. Hosting “Fresh Air” for nearly forty-five years, Gross is a defining voice of NPR, and is perhaps the most celebrated interviewer of our time. 

In October, 2019, the tables turned, and Gross joined Remnick as his guest for a live interview at The New Yorker Festival. They spoke about how she first found her way to the microphone, the role of feminism in establishing NPR, the limits of her expertise, and what she has had to give up to prepare for serious conversations day after day.

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Art, Arts & Literature, Exhibitions, Podcasts

Arts Podcasts: Moving 100+ Monet Paintings To Denver Art Museum (NPR)

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Visitors to the Denver Art Museum can currently see 120 different paintings by Claude Monet from all over the world. But how did they get there — like, literally get there?

NPR PodcastsTo find out, I talked with Sarah Cucinella-McDaniel, chief registrar at the Denver Art Museum. She’s sort of like a travel agent for art — and for this exhibition she booked the itineraries for artworks from more than 70 lenders around the world: museums, as well as private collectors. (One of her recent days started unexpectedly, around 1:45 a.m., when one of her nine Monet shipments for the day arrived at the museum hours ahead of schedule.)

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Arts & Literature, Music, Reviews

Music Criticism Podcasts: “The Music And Morality Of Beethoven’s Mighty Ninth” (Marin Alsop, NPR)

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Marin Alsop ConductorEver since Beethoven‘s iconic Ninth Symphony premiered May 7, 1824 at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, it has remained arguably the most popular composition in the classical music canon, thanks largely to its final movement, the “Ode to Joy,” with a text by poet Friedrich Schiller.

But Beethoven’s music has become something much more than popular. With its expansive length, mold-busting design, and the inclusion of solo singers and chorus, he was proposing nothing less than a philosophy for humanity.

Beethoven, the composer-philosopher, was a man who suffered more than we can imagine and yet he retained optimism and a sense of hope that we can admire and even envy. He believed wholeheartedly in the goodness of humanity, the power of love, joy, unity, tolerance and peace to overcome and endure.

Website: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2019/12/07/785098204/the-music-and-morality-of-beethovens-mighty-ninth?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr

Health, Old Age

Healthcare: Geriatric Assessment Helps Select Proper Treatments For Cancer In Elderly Patients

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From an NPR online article:

NPR Health NewsMore than 60% of cancers in the U.S. occur in people older than 65. As the population grows older, so will the rate of cancer among seniors. The cancer incidence in the elderly is expected to rise 67% from 2010 to 2030, according to a 2017 study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Yet many oncologists don’t have geriatric training.

“When the doctor saw how physically active and mentally sharp my father was at 89 years of age, but that he had several chronic, serious medical problems, including end stage kidney disease, she didn’t advise him to have aggressive treatment like the first time around,” says Griggs, who lives in Rochester, N.Y.

Geriatric assessment is an approach that clinicians use to evaluate their elderly patients’ overall health status and to help them choose treatment appropriate to their age and condition. The assessment includes questionnaires and tests to gauge the patients’ physical, mental and functional capacity, taking into account their social lives, daily activities and goals.

To read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/11/23/714300273/a-cancer-care-approach-tailored-to-the-elderly-may-give-better-results?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20191124&utm_term=4246040&utm_campaign=health&utm_id=46633831&orgid=

Health, Studies

Health Podcasts: Stable Blood Sugar Can Lower Alzheimer’s Risk (NPR)

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NPR Health News“The risk for dementia is elevated about twofold in people who have diabetes or metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that often precedes diabetes),” Holtzman says. 

…poor sleep is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s. So maintaining normal blood sugar levels in Alzheimer’s patients could improve their sleep and might even slow down the disease, she says.