History

New PBS series tracks effects of humanity on the planet

4:10pm July 04, 2023

A new PBS miniseries explores the many effects the human species is having on the planet. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with its host, biologist and Princeton University professor Shane Campbell-Staton.

Colleen Shogan is the first woman appointed to be Archivist of the United States.

Arts

For the record: We visit Colleen Shogan, the first woman appointed U.S. Archivist

4:10pm July 04, 2023

by Tilda Wilson

Colleen Shogan loves being surrounded by documents — and that's probably for the best. The former political science professor is now in charge of the 13.5 billion records in the National Archives.

How America's debate over student loans has changed over the decades

5:29pm July 03, 2023

At the start of the 20th century, only the most privileged could afford to go to college. Today, millions of students pursue higher education, but collectively they owe $1.7 trillion in debt.

The history of the American anthem 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken'

5:29pm July 03, 2023

From family memorials to jam sessions to every show at the Grand Ole Opry, the familiar singalong helps people feel connected to those who have died — whether legendary musicians or loved ones.

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Citizen Kane made Orson Welles a superstar. But his next movie, The Magnificent Ambersons, was edited into incoherence by the studio. Some 80 years later, a Welles fan is taking matters into his own hands. Welles is pictured above in London in May 1973.

Arts

An Orson Welles film was horribly edited — will cinematic justice finally be done?

11:03am July 03, 2023

by Neda Ulaby

Citizen Kane made Orson Welles a superstar. But his next movie, The Magnificent Ambersons, was edited into incoherence by the studio. Now, a Welles fan has used animation to recreate lost footage.

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People protest outside of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Thursday. The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

Affirmative action divided Asian Americans and other people of color. Here's how

4:13pm July 02, 2023

by Sandhya Dirks

Myths about affirmative action being discriminatory against Asian Americans helped spread a narrative that college admissions meant to increase diversity were actually racist.

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A group of young women from the Awa people in Brazil hold their bows and arrows as they return from a hunt. A new reexamination of ethnographic studies finds female hunters are common in hunter-gatherer societies.

Health & Safety

Men are hunters, women are gatherers. That was the assumption. A new study upends it.

9:23am July 01, 2023

by Nurith Aizenman

The implications are potentially enormous, says history professor Kimberly Hamlin: "The myth that man is the hunter and woman is the gatherer ... naturalizes the inferiority of women."

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Here's what happened after California banned affirmative action 25 years ago

5:34pm June 29, 2023

by Adrian Florido

The end of race-conscious admissions means universities will have to find race-neutral alternatives to diversify their student bodies. California, which already has a ban, has faced those challenges.

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A pedestrian walks past bullet holes in the window of a store front on South Street in Philadelphia on June 5, 2022.

Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is

2:49pm June 29, 2023

by Destinee Adams

Deaths and injuries from guns in the U.S. have increased for years, mirroring the 1990s - the last time gun violence was considered an epidemic.

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Activists protested what would be the country's largest lithium mine outside federal court in Pasadena, Calif. Tuesday.

Western tribes' last ditch effort to stall a large lithium mine in Nevada

6:13pm June 28, 2023

by Kirk Siegler

Western tribes are making a last ditch effort to thwart a large lithium mine in a federal appeals court.