National

This technology makes data accessible to blind and visually impaired people

5:10pm August 19, 2022

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly talks with Mona Minkara, a professor of bioengineering at Northeastern University who is also blind, about a new way to present science data to blind and sighted people alike.

Officials respond after polio samples were found in wastewater in 2 New York counties

5:10pm August 19, 2022

by Ari Daniel

In two New York counties, city health officials have been tackling a worrying trend: polio samples showing up in wastewater. In one county, a young adult became sick and paralyzed from the disease.

Do animals sweat? Here's a poem to answer that question

5:10pm August 19, 2022

by Rebecca Hersher

Humans are sweaty beasts, but it turns out many other animals have different ways to keep cool. Staff of the Maryland Zoo help explain how their residents regulate their temperatures.

National

In Oregon, public defense system rift leads to firing of defense chief

4:58pm August 19, 2022

by Conrad Wilson / OPB

A dispute between Oregon's chief justice and the head of the public defender's office has erupted, with accusations of judicial overreach and unmet concerns about an ongoing defense attorney shortage.

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National

Encore: Classroom skeleton — whose bones are these?

4:58pm August 19, 2022

by Elissa Nadworny

In many U.S. schools, the human skeletons hanging in biology or art classrooms were actual remains. Here's the origin story of one set of bones in an Erie, Penn., high school.

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National

What the Inflation Reduction Act means for electric car buyers and auto companies

4:58pm August 19, 2022

by Arezou Rezvani

The Inflation Reduction Act that President Biden signed into law this week includes a key provision that is meant to spur greater growth in the electric vehicle market.

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National

Boston's Orange Line will be shut down for a month for repairs

4:58pm August 19, 2022

by Simon Rios

Users of major mass transit line in Boston had to find a new way to get around starting Friday morning. The T's Orange Line is closed for a month for major repairs that many say were long overdue.

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National

Paolo Montalbán looks back on 25 years of 'Cinderella'

4:58pm August 19, 2022

25 years after the release of the 1997 Rodgers And Hammerstein's Cinderella, NPR's Juana Summers speaks with actor Paolo Montalbán on the movie's legacy.

National

Judge blocks prosecutors from enforcing 1931 abortion ban in Michigan

4:30pm August 19, 2022

by Rick Pluta

Abortion is still legal in Michigan after a circuit court judge ruled that county prosecutors can't charge providers with a felony. The decision blocks the enforcement of a 1931 pre-Roe abortion ban.

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States dependent on Colorado River wonder if desalination could help the water supply

4:30pm August 19, 2022

by Alex Hager

Severe drought has states dependent on the Colorado River looking at alternatives. Desalinating seawater may be a viable supplement to some areas, but likely can't fix much of the river's deficit.

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