Technology

Amazon packages move along a conveyor at an Amazon warehouse in Arizona.

National

Amazon reports its first unprofitable year since 2014

6:15pm February 02, 2023

by Alina Selyukh

The biggest culprit was Amazon hefty investment in the electric automaker Rivian, whose value plummeted last year. Amazon also contends with the need to recalibrate after a pandemic-era upsurge.

A TikTok official gives a tour of the company's Transparency and Accountability Centers in the Los Angeles area.

TikTok officials go on a public charm offensive amid a stalemate in Biden White House

5:12pm February 02, 2023

by Bobby Allyn

The hit video app is facing an existential crisis, and it is hoping promoting its reorganization will help convince Americans that it is independent from its Chinese owner.

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Computers have been used in rocketry for half-a-century, so it's possible to think that the new AI programs could help. They struggled to grasp the basics.

Science

We asked the new AI to do some simple rocket science. It crashed and burned

7:13am February 02, 2023

by Geoff Brumfiel

Computers traditionally excel at rocketry, so why do new artificial intelligence programs get it wrong?

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An artisanal miner carries a sack of ore at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi, DRC, on Oct. 12, 2022.

How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy

1:26pm February 01, 2023

by Terry Gross

Phone and electric car batteries are made with cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cobalt Red author Siddharth Kara describes the conditions for workers as a "horror show."

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A banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during a protest to support the Burkina Faso President Captain Ibrahim Traore and to demand the departure of France's ambassador and military forces, in Ouagadougou, on Jan. 20, 2023. Russia has been trying to expand its influence throughout Africa in recent years.

World News

A pro-Russian social media campaign is trying to influence politics in Africa

5:01am February 01, 2023

by Shannon Bond

Researchers have identified a large network pushing pro-Russian themes and messages to French-speaking audiences around Africa, amid long-running efforts by Russia to gain influence in the region.

In this photo provided by the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, its members search for a radioactive capsule believed to have fallen off a truck being transported on a freight route on the outskirts of Perth, Australia, on Saturday.

A tiny radioactive capsule was lost on a 700-mile stretch of highway in Australia

4:57pm January 31, 2023

by Joe Hernandez

The round, silver capsule — measuring roughly a quarter of an inch wide by a third of an inch tall — is believed to have been lost somewhere along the road in Western Australia.

The CEO of TikTok will testify before Congress amid security concerns about the app

10:08am January 31, 2023

by Ayana Archie

TikTok has been under scrutiny in recent years about its privacy and security practices and its effect on young people's mental health. Various bans of the app have been enacted across the country.

An employee examines a vanadium flow battery stack in the Battery Reliability Test Laboratory at PNNL.

National

Congress tightens U.S. manufacturing rules after battery technology ends up in China

4:00pm January 30, 2023

by Laura Sullivan

The Department of Energy allowed a taxpayer-funded breakthrough in batteries to transfer overseas with little oversight

Trump, Meta and misinformation

5:08pm January 29, 2023

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Vivian Schiller, executive director of Aspen Digital, about Meta's decision to reinstate Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Season: A letter to the future's protagonist journeys to record the world before a foretold cataclysm.

Arts

In 'Season: A letter to the future,' scrapbooking is your doomsday prep

9:08am January 27, 2023

by Justin Lucas

Scrapbook and bike your way through a beautiful world in the face of a foretold cataclysm.