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NPR marks World Photography Day with images of everyday moments of gathering from communities across the U.S. taken by photographers from the network's member stations.

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A study in Poland found that doctors appeared less likely to detect abnormalities during colonoscopies on their own after they'd grown used to help from an AI tool.

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A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments.

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The suffering of America's gun violence crisis is concentrated in Black neighborhoods damaged by decades of disinvestment and racial discrimination. Trump is unravelling efforts to solve the problem.

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Imagine, you’re a toxic toad hanging around South America. No other animals are gonna mess with you, right? After all, you’re ~toxic~! So if anyone tries to eat you, they’ll be exposed to something called a cardiotonic steroid — and may die of a heart attack. Well, unfortunately, for you, some animals have developed adaptations to these toxic steroids. Evolutionary biologist Shabnam Mohammadi has spent her career studying how these adaptations work — and says even humans have used these toxins to their advantage since ancient Egypt. So today on Short Wave, we get a little… toxic (cue Brittney Spears). Host Regina G. Barber talks to Shabnam about how some predators can get away with eating toxic prey. 


Curious about biology? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.


Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave. 

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A range of crime data has been going around to make the argument that Washington, D.C., is — or isn't — safe. We talk to crime experts to make sense of it all.

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Parade, about a Jewish man falsely accused of murder in 1913. Parade ends its tour at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., amid a rise in antisemitic hate.'/>

Parade, the Tony award-winning musical about the 1915 lynching of a Jewish man, begins its run in Washington, D.C. amid an antisemitic backlash against the show's subject.

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For years, research has shown a digital divide when it comes to schools teaching about new technologies. Educators worry that this could leave some students behind in an AI-powered economy.

Social media has birthed an entire lexicon replicated by millions online — even if these words don’t actually mean skibidi. On today’s show, we talk to author Adam Aleksic about how TikTok and Instagram's engagement metrics, and viral memes, are rewiring our brains and transforming language at warp speed.

Adam Aleksic’s book is Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language 

Related episodes: 
What we’re reading on the beach this summer  

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.  

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. 

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The Aid Worker Security Database, which has compiled reports since 1997, said the number of killings rose from 293 in 2023 to 383 in 2024, including over 180 in Gaza.

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But legal experts say he lacks the constitutional authority to do so.

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Generations of spectators and competitors take over a small hamlet in Western N.Y. each summer to participate in a motorsport with roots in farming: the tractor pull.

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A long lasting drought and severe heat this summer, compounded with government mismanagement of the country’s dams have led to an impending water crisis in Iran. Officials are warning that Iran’s ten million residents might run out of water in a matter of weeks. We hear how this has happened and what it means for Iranians.

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Leaked audio recordings broadcast Friday reveal remarks by Israel's former chief of military intelligence about the price he believed Palestinians should pay for Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

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Lai is accused of colluding with foreign forces under the controversial national security law, which Beijing imposed.

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The Wedding Banquet in London, March 19, 2025.'/>

Growing up with immigrant parents, first in Canada and then in the U.S., Yang was "obsessed" with pop culture and Saturday Night Live. Now he's up for an Emmy for his performances on the venerated sketch series.

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Parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks are under mandatory evacuation orders, as the National Hurricane Center warns that Hurricane Erin could bring tall waves topping 15 to 20 feet.

With large parts of the country under opposition control amid an ongoing civil war, analysts warn that election logistics could prove challenging.

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The right-wing news channel Newsmax has agreed to pay $67 million to Dominion Voting Systems over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election. A trial had been scheduled for October.

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To save the lives of infants and small kids in lower resource countries, there are a handful of tools: anti-malarial drugs, bed nets and vaccines. A massive experiment in rural Kenya suggests another.

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