Post Reports

Exploring the candidates' strategies in the upcoming GOP debate without Trump, including fundraising techniques and debate strategies. Also discussing the challenges faced by Republican candidates in defining the party's identity in a post-Trump era.

A young girl named Amara Strande fought against the use of forever chemicals in her community's water after developing a rare form of cancer at 15. Despite her efforts, she tragically passed away. The podcast explores Amara's inspiring battle against cancer and her advocacy for a ban on harmful chemicals. It also discusses the impact of forever chemicals and the passing of a bill in Minnesota inspired by Amara's fight.

Legendary musician Sinéad O'Connor's impact in the music industry, personal struggles, determination to make a comeback, and complex relationship with artist Chine Dokan. The speaker reflects on painful memories, media misrepresentation, and desire to focus on their music career. They also share emotional experiences receiving packages and a ballad about their son's tragic death.

Exploring the effects of the devastating wildfire in Maui, the challenges faced by the community, and the recovery efforts. Discussing the community response to relief efforts and tensions with government agencies. Exploring the rebuilding process and addressing the housing shortage. Recounting a moving experience with the Native Hawaiian community affected by the fire.

Former president Donald Trump is facing a criminal conspiracy indictment in Georgia, with charges of attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is utilizing racketeering charges, typically used against mafia bosses, to accuse Trump of being the head of a criminal enterprise. The podcast explores the implications, potential sentences, and challenges of the case, including proving Trump's involvement and knowledge of election loss. It also discusses the arraignment of defendants and highlights concerns about the Fulton County Jail.

In this podcast, the brains of a Sami woman and an Indigenous Filipino, taken without consent, are discussed. The search for the descendants of Mary, the Sami woman, is concluded. The Smithsonian's troubling legacy and how it is addressed is also explored. Mary's relatives advocate for justice and the return of her remains. The speaker recounts the search for Mary's burial site and the significance of honoring her memory.

When Mary died in 1933, her brain was sent to a man named Ales Hrdlicka, the Smithsonian’s ‘bone doctor.’ Post reporters couldn’t find any records that Mary or her family consented to this. So what happened to Mary’s brain? And what is the extent of the Smithsonian’s “racial brain collection”?Read more:The brain of a Sami woman who died at a Seattle sanitarium in 1933. The cerebellum of an indigenous Filipino who died at the 1904 World’s Fair. These are just two of the brains collected over the last century by the Smithsonian’s first curator of the physical anthropology division, Ales Hrdlicka. Now, a hundred years after this brain collection began, The Washington Post has pieced together the most extensive look at this work to date. And over the next two days on Post Reports, we’re bringing you the details of this reporting and of Ales Hrdlicka’s troubling legacy. In this first episode, we find out the extent of the collection, and we begin the search for the descendants of Mary, the Sami woman whose brain was taken in 1933.

Two turntables and a microphone. That was all DJ Kool Herc had 50 years ago when he planted the seeds of what would become hip-hop. Today, we’ll hear directly from some of the genre’s biggest stars about how hip-hop took over the world.“Post Reports” audio engineer Sean Carter joins us today to share his reporting on hip-hop’s evolution over the past 50 years. Carter takes us backstage with some of hip-hop’s biggest names, like Rakim and the Lady of Rage, and speaks with the people who were there for some of hip-hop’s most pivotal moments. 

Chatbots can be biased, deceptive or even dangerous. Today on “Post Reports,” we meet the hackers who are competing to figure out exactly how AI can go awry. Read more:Will Oremus reports on technology for The Post, and recently that has meant writing a lot about AI and all the ways it could go wrong. “Even the people who make this stuff, the creators of these technologies, are also out there warning, hey, this could be really bad,” Will says. “This could go wrong in very disturbing ways.”The range of potential harms is vast. And today, we meet the hackers trying to make chatbots go haywire. In what organizers billed as the first public “red teaming” event for artificial intelligence language models, we see a preview of Def Con, the annual hacker convention in Las Vegas – and we learn more about AI’s pitfalls.

A new survey shows that more people are avoiding the news. Today on “Post Reports,” our media reporter Paul Farhi talks with Elahe Izadi about “news avoiders” – and how the media could respond to this growing trend.Read more:Bad news seems to be constant these days. Thanks to our hand-held devices, that bad news can follow us everywhere. More and more, people who used to follow the news regularly are tuning it out. This is bad news for an already struggling news industry. How can news organizations inform their audiences without overwhelming them? Today we talk about staying informed – and staying sane.