Consider This from NPR

We know that climate change is making all sorts of extreme weather events more likely all around the globe. So what can we do about that?In this episode, NPR's Allison Aubrey gives us tips on how to avoid heat-related illnesses when temperatures soar to dangerous levels.And we hear from a climate researcher about what steps we would need to take on a global scale to try and bring temperatures down.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's easy to lose track of the seriousness of the legal cases involving Donald Trump, in part because there are just so many.This week the former president and current presidential candidate said he received a letter informing him he is a target in Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Such a letter often precedes an indictment. And a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, may soon consider an election interference case there that could lead to yet another indictment of Trump.We hear about both cases in this episode.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

One of the most cutting-edge and controversial fields of biomedical research right now is the quest to create eggs and sperm in the lab for anyone with their own DNA. And now, private companies have jumped into the race to revolutionize the way humans reproduce.In vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, would enable infertile women and men to have children with their own DNA instead of genes from the sperm and eggs of donors. It would also provide queer couples the opportunity to have children biologically related to both partners. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein reports on the excitement and concerns this new technology has fueled.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Carlos Alcaraz's victory over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final was the latest coronation of a tennis great from Spain.NPR's Rob Schmitz looks into how the country became such fertile ground for outstanding players.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Since the 2024 Presidential election may ultimately be decided by a handful of votes in a handful of states, courting young voters will be key. Gen Z has been turning out in record numbers in recent midterms. Often much of the political conversation focuses on young voters in and around big cities. But since young voters are so key for Democrats' success, and rural voters are an essential bloc for Republicans, what young, rural voters think really matters. Host Scott Detrow spoke with NPR's Elena Moore and Xinema Bustillo, who talked to Gen Z voters in rural North Carolina.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

James Barber is scheduled to be executed on Thursday in Alabama, for the murder of Dorothy Epps in 2001. It's the first execution since Governor Kay Ivey paused capital punishment in the state and ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of death penalty protocols after the state failed to execute two inmates last year.Host Scott Detrow speaks with The Atlantic's Elizabeth Bruenig. She reported extensively on Alabama's troubles with lethal injection last year. She says the state's process is very opaque, and almost nothing of the review was made public.Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham Law School, says lethal injection problems are an issue all around the country.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Six years ago when former Obama staffer Brian Wallach was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - ALS - a rare neurological disease that kills most people who contract it within a few years, he and his wife Sandra Abrevaya quickly got to work. They launched a non-profit advocacy group I am ALS and a battle to try and fight for increased funding and research that they hoped would lead to a cure for the disease.Since then Wallach and Abrevaya have changed the face of medical advocacy in the country, helping secure legislation that President Biden signed in 2021 that funds $100 million worth of ALS initiatives each year. NPR's Juana Summers spent time with Wallach and Abrevaya to hear about their fight for a cure for ALS.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As we confront the realities of a changing climate, a group of scientists says we're living in a world of our very own making - a world altered by the burning of fossil fuels, the explosion of nuclear weapons, plastic pollution and environmental degradation. The scientists call it the Anthropocene. And they have identified a geological site in Canada they say best reflects this new epoch in Earth's history. We hear from NASA's Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin. Also, NPR's Adrian Florido speaks with Francine McCarthy, a professor of Earth Sciences, who led a working group of scientists who identified Canada's Crawford Lake as the best example of a place that demonstrates humanity's impact on the planet.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Baseball was once known for breaking racial barriers in the U.S. But now, Black representation in the major leagues is at its lowest level in decades.This year, MLB did something to try and change that, by staging the first annual HBCU Swingman Classic. It's an opportunity for players from historically Black colleges and universities to play in front of scouts and executives on a national stage.NPR's Juana Summers reports from Seattle on MLB's efforts to reverse the decline and recruit Black American players.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Since the war began, military aid from the US to Ukraine has largely received bipartisan report. But a new planned 800 million dollar package has split Democrats and also riled up Human Rights Groups because of one weapon included in the package — cluster bombs.More than a hundred countries, including allies of the US, have banned use of the weapon, which releases a large number of bomblets over a wide area. Unexploded bomblets pose a danger to civilians. The Biden administration is defending the decision, citing Ukraine's desperate need for ammunition.To get a sense of the human cost of cluster bomb use during wartime, we take a look at Laos. Between 1964 and 1973, the U.S. dropped more than 270 million cluster bombs on Laos during the Vietnam War. Host Mary Louise Kelly discusses this with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Lewis Simons, who reported from Asia and the Middle East for decades.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy