After the Fact

Stat: North Atlantic cod have nearly tripled since 2006 to 118,000 tons. Summary: Overfishing has strained most global fish stocks. But the European Union has made progress bringing back one popular species: North Atlantic cod. The flaky white fish—a British staple when battered and served with chips—has rebounded after plummeting to critically low levels in the late 2000s. In this episode, we go to one of London's oldest fish and chips restaurants and learn how quotas can be used to help other stocks recover.

Stat: 44 percent. The percentage of Americans who think the public doesn't know enough about science to understand new findings in the news. Story: Ira Flatow, the host of "Science Friday," has been with National Public Radio since it went on the air in 1970. Although he knows the public loves science, he's worried that most people don't know how the scientific process works. Pew's Dan LeDuc talks to him about why critical thinking is crucial, who asks the best questions, and how science can be addictive.

Stat: At least 2 million Americans get antibiotic-resistant infections each year. Story: Nearly a century after Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin, bacteria continue to develop the ability to defeat antibiotics. Doctors worldwide are concerned about the spread of superbugs that are resistant to all antibiotics. Host Dan LeDuc visits Fleming's London lab for some history and talks with Pew's Allan Coukell about current efforts to reduce unnecessary use of these drugs and encourage development of new ones.

Stat: $477 billion. That's the amount spent on prescription drugs in the United States last year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Story: Skyrocketing prescription drug prices have long troubled U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who has championed bipartisan legislation to give consumers more affordable choices. In this rebroadcast of a Pew event, she discusses what can be done to manage drug costs and ensure that Americans get the medicine they need.

Stat: At least 63 million sharks are taken from the ocean every year. Story: And that's the low estimate; others range as high was 273 million. That worldwide catch—for shark fins and increasingly for their meat—is threatening some species with extinction. In this episode, host Dan LeDuc talks with two unlikely advocates for protecting sharks: South African Paralympian Achmat Hassiem and Pew's Debbie Salamone. Both have been bitten by sharks but have turned their experiences into something positive: becoming shark attack survivors supporting shark conservation.

Stat: The ocean generates $2.5 trillion of economic benefits around the world each year. Story: Fisheries, tourism, and shipping are some of the ways we quantify the monetary value of the ocean—but it also drives weather patterns and provides more than 1 billion people with their primary source of protein. As the ocean faces increasing environmental stresses, what would an economic approach mean for conservation efforts? We explore the issue with a fishing family in Florida and Pew's Tom Dillon.

Stat: The flag that inspired our national anthem has 15 stars and stripes. Story: It flew over Fort McHenry in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. And after the fight, it was what Francis Scott Key was looking for when he asked, "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave." It was, and it continues to inspire Americans today in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington. Host Dan LeDuc went there to talk to curator Jennifer Jones about the history of perhaps our most famous flag.

Stat: Antarctica is home to more than 9,000 species found nowhere else on Earth. Story: They include Adélie and emperor penguins that depend on the nutrient-rich waters that surround the continent. In 2016, 24 countries and the European Union created the world's largest marine protected area—encompassing 1.9 million square miles—in the Ross Sea. In this rebroadcast of a Pew event, the former president of Costa Rica and other ocean conservationists discuss the need to give other Antarctic waters this same protection.

Stat: The penguin population in Punta Tombo, Argentina, has declined by 43 percent since 1987. Story: Not all of those birds are dying: Many are relocating to areas with more prey—a move aided by their ability to swim 170 kilometers a day—and 200,000 breeding pairs remain in Punta Tombo. But expert Dee Boersma, known as the Jane Goodall of penguins, says the decline may foretell worrying trends in the ecosystem. Host Dan LeDuc sits down with Boersma, and hears from a few of the penguins, to learn more.

Stat: By midcentury, there will be 2 billion elderly people in the world—and 2 billion young Story: For the first time there will be as many of each group —and together they'll account for more than 40 percent of the world's population. This will have deep implications for the labor supply, family structures and finances, demands on health and welfare services, housing, and more. In this episode, we hear a rebroadcast of a Pew event in London: "How Today's Generations Are Changing the World."