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Author Interviews

Christine Blasey Ford speaks during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sept. 27, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Michael Reynolds/AP hide caption

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Michael Reynolds/AP

Christine Blasey Ford aims to own her story with 'One Way Back'

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Shohini Ghose is the author of the 2023 book Her Space, Her Time: How Trailblazing Women Scientists Decoded the Hidden Universe. Throughout the book, Ghose highlights the stories of women who have transformed physics and astronomy. Courtesy of MIT Press hide caption

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Courtesy of MIT Press

This Women's History Month, how physics connects two Bengali women born decades apart

When Shohini Ghose was studying physics as a kid, she heard certain names repeated over and over. "Einstein, Newton, Schrodinger ... they're all men." Shohini wanted to change that — so she decided to write a book about some of the women scientists missing from her grade school physics textbooks. It's called Her Space, Her Time: How Trailblazing Women Scientists Decoded the Hidden Universe. This episode, she talks to Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about uncovering the women physicists she admires — and how their stories have led her to reflect on her own.

This Women's History Month, how physics connects two Bengali women born decades apart

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Left: Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden in 2020, Right: Former President Barack Obama Photo by Brendan Smialowski and JIM WATSON / AFP. ; by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images hide caption

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Photo by Brendan Smialowski and JIM WATSON / AFP. ; by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Author Percival Everett photographed in Pasadena, Calif., on Oct. 28, 2022. G L Askew II for The Washington Post via Getty Images hide caption

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G L Askew II for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Percival Everett gives Mark Twain's classic story about Huck a new voice in 'James'

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Rod Nordland looks at the Istanbul old city from Galata Tower on Nov. 20, 2016. Nordland was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a terminal brain cancer, in 2019. Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Yasin Akgul/AFP via Getty Images

After years in conflict zones, a war reporter reckons with a deadly cancer diagnosis

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A farmer works at an avocado plantation at the Los Cerritos avocado group ranch in Ciudad Guzman, state of Jalisco, Mexico. Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images

This data scientist has a plan for how to feed the world sustainably

According to the United Nations, about ten percent of the world is undernourished. It's a daunting statistic — unless your name is Hannah Ritchie. She's the data scientist behind the new book Not the End of the World: How We Can Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet. It's a seriously big thought experiment: How do we feed everyone on Earth sustainably? And because it's just as much an economically pressing question as it is a scientific one, Darian Woods of The Indicator from Planet Money joins us. With Hannah's help, Darian unpacks how to meet the needs of billions of people without destroying the planet.

This data scientist has a plan for how to feed the world sustainably

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Cognitive neuroscientist Charan Ranganath says the human brain isn't programmed to remember everything. Rather, it's designed to "carry what we need and to deploy it rapidly when we need it." Bulat Silvia/iStock / Getty Images Plus hide caption

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Bulat Silvia/iStock / Getty Images Plus

When is forgetting normal — and when is it worrisome? A neuroscientist weighs in

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Lucy Sante, shown here in January 2024, says, "I am lucky to have survived my own repression. I think a lot of people in my position have not." Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for The Guardian hide caption

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Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for The Guardian

A gender-swapping photo app helped Lucy Sante come out as trans at age 67

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Jada Pinkett Smith's creative life. Matt Winkelmeyer/Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images hide caption

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Matt Winkelmeyer/Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images
Alicia Zheng/NPR

4 habits of highly effective communicators

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LA Johnson/NPR

The secret to lasting love might just be knowing how to fight

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In her new book Get the Picture, journalist Bianca Bosker explores why connecting with art sometimes feels harder than it has to be. Above, a visitor takes in paintings at The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London in 2010. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images hide caption

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Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

How the art world excludes you and what you can do about it

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Mark Daley is the founder of The Foster Parent, a national platform to connect interested families with foster organizations. Mark Daugherty/Simon & Schuster hide caption

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Mark Daugherty/Simon & Schuster

A foster parent reflects on loving — and letting go of — the children in his care

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Writer George Pelecanos reads The Washington Post every morning in his home. Keren Carrión/NPR hide caption

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Keren Carrión/NPR

Police raided George Pelecanos' home. 15 years later, he's ready to write about it

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Both Ayesha Rascoe and host Brittany Luse are alums of Howard University. Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Mike Morgan hide caption

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Drew Angerer/Getty Images/Mike Morgan

Crownsville patients work in the hospital's fields in the 1910s. Maryland State Archives/Hatchette hide caption

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Maryland State Archives/Hatchette

What a Jim Crow-era asylum can teach us about mental health today

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Illustrations © 2024 by Erin Kraan

'Buffalo Fluffalo' has had enuffalo in this kids' bookalo

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Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy sings the national anthem during a visit to the city of Izium, in the Kharkiv, Sept. 14, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP hide caption

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Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP

How war changed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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Dr. Uché Blackstock is the author of Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons With Racism In Medicine. Diane Zhao/Penguin Random House hide caption

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Diane Zhao/Penguin Random House

Following in her mom's footsteps, a doctor fights to make medicine more inclusive

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