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In the 1960s, the authors of one of the world’s first popular compendiums of fun and interesting facts entreated readers not to mistake the “flower of Trivia” for the “weed of minutiae.” Trivia stimulates the mind, Edwin Goodgold and Dan Carlinsky wrote in More Trivial Trivia; minutiae stymie it.
Across a Swiss meadow and into its forested edges, the drone dragged a jumbo-size cotton swab from a 13-foot tether. Along its path, the moistened swab collected scraps of life: some combination of sloughed skin and hair; mucus, saliva, and blood splatters; pollen flecks and fungal spores.
Later, biologists used a sequencer about the size of a phone to stream the landscape’s DNA into code, revealing dozens upon dozens of species, some endangered, some invasive.
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The contrast could hardly have been greater.
During a memorial service for Charlie Kirk, held in a stadium filled with nearly 100,000 people, Erika Kirk, the wife of the slain right-wing activist, expressed both her profound love for her husband and the profound grief brought on by his death. It was the speech of a woman deeply influenced by her Christian faith.
President Donald Trump is relying on drugmakers to lower U.S. prices on their own, but he might get less than he bargained for.
The Black liberation activist Assata Shakur died on September 25, 2025, at the age of 78. She passed away in Cuba, where she received political asylum in 1984 after escaping the U.S. prison system, and where she continued to reside for decades despite U.S. attempts to capture and extradite her. In 1998, Shakur wrote an open letter to Pope John Paul II during his historic visit to Cuba, after New Jersey state troopers requested the pope call for her extradition.
Democracy Now! was on the streets as thousands marched to the United Nations in New York City Friday while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the General Assembly. Despite the fact that Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes he has presided over in Gaza, he was able to travel to the U.N. without incident, as the United States says it does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC.
In an exclusive interview just hours after incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s decision to end his reelection bid, we sat down with Democratic nominee for mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to lay out his campaign and his vision for an affordable city. We discuss his platform, his support for Palestinian rights and why he identifies as democratic socialist.
NVIDIA has announced a $100 billion investment in OpenAI to build out data centers that use its chips.
The YIMBY movement gathered in New Haven—and revealed its biggest vulnerability.
Trump’s brand new Fed appointee is already going against the grain.
Gary Rivlin joins Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his book on Silicon Valley’s race to cash in on AI.
ICE raided a new Hyundai plant in Georgia detaining hundreds of workers from South Korea.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or the acting CDC director could create new recommendations without a vote from the panel, giving the health secretary broad authority over the childhood vaccine schedule. But there’s little precedent for such a move.
Public health experts and program lawyers have warned that adding autism to the compensation program would exhaust the court’s workforce and financial resources.
“I think there are an awful lot of people in the medical community who come to a different conclusion about the use of Tylenol,” Thune said.
The president wants to stem rising autism rates even if it means pregnant women don’t treat their pain and delay their kids’ vaccinations.
The work of epidemiologist Ann Bauer and her co-authors was cited by President Trump in remarks linking Tylenol or acetaminophen with an increased incidence of autism.
The Waves also discusses the Riverside Church controversy and the case of Sarah Milov.
What we say matters, especially depending on whom we say it to.
The Waves also discusses the case against Jeffrey Epstein and Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman Is in Trouble.
A survey from the liberal-leaning group Somos Votantes shows Latino voters are souring on the president.
Privately, aides concede voters remain uneasy about prices but argue their policies are beginning to turn things around.
Bill Beach said the president’s suggestions that the jobs report was rigged betrayed a misunderstanding in how those numbers are assembled.
The monthly jobs report showed just 73,000 jobs in July, with big reductions to May’s and June’s numbers
As the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on Venezuela, we speak with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. In recent weeks, the U.S. has bombed multiple alleged Venezuelan “drug boats” at sea, killing at least 17 people without providing any clear evidence that they were involved in drug trafficking or linked to the government in Caracas. The U.S.
President Donald Trump is escalating his attack on progressive groups following the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and a deadly shooting that targeted an immigration jail in Dallas. White House officials have repeatedly blamed Democrats and left-wing groups for contributing to political violence, but investigative reporter Ken Klippenstein says the motivations of people who commit such acts are often more complicated.
Israel’s military has issued new evacuation orders for neighborhoods of Gaza City as Israeli ground forces pushed deeper into the Gaza Strip’s largest urban area. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have already fled Gaza City for overcrowded areas further south, as Israeli forces systematically flatten much of the city. Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continues to kill dozens of Palestinians every day amid widespread famine.
