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Emily Haavik

Emily Haavik is an audio journalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Emily Haavik is an independent journalist, audio producer and composer. She spent a decade working in public radio and television news, and her work has been honored with a Peabody and a DuPont, as well as multiple regional Emmy and Murrow awards. She loves to travel and tell stories that focus on the environment and criminal justice. She also fronts an Americana band.

Photo of a webpage of the University of the People home site

‘University of the People’ offers tuition-free degrees for marginalized students across the globe

The price of higher ed

The University of the People bills itself as the first nonprofit, tuition-free, American-accredited online university. Thanks to technological developments and the acceptance of online learning, the nature of higher education is changing fast. But are the university’s 137,000 students from more than 200 countries, including the US, getting a quality education? Emily Haavik reports on how the university works.

College campus crowded with multiple people

Accreditors approve historic shortened bachelor’s degrees in the US

The World's Global Classroom
The Rhine River passes through Basel, a Swiss city that sits near the borders of Germany and France.

Salmon are returning to Europe’s Rhine River, but a key barrier remains

Environment
On the outer edge of a bog in Kohlhütte nature reserve, the land is drier than it used to be. Once, this dirt would have been more like thick mud.

In Germany’s Black Forest and beyond, a quiet loss of biodiversity

Climate Change
In 2010, Noreen Dertinger finally spotted her first loon chick on Lake Kennebec. Unfortunately, it did not survive the year.

Mysterious drop in loon population prompts cross-border collaborations in North America

Environment
Chef Josh Wing’s menu at Restaurant Polfareren is small and simple, changing with the seasons and incorporating as much local game as possible.

Welcome to Longyearbyen: The height of Arctic haute cuisine

Food

The former coal mining town and current Arctic research hub has developed a reputation for superb wines and Nordic fine dining.

This mother polar bear and her two cubs are headed down to the sea ice in the Svalbard archipelago. She’ll have to teach them to hunt seals, their primary prey, in a changing landscape.

Svalbard’s polar bears persist as sea ice melts — but not forever

Climate Change

Polar bears are “plastic,” meaning they’re designed to be responsive to shifting living conditions. But as sea ice continues to melt, the clock is ticking on how long they can survive.

Welsh conductor Grant Llewellyn conducts an orchestra in 2007.

There’s a reason why great music can give you a ‘skin orgasm’ — chills down your spine

Environment

When was the last time that music moved you, not just emotionally, but physically? Researcher Psyche Loui says music can give you a “skin orgasm.” And there may be an evolutionary reason why we get that chill down our spine.
When was the last time that music moved you, not just emotionally, but physically? Researcher Psyche Loui says music can give you a “skin orgasm.” And there may be an evolutionary reason why we get that chill down our spine.