Boston

Business, Economics and Jobs

May 25, 2017

The war in Syria has had devastating effects on access to education for children remaining in Syria, and for those who are now refugees. Zainab Abdo, 21, is one of them.

A cyclone in Madagascar could mean you'll pay more for ice cream this summer

May 12, 2017

Back in March, a Category 4 cyclone hit the island of Madagascar. At least 81 people were killed and 6,000 others were displaced. The cyclone also washed away one of the island's main sources of income: vanilla.

Sometimes, you can't see change until your neighborhood auto shop is forced out of the neighborhood

April 27, 2017

The World's host, Marco Werman, has lived in the same Cambridge community for more than 15 years. It was hard to see the change, until it smacked him in the face.

How the new health care bill could affect your Uber ride

Innovation Hub

March 17, 2017

The gig economy has exploded over the past decade. Could Paul Ryan’s new health care proposal halt that progress?

One of the oldest bars in America is now the place to go for Thai visas

WGBH News

March 08, 2017

Joe Milano is the owner of Union Oyster House. He also happens to be the honorary consul general for Thailand.

Politics

Catalonia is still pushing for an independence vote that Spain calls illegal

March 06, 2017

Updated

03/14/2017 - 1:15pm

Catalonia, the northeastern region of Spain, is often compared to Scotland because it's a place with a distinctive identity, its own language, culture and institutions. And its leaders want to hold an independence referendum. We sat down with ex-President Artur Mas to find out more.

Lifestyle & Belief

This imam wants to make America great, too

March 06, 2017

The Trump administration's rhetoric about Islam and terrorism is alarming to many Muslims. The imam at Boston's biggest mosque says the best response is to look outward.

Politics

How Trump's rhetoric could cost colleges billions in lost tuition revenue

WGBH News

February 22, 2017

Walk up and down Commonwealth Avenue on the Boston University campus, and it's easy to see and hear the presence of international students. The largest percentage of foreign students — here and nationwide — come from China. So when President Donald Trump sounds off, college administrators get anxious.

Health & Medicine

'Implicit bias' may account for a glaring disparity in health care screening

February 09, 2017

Asian Americans are screened for Type 2 diabetes at lower rates than other groups. Researchers want to know why.

Lifestyle & Belief

Breakaway Buddhists take aim at the Dalai Lama

October 31, 2014

The Dalai Lama prohibits his followers from praying to what he considers the malevolent deity of Dorje Shugden. But adherents of this practice, many of them western converts, say the Tibetan religious leader is guilty of persecution.

The story of how one hot sauce, Huy Fong Sriracha, got so hot

October 22, 2013

Updated

10/23/2013 - 4:00pm

David Tran, the man who created Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha, has never advertised his hot sauce. Yet, that ubiquitous red bottle with the green cap can be seen in restaurants across the US. How'd it get so hot?

How do you explain the leap second to a 6-year-old?

June 30, 2015

What would you do with an extra second? Well, today you get to decide, because today is one second longer than usual. What’s that you say, the idea makes your head spin? Well, it’s because of the irregular way the earth spins.

How the warming Arctic might be behind Boston's deep freeze

February 23, 2015

Updated

02/26/2015 - 10:30am

There may be a counterintuitive explanation for the deep freeze that hit New England this winter: The rapidly warming Arctic is causing big disruptions in the jet stream, which carries weather across North America. Is this the worst winter you've experienced?

Business, Economics and Jobs

Nuclear reactor closings in the US continue to roil the energy industry

Living on Earth

November 22, 2015

The Entergy Corporation recently announced it would soon close two aging nuclear power plants in the northeast US. At the same time, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted the company a new license to operate a Tennessee reactor that some experts consider one of the least safe in the nation. What does this portend for nuclear energy in the US?

How to bring high-speed trains to the US

Business, Economics and Jobs

August 20, 2015

Japan's high speed trains run upwards of 200 miles per hour while Amtrak's Acela can only go its top speed of 150 for short stretches. The reason? Outdated infrastructure. After World War II, the US invested in cars, not trains, and today its passenger railways lag far behind countries in Europe and Asia. Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter lays out a new vision for US transportation in her book "Move: Putting America's Infrastructure Back in the Lead."

For the short people among us, Uniqlo's clothes come to the rescue — for now

August 25, 2014

It's hard enough finding clothes that fit when you're a large size, but what about when you're under five feet tall? Pien Huang thought she had the answer, but the small sizing that makes her love Japanese chain Uniqlo means that the company's US stores are losing money.

Lifestyle & Belief

The pope promises accountability to victims abused by the church. Where is Cardinal Law?

WGBH News

August 04, 2015

Updated

09/27/2015 - 10:00am

He fled Boston leaving a trail of 550 people abused by parish priests and court judgments that topped $85 million. Now that Pope Francis has promised accountability to survivors of church sex abuse, where is Cardinal Law? Turns out, he's in a new apartment in the Vatican — when he's not on vacation.

Sports

Why the Boston Marathon bombing made me watch mixed martial arts

April 21, 2014

The Tsarnaevs trained at the mixed martial arts gym under reporter Andrea Crossan's home. And, it turns out, that some of the best fighters in MMA come from the Caucasus region that also produced the Tsarnaevs.