Arts, Culture & Media
The Takeaway
July 25, 2017
Arthur Brand is an art detective who has often been called the “Indiana Jones of the art world.” He’s convinced that the paintings are with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Ireland. He says this isn’t just the biggest theft in art history, it’s also one of the biggest mysteries.
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Lifestyle & Belief
Breakaway Buddhists take aim at the Dalai Lama
PRI's The World
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.
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Arts, Culture & Media
The story of how one hot sauce, Huy Fong Sriracha, got so hot
PRI's The World
October 22, 2013
Updated
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?
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Science, Tech & Environment
How do you explain the leap second to a 6-year-old?
PRI's The World
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.
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Science, Tech & Environment
How the warming Arctic might be behind Boston's deep freeze
PRI's The World
February 23, 2015
Updated
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?
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Science, Tech & Environment
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?
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Business, Economics and Jobs
How to bring high-speed trains to the US
PRI's The World
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."
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Business, Economics and Jobs
For the short people among us, Uniqlo's clothes come to the rescue — for now
PRI's The World
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.
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Lifestyle & Belief
The pope promises accountability to victims abused by the church. Where is Cardinal Law?
WGBH News
August 04, 2015
Updated
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.
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Sports
Why the Boston Marathon bombing made me watch mixed martial arts
PRI's The World
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.
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Development & Education
Boston students take on the French consulate over its warning to avoid their neighborhood
PRI's The World
January 18, 2014
When the French consulate issued a warning to French tourists to avoid certain neighborhoods in Boston at night, students there decided to do something about it.