Michael Skoler
Former general manager, PRI.org
Michael Skoler is the former general manager of PRI.org, where he helped connect smart and passionate journalists with smart and passionate audiences.
After an early career mistake of leaving Paris and the French wine trade, I recovered by becoming a reporter.I've written for magazines like Glamour (where I was the only male on staff for a brief time), reported on science and tech for WGBH-TV, covered Somalia, Rwanda and South Africa as NPR's Africa correspondent, created online games like BudgetHero, and started the Public Insight Network of citizen sources that many newsrooms use today.Along the way, I earned an MBA and have lived in France, Kenya and Mexico.
European youth have started the #BloodBucketChallenge
After the success of the Ice Bucket Challenge that swept YouTube, European young people are hoping for viral success with a campaign to bring world attention back to the conflict on Ukraine’s eastern border. Meanwhile, killing is the subject of newly-published scientific research. In this case, the killers, though, are chimps. And a Chinese tennis star retires in her 30s, having brought tennis and a bit of sports freedom to her home country, in this weekend’s Global Scan.
Now you can have airline food without leaving the ground
Frequent fliers at least get points for suffering through airline cuisine. Soon Germans will get the option of having it delivered to their homes. And what does a business class meal cost on the ground? About $12. Newly-released files from Britain’s National Archives confirm that the country’s WWII spies had to pass a seduction test by “special agent” Fifi. And 50 South Koreans will experience an oxymoron — competitive relaxation. All that in today’s Global Scan.
MIT researchers create a robo-cheetah that runs and jumps off-leash
It’s not much of a looker when it comes to feline curves, but MIT’s robotic cheetah sure can run. It is novel in both its motors and the math that calculates how hard it springs across uneven terrain. In Scotland, bankers are preparing for the worst — a run on banks if Scots vote “yes” to separate from Britain on Thursday. And we look at the sexy brewing device for coffee that was a favorite of James Bond and is coming back into fashion. All that in today’s Global Scan.
Just how big is that comet the European Space Agency is going to land on?
Out in space, comets don’t seem that big compared to planets and all. But this chunk of rock and ice would rival the tallest mountains we know. Some have even created photos showing how it would tower over Los Angeles. Meanwhile in Australia, a Pizza Hut makes a major PR gaffe when it decides to throw in a free pet with every large pizza order. And the American-raised son of a terrorist decides to tell his story. All in this edition of the Global Scan.
Pakistan says it has captured the men who shot Malala in 2012
When Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head two years ago, the Taliban in Pakistan claimed responsibility. On Friday, the Pakistan army said it had caught a gang of 10 men behind the attack. Elsewhere in Pakistan, a new branch of al-Qaeda seems to have bungled its first attack, but wants the press coverage anyway. And a 45-story skyscraper of squatters is being cleared in Venezuela, all in this weekend’s Global Scan.