Mythili Rao

Producer

Mythili Rao is a producer for the daily radio show The Takeaway with John Hockenberry.

Mythili Rao is a producer at The Takeaway. Her reporting, essays and book reviews have also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Daily Beast, The Nation, The Millions, Publishers Weekly, Newsweek, and other publications. Before joining WNYC, she worked on the assignment desk at CNN's New York Bureau, where she filed stories on everything from Bernie Madoff to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

Do presidential candidates have a right to keep their health private?

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two of the oldest candidates ever to make a presidential bid, and neither has shared much information about their health. What do they owe the public?

Do presidential candidates have a right to keep their health private?
Stranded migrants

Texas files suit to stop Syrian refugees being resettled in the state

Texas files suit to stop Syrian refugees being resettled in the state
Books at a library

Banned Books Week celebrates the books that are 'filthy, but great' — and more

Banned Books Week celebrates the books that are 'filthy, but great' — and more
Teens

What we're learning about the teenage brain

What we're learning about the teenage brain
The Astronaut Wives Club Promo

The dirty secret of 'The Astronaut Wives Club'

The dirty secret of 'The Astronaut Wives Club'
LeVar Burton

The host of Reading Rainbow wants you to take a look in a book this summer

To get kids to enjoy and wanted to read, LeVar Burton, longtime host of Reading Rainbow, parents must demonstrate their own love of reading.

The host of Reading Rainbow wants you to take a look in a book this summer
World's 50 Best Restaurants reception

Latest 50 Best Restaurants ignites a controversy that has been 'brewing for years'

The World's 50 Best Restaurants were unveiled this week — but it depends on who you ask whether these restaurants are really the 50 best at all.

Latest 50 Best Restaurants ignites a controversy that has been 'brewing for years'
Hitler talk show

Germans may finally feel they have permission to laugh at Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler did heinous things. For years after World War II, it wasn't even possible to present him in a comedic way. But by 1968, Americans started laughing at Hitler — and now Germans are too.

Germans may finally feel they have permission to laugh at Adolf Hitler
Gen. Ann Dunwoody, then commanding general of US Army Material Command, speaks as singer Alicia Keys looks on during a roundtable discussion with students at Dunbar High School in Washington, DC, on March 19, 2009.

America's first female four-star general reflects on the challenges of serving

Gen. Ann Dunwoody wasn't even sure she wanted to be in the military at first, but the professionalism and leadership of her first co-workers put her on the path to becoming the first woman to be a four-star general. Yet she acknowledges many female service members still need fair treatment.

America's first female four-star general reflects on the challenges of serving
Same-sex marriage supporters wave a rainbow flag in front of the US Supreme Court on March 26, 2013 in Washington, DC

As the Supreme Court prepares to decide on gay marriage, remembering the case that set the precedent

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that may decide the future of same-sex marriage nationwide. A case from 2010 helped set the legal and moral precedent to get us to this point.

As the Supreme Court prepares to decide on gay marriage, remembering the case that set the precedent
Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo's letters fetch more than $1,000 per page at auction

Frida Kahlo was married to fellow artist Diego Rivera, but she had an affair with Spanish artist José Bartoli. The letters are between Kahlo and Bartoli and show the depth and nature of their relationship.

Frida Kahlo's letters fetch more than $1,000 per page at auction
A portrait of a Vietnamese couple.

The many misunderstood reasons people don't have kids

Are people who choose not to have kids really "selfish, shallow and self-absorbed?" That's the title of a new book that explores why the childless are actually none of the above, and want the rest of society to understand their often-complex reasons for not having kids.

The many misunderstood reasons people don't have kids
People protest against the killing of a homeless man by police outside LAPD headquarters on March 3, 2015.

The Justice Department wades into the fight against police discrimination

The killing of a homeless man by Los Angeles police added yet another incident to the list of high-profile police killings that have rocked the US over the last year. Now the Justice Department is issuing reports and recommendations on police bias, hoping to help repair relations between officers and citizens.

The Justice Department wades into the fight against police discrimination
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators wear signs around their neck representing their student debt during a protest against the rising national student debt in New York on April 25, 2012.

'If you owe the bank $1 trillion, you own the bank,' say student debtors who are fighting back

The number of college graduates with debt is rising quickly, and some students have had enough. A group known as the Corinthian 15 say they're going on a "debt strike," hoping to force action to cancel the debts they owe to a for-profit education company — and spur broader change.

'If you owe the bank $1 trillion, you own the bank,' say student debtors who are fighting back
Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area under the watchful eyes of military police during inprocessing at the temporary detention facility at Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray in this January 11, 2002 file photograph.

He blew the whistle on CIA torture, and now he's finally home from jail — and talking

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou is the man who first confirmed that the CIA was using waterboarding to torture detainees. He's also the only person to ever go to jail over the CIA's torture program. Now he's home on house arrest, and speaking out about his concerns over the future of vital leaks.

He blew the whistle on CIA torture, and now he's finally home from jail — and talking