Christopher Intagliata

NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks to Masha Gessen, author of Surviving Autocracy, about the state of U.S. democracy, as House Republicans continue to embrace former President Trump's lies about the election.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown about the recent spike in coronavirus cases in her state and her plans on reopening the economy.

Owning a home is a part of the American dream. It's also the key to building intergenerational wealth. But Black Americans continue to face discrimination in housing, including through higher costs.

After the 2008 financial crisis, mortgage backers began charging more to borrowers with lower credit scores and less wealth — a practice that disproportionately affects Black homebuyers in America.

Southern California's Inland Empire served as an opportunity for Black Americans to grasp the American dream of homeownership — until they were disproportionately targeted for subprime loans.

In the 1950s, the city of Compton was nearly all-white. But by the 1970s, it had turned majority Black — in part due to a state-sanctioned predatory real estate practice called blockbusting.

Sugar Hill was a wealthy, Black Los Angeles neighborhood whose residents played a role in lifting racially restrictive covenants — only to eventually be erased by another force of racial segregation.

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with writer Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor about the racist real estate practices that ensured wealth accumulated along racial lines, even after housing discrimination became illegal.

A Finnish computer scientist had a dream that a blackbird was speaking to her in human language. So she devised a computer program to transform the sounds of the human voice into birdsong.

NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Julie Fisher, the first U.S. Ambassador to Belarus since 2008, about last year's disputed presidential election and where diplomatic relations currently stand.

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Patrick Radden Keefe about his book Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty. The book profiles the family that founded oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma.

Scientists found remains of parrots in the Atacama desert, far from the birds' home in the Amazon. The discovery allowed scientists to reconstruct ancient trading routes used to transport the birds.

A group of scientists from Boulder, Colo., compared three different atomic clocks. It's a step toward redefining the length of a second.

The Rev. John Wilkins of Hunters Chapel in Mississippi spent his life performing gospel blues in and out of the church. He died of COVID-19 at age 76.

New research suggests that penguins' ancestors originated not in frozen Antarctica but, instead, off the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, adapting to new climes over 22 million years.

Contrary to the image of sharks as lone predators, new research has found evidence that some species are social creatures who return repeatedly to the same fellow sharks, often for years.

Scientists have come up with a novel material for cleaning up oil spills on land. Mats of human hair and dog fur successfully absorb oil from hard surfaces — but not so well from sand.

California led the nation in issuing a statewide stay-at-home order. And it's paying an economic price: a $54 billion deficit. As the state reopens, it seeks to balance the economy and public health.

Singer-songwriter Jason Isbell talks about releasing his new album early to independent record stores and reconnecting with a younger version of himself after being sober for almost a decade.

The Wild Sourdough Project is studying how different regions and flours influence a sourdough starter's composition and aroma.