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Tony Bennett, the crooner whose success spanned generations, died Friday. He was 96 years old.

His voice was synonymous with the Great American Songbook, which he continued to bring to new audiences even as the country’s musical tastes changed.

NPR’s Walter Ray Watson traces the arc of Bennett’s life, from his days as a singing waiter in Astoria, New York, to his Billboard-charting hits as a nonagenarian.

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We know that climate change is making all sorts of extreme weather events more likely all around the globe. So what can we do about that?

In this episode, NPR’s Allison Aubrey gives us tips on how to avoid heat-related illnesses when temperatures soar to dangerous levels.

And we hear from a climate researcher about what steps we would need to take on a global scale to try and bring temperatures down.

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It’s easy to lose track of the seriousness of the legal cases involving Donald Trump, in part because there are just so many.

This week the former president and current presidential candidate said he received a letter informing him he is a target in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Such a letter often precedes an indictment.

And a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, may soon consider an election interference case there that could lead to yet another indictment of Trump.

We hear about both cases in this episode.

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One of the most cutting-edge and controversial fields of biomedical research right now is the quest to create eggs and sperm in the lab for anyone with their own DNA. And now, private companies have jumped into the race to revolutionize the way humans reproduce.

In vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, would enable infertile women and men to have children with their own DNA instead of genes from the sperm and eggs of donors. It would also provide queer couples the opportunity to have children biologically related to both partners.

NPR health correspondent Rob Stein reports on the excitement and concerns this new technology has fueled.

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Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final was the latest coronation of a tennis great from Spain.

NPR’s Rob Schmitz looks into how the country became such fertile ground for outstanding players.

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Since the 2024 Presidential election may ultimately be decided by a handful of votes in a handful of states, courting young voters will be key. Gen Z has been turning out in record numbers in recent midterms.

Often much of the political conversation focuses on young voters in and around big cities. But since young voters are so key for Democrats’ success, and rural voters are an essential bloc for Republicans, what young, rural voters think really matters.

Host Scott Detrow spoke with NPR’s Elena Moore and Xinema Bustillo, who talked to Gen Z voters in rural North Carolina.

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James Barber is scheduled to be executed on Thursday in Alabama, for the murder of Dorothy Epps in 2001. It’s the first execution since Governor Kay Ivey paused capital punishment in the state and ordered a “top-to-bottom” review of death penalty protocols after the state failed to execute two inmates last year.

Host Scott Detrow speaks with The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig. She reported extensively on Alabama’s troubles with lethal injection last year. She says the state’s process is very opaque, and almost nothing of the review was made public.

Deborah Denno, a death penalty expert at Fordham Law School, says lethal injection problems are an issue all around the country.

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Six years ago when former Obama staffer Brian Wallach was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – ALS – a rare neurological disease that kills most people who contract it within a few years, he and his wife Sandra Abrevaya quickly got to work. They launched a non-profit advocacy group I am ALS and a battle to try and fight for increased funding and research that they hoped would lead to a cure for the disease.

Since then Wallach and Abrevaya have changed the face of medical advocacy in the country, helping secure legislation that President Biden signed in 2021 that funds $100 million worth of ALS initiatives each year.

NPR’s Juana Summers spent time with Wallach and Abrevaya to hear about their fight for a cure for ALS.

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As we confront the realities of a changing climate, a group of scientists says we’re living in a world of our very own making – a world altered by the burning of fossil fuels, the explosion of nuclear weapons, plastic pollution and environmental degradation. The scientists call it the Anthropocene. And they have identified a geological site in Canada they say best reflects this new epoch in Earth’s history.

We hear from NASA’s Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Calvin. Also, NPR’s Adrian Florido speaks with Francine McCarthy, a professor of Earth Sciences, who led a working group of scientists who identified Canada’s Crawford Lake as the best example of a place that demonstrates humanity’s impact on the planet.

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Baseball was once known for breaking racial barriers in the U.S. But now, Black representation in the major leagues is at its lowest level in decades.

This year, MLB did something to try and change that, by staging the first annual HBCU Swingman Classic. It’s an opportunity for players from historically Black colleges and universities to play in front of scouts and executives on a national stage.

NPR’s Juana Summers reports from Seattle on MLB’s efforts to reverse the decline and recruit Black American players.

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