On Sundays, Weekend Edition combines the news with colorful arts and human-interest features, appealing to the curious and eclectic. With a nod to traditional Sunday habits, the program offers a fix for diehard crossword addicts-word games and brainteasers with The Puzzlemaster, a.k.a. Will Shortz, puzzle editor of The New York Times. With Hansen on the sidelines, a caller plays the latest word game on the air while listeners compete silently at home. The NPR mailbag is proof that the competition to go head-to-head with Shortz is rather vigorous.
Another trademark of Sunday's program is "Voices in the News," a montage of sound bites from the past week, poignant in its simplicity. Hansen also engages listeners in her discussions with regular contributors, who cover a wide range of national and international issues.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to a patron of the party, musician George Brown of the band Kool & The Gang, about his new book, new record, and the "Celebration" of a long and funky career.
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Researchers have been able to reverse the effects of a syndrome that affects brain development in a brain organoid. (This story first aired on All Things Considered on April 24, 2024.)
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Historical Markers in the US are fascinating, sometimes wrong, sometimes offensive and cruel. But they also have the power to unlock secrets, like those of a long forgotten Civil Rights cold case.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with scientific director Solomon Birhanie about his efforts to fight mosquitoes in Southern California by releasing sterile male mosquitoes into the population.
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Utah's new hockey team needs a name, and its owners say they'll let the fans weigh in with something everyone loves — a bracket!
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with WAMU listener, Aaron Lukas of North Potomac, Maryland and puzzle master Will Shortz.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Sarah Ludington of Duke University's School of Law about the first amendment protections for students who are protesting on college campuses.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Minhal Baig, who wrote and directed the new movie "We Grown Now." It's about two kids in the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago in the early 1990s.
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A cult leader in Kenya was charged with murder after the discovery last year of more than 400 bodies in a remote forest. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to journalist Carey Baraka about the case.
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NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks with Representative Nancy Mace, a South Carolina Republican, about recent developments in former President Trump's legal battles.