PBS NewsHour

Well. This is is one way to become invisible. Students of the...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:27:16 -0400

Well. This is is one way to become invisible.

Students of the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design paint Liu Bolin, also known as “The Invisible Man” in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Photo by Bernd Weissbrod/AFP/Getty Images

“I hadn’t realized I’d learned to talk with a weightless...

Thu, 16 May 2013 12:22:21 -0400

“I hadn’t realized I’d learned to talk with a weightless tongue.”

-Commander Chris Hadfield spoke earlier today from Houston during his first press conference since returning to Earth.

Hadfield said that symptoms of adapting to Earth after four months of weightlessness on the International Space Station include dizziness, a sore body and neck and difficulty walking and exercising. He has to sit down while taking a shower so he doesn’t faint, and with no callouses on his hands and feet, walks around like “walking on hot coals.”

During the press conference, he wore a G-suit underneath his clothing to coax the blood back up to his head. Learn more about his adjustment from space to Earth here.

Photos above taken by NewsHour’s Cat Wise (how apropos!)...

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:35:37 -0400

Photos above taken by NewsHour’s Cat Wise (how apropos!)

At the Internet Cat Video Festival in Oakland, Calif., around 6,000 people gathered on a late spring afternoon to celebrate all things feline and to watch nearly 70 minutes of hilarious cat web videos projected on a 10-story building after the sun went down.

The festival is the brain-child of Scott Stulen who is project director at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Last summer, Stulen and his colleagues posted a request for people to nominate their favorite cat web videos. They received 10,000 submissions from all over the world, and 79 were selected to be shown at a festival at the museum.

Learn more here.

“There were total massacres…People were tortured, burned, shot, stabbed by soldiers....

Thu, 09 May 2013 13:58:05 -0400

“There were total massacres…People were tortured, burned, shot, stabbed by soldiers. They were exterminating entire communities. You can’t say that’s not genocide.”

-Jose Cortez, an Ixil civil war survivor who runs a small NGO that aids fellow survivors, on the ongoing genocide trial in Guatemala.

Using forensic science, investigators have found compelling evidence that thousands of innocent indigenous Ixil Mayans were the target of extermination in Guatemala during the 1980s, a discovery that is directly affecting the genocide trial of former leader Efrain Rios Montt.

Learn more here.

At the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in Bronx, NY a medical...

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:20:00 -0400

At the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in Bronx, NY a medical procedure cost $38k. That same procedure cost $637k at the Stanford Hospital in Stanford, CA.

A new report released by the federal government raises questions about how exactly hospitals determine the cost of treatment, after it revealed that facilities across the country are charging wildly different amounts for the same medical procedures.

One million babies die each year on the day they are born,...

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:52:45 -0400

One million babies die each year on the day they are born, according to a new study released by the international nonprofit Save the Children.

In its annual “State of the World’s Mothers” report, the group has ranked which countries are best (Finland) and worst (DR Congo) at helping newborns survive their first day of life.

Go here to learn more about the report.

The cicadas are coming! Are you ready for the invasion? Here are...

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:02:25 -0400

The cicadas are coming! Are you ready for the invasion?

Here are some tips (and recipes if you’re adventurous) so you’ll be fully prepared for their arrival.

Two-thirds of American office workers experience pain on the job and a quarter expect it. Not from...

Fri, 03 May 2013 14:28:03 -0400

Two-thirds of American office workers experience pain on the job and a quarter expect it. Not from physical exertion, but from too much hunching, sitting, clicking and staring at screens.

According to a recent study from the American Osteopathic Association, the average “work potato” misses the equivalent of three days on the job each year simply because they don’t move enough.

Are you a work potato?

Before leaving on a two-week trip to Pakistan, many friends and...

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:28:43 -0400

Before leaving on a two-week trip to Pakistan, many friends and family asked NewsHour’s Daniel Sagalyn the same question: Is Pakistan a safe place for Americans to visit?

View his photo essay here.

Photos above by Daniel Sagalyn

A Filipino artist applies the finishing touches on a mural for...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:26:16 -0400

A Filipino artist applies the finishing touches on a mural for Labor Day protests in Manila. Thousands of workers and activists will march to protest the government’s migrant labor policy and demand higher wages.

Photo by Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images.

Young Iraqi dancers from a ballet and music school perform...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 17:52:47 -0400

Young Iraqi dancers from a ballet and music school perform Thursday at al-Ribat Hall in Baghdad. Photo by Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary James Brady was critically wounded when he...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:08:58 -0400

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary James Brady was critically wounded when he took a bullet to the head to save Reagan from assassination.

Twelve years later, President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act into law, which helped create the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that remains in use today.

Thirty-two years after being shot in the head, Jim Brady remains bound to a wheelchair and has difficulties with his vision. Watch his conversation with Judy Woodruff on gun control here.

At age 62, soul singer Charles Bradley released his first album...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:36:15 -0400

At age 62, soul singer Charles Bradley released his first album to critical acclaim. Now, two years and another album later, he’s embarking on his first world tour.

Learn more about the “Screaming Eagle of Soul” (yes, that’s his nickname) here.

Terrorism has been in the headlines in Boston before, but when...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:55:00 -0400

Terrorism has been in the headlines in Boston before, but when the Department of Homeland Security originally assessed the threat of terror to 65 American metropolitan areas in 2003, Boston barely made the top 10.

In 2009, Boston was re-classified as one of ten “tier 1” cities, making it eligible for more funds than metropolitan areas that face a lesser risk of terror. Learn more here.

They say it’s your Earth Day…it’s our Earth...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:43:13 -0400

They say it’s your Earth Day…it’s our Earth Day too, yeah!

What the holiday means today.

A skater performs a trick at the South Bank skatepark in London....

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 15:56:54 -0400

A skater performs a trick at the South Bank skatepark in London. Plans are underway to refurbish the complex, which would be replaced with new arts venues and retail outlets. The skatepark, hailed as the birthplace of British skateboarding, is to be moved to a nearby area, which has angered the skateboarding community.

Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

Moments ago, the FBI released this video of two Boston Marathon...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:45:00 -0400

Moments ago, the FBI released this video of two Boston Marathon bombing suspects.

FBI requests that the public use only the images released today to help ascertain the identities of the subjects, and that no one should approach the suspects if they are identified.

Go here for more.

April 15, 2013, marked the day of the 117th Boston Marathon, the...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:52:51 -0400

April 15, 2013, marked the day of the 117th Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest annual marathon still in existence.

Twenty-seven thousand runners and thousands more spectators had turned out for the Boston Marathon when terror erupted, and a day that should have resulted in triumph quickly turned to tragedy.

We’re compiling photos that detail the start of the race to the aftermath of the bombings, as well as the tributes and memorials that have popped up across the nation.

Photo credit above from left to right: Aaron Tang/Flickr, David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe/Getty Images, Tim McGagh/MetroWestDailyNews.com, Bill Greene/The Boston Globe/Getty Images, and John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/Getty Images.

The latest from the series “Blank on Blank” by PBS...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:45:47 -0400

The latest from the series “Blank on Blank” by PBS Digital Studios: “Jim Morrison on Why Fat is Beautiful” http://to.pbs.org/ZpAz76

Economic historian Jerry Muller argues that the way we choose a...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:12:00 -0400

Economic historian Jerry Muller argues that the way we choose a mate contributes to the growing economic inequality. http://to.pbs.org/10QOxCZ