PBS NewsHour

Gwen Ifill is getting a Forever stamp from the U.S. Postal...

Tue, 22 Oct 2019 11:45:07 -0400

Gwen Ifill is getting a Forever stamp from the U.S. Postal Service.
•••
Gwen was our heart and soul here at the PBS NewsHour for nearly two decades. She shared co-anchor and managing editor duties on our show with @judywoodruffpbs and was the moderator of @washingtonweekpbs. She covered eight presidential campaigns, moderated two vice presidential debates, and was a mentor and inspiration to countless journalists. She was a beloved sister, aunt, godmother and friend to many. Gwen died in November 2016 after an almost yearlong battle with cancer.
•••
The stamp that features Gwen is one of about 20 new designs announced Tuesday by the Postal Service. The stamp features a 2008 photo of Gwen with the words “BLACK HERITAGE” at the top and her name at the bottom. •••
Postal Service art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp. Stamp image from the U.S. Postal Service.

This is the the first-ever direct image of a black hole. The...

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 09:39:05 -0400

This is the the first-ever direct image of a black hole. The image was released Wednesday by the Event Horizon Telescope, a two-year-old, international collaboration of scientists. The concept of a #BlackHole has captivated scientists for two centuries. Despite decades of indirect evidence supporting their existence, black holes have never been captured by #camera — until now. Scientists hope to use the image to investigate the origins of our #universe. Image via the Event Horizon Telescope. #science #space
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Send us your thoughts in the comments. #college #university...

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:22:27 -0400

Send us your thoughts in the comments. #college #university
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This #tortoise — once thought to be extinct for more than 100...

Fri, 22 Feb 2019 13:36:28 -0500

This #tortoise — once thought to be extinct for more than 100 years — has been rediscovered by researchers in the #Galapagos #Islands. Ecologists are moving the tortoise to a breeding facility, where they hope to repopulate its species. To aid this process, they may try collecting male sperm from inside her — given that female giant tortoises can store the substance for up to seven years. #science #ecology (at Galapagos Islands)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offers applause during President...

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 11:20:02 -0500

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offers applause during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday night. Photo by Doug Mills (@nytmills) via Pool. #SOTU (at United States Capitol)
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Who are you rooting for in the #SuperBowl? The #Patriots are...

Thu, 31 Jan 2019 20:35:13 -0500

Who are you rooting for in the #SuperBowl? The #Patriots are making their fourth appearance in the @nfl’s big #game in the last five years, and a win on Sunday would bring them their sixth Super Bowl championship. We asked @martellusb why all that success has brought on so many haters. #football #sport
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#Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in #Chicago, where...

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 19:25:24 -0500

#Ice covers the Lake Michigan shoreline in #Chicago, where record low temperatures forced Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service to suspend service, on Wednesday. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images. #polarvortex #cold (at Chicago, Illinois)
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“We’re never going to get anywhere” if we tell...

Wed, 30 Jan 2019 17:33:59 -0500

“We’re never going to get anywhere” if we tell #women “don’t be enraged,” journalist and advocate @cindi_leive tells us in her #BriefButSpectacular take on #female power. #feminism #womensmarch
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Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “is,...

Mon, 28 Jan 2019 19:50:37 -0500

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation “is, I think, close to being completed,” acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told reporters today. (at The United States Department of Justice)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck...

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 21:53:14 -0500

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they hope the White House has learned a lesson. “Shutting down the #government over a policy difference is self-defeating,” Schumer told reporters Friday. #shutdown (at United States Capitol)
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After a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government,...

Fri, 25 Jan 2019 19:39:15 -0500

After a 35-day partial shutdown of the federal government, President Trump announced Friday that a deal has been reached to reopen the government and fund it for three weeks while negotiations on border security take place. “I have seen and heard from enough Democrats and Republicans that they are willing to put partisanship aside, I think, and put the security of the American people first,” he said at the White House. (at The White House)
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“The central part of human life is a healthy...

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 19:32:32 -0500

“The central part of human life is a healthy planet,” and we are in “danger of wrecking that,” naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough told Prince William at #wef19 in #Davos, #Switzerland. #environment #climatechange #earth #nature (at World Economic Forum)
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Hundreds of federal workers and union leaders protested the...

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 20:57:26 -0500

Hundreds of federal workers and union leaders protested the ongoing government shutdown today in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. Photos from congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins (@lisadnews). (at Capitol Hill)
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump traded...

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 18:30:08 -0500

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Donald Trump traded words today about the date and location of the State of the Union. Trump had said he planned to address Congress, as planned, on Jan. 29. But Pelosi said the House will not host the president’s speech while the federal government is shut down. Trump responded by saying Pelosi “cancelled” the speech “because she doesn’t want to hear the truth.” (at Washington, District of Columbia)
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Martin Luther King Jr. said this quote during his 1964 Nobel...

Mon, 21 Jan 2019 14:34:53 -0500

Martin Luther King Jr. said this quote during his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize lecture. #MLK #MLKDay
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Why mental illness should never be a crime: Jerri Clark, founder...

Fri, 18 Jan 2019 20:33:08 -0500

Why mental illness should never be a crime: Jerri Clark, founder of the group Mothers of the Mentally Ill, gives us her @briefbutspectacular take. #BriefButSpectacular #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalillness #mentalillnessawareness
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Why we still need paper maps

Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:20:55 -0500

Jerry Gretzinger has been mapping an imaginary world for 35 years, and he’s not about to stop now. Gretzinger’s map began with doodles drawn out of boredom. Now, it consists of thousands of panels of paint, pen and collage depicting the swirling oceans, cities and land masses of an imaginary world.

Image courtesy of Jerry Gretzinger

“The map is 55 feet across at least, at this point. I spent hours on the phone with him trying to understand why he makes this map, and I don’t think I do,” said Betsy Mason, co-author of the 2018 book All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey. “But I love that he does it.”

In their book, Mason and her co-author Greg Miller explore more than 200 maps from all points in history and all across the planets. (A few even dip into imaginary worlds, like the Death Star plans from the Star Wars movies!)

Images courtesy of Becky Hale, National Geographic and Betsy Mason

In an interview with the PBS NewsHour, Mason discussed how maps of all kinds help people understand the ways in which people, places and ideas are connected. The conversation has been edited for length.

Maps are meant to show a relationship, to lay it out on a page, but some maps in the book actually prompted a discovery. How do people uncover new things using maps?

A few that come to mind right away are the maps made by geologists right after the 1906 earthquake [in San Francisco]. By mapping the damage and comparing it to the geology, they were able to discover for the first time that the geology that underlies a structure is a big factor in the risk that it has [for collapsing]. We didn’t understand that before.

Image courtesy of David Rumsey Map Collection, David Rumsey Map Center, Stanford Libraries

Maps can also be misleading. What can we learn from misinterpreted maps?

Many people will probably have heard about John Snow’s map of the cholera epidemic in 1850 in SoHo [a neighborhood in London]. Well, there was another physician who did a much more detailed map that included things like elevation contours.

His conclusion was that the old miasmatic theory of disease was in fact correct. It looked to him like there were more cases of cholera in the low-lying areas of Oxford, England– and that the areas that were on a little bit of topography, where of course there would be more wind cleaning out the “noxious air,” had fewer cases.

Image courtesy of Princeton University Library

What he didn’t realize is that they also had a different water source – wells, as opposed to the contaminated rivers.

What do you think people can take away from this book?

We hope people discover that maps are a really interesting way to explore the world, to explore history and imagination, or design, or culture or politics.

Maps can take you places that you wouldn’t think to go.

All images appear in the book All Over the Map by Betsy Mason and Greg Miller, published by National Geographic in October, 2018.

Find the whole story here.

The partial government shutdown is close to becoming the longest...

Fri, 11 Jan 2019 19:44:20 -0500

The partial government shutdown is close to becoming the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. Friday marked the shutdown’s 21st day, tying it with the shutdown that lasted from Dec. 16, 1995 to Jan. 6, 1996, for the record.
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The government shutdown is making life difficult for families...

Tue, 08 Jan 2019 14:47:07 -0500

The government shutdown is making life difficult for families with young children. “My daughter’s daycare is closed because it’s located inside a federal building,” says federal worker Sam Shirazi. (at Virginia)
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Furloughed National Park Service employee Sarah Jackson can...

Mon, 07 Jan 2019 16:19:50 -0500

Furloughed National Park Service employee Sarah Jackson can neither pay for surgery she needs, nor afford graduate classes due to the partial #government shutdown. “If we don’t go back to work soon, I’m going to have to drop out of those classes.”
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