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Main Street in Montpelier, Vermont. Flooding events are expected to increase with climate change (Mike Doherty/Vermont Public)

MIT's climate clock says the globe will hit a critical warming mark in 6 months

The MIT countdown clock aims to reach students by comparing predicted global warming time to a very tangible daily metric: Boston sports.

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U.S. and world news

Opening night at La Scala theater, in Milan Italy, Thursday Dec. 7, 2023. The tradition of Italian opera singing is among the 55 cultural practices to be inscribed to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage List this year. (Luca Bruno/AP)

55 cultural practices added to UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage

In this photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the U.S. waited in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas, in June 2018. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP)

Federal judge prohibits separating migrant families at the border

Ryan O'Neal arrives at the 8th Annual TV Land Awards at Sony Studios on in Culver City, Calif., in 2010. The actor died at age 82. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Ryan O'Neal, star of 'Peyton Place' and 'Love Story,' dies at 82

French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Rivière (center) and other representatives raise their hands in favor of a resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza during a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York on Friday. The U.S. vetoed it. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. has vetoed a Gaza cease-fire resolution in the U.N. Security...

Ethan Crumbley stands with his attorneys Paulette Loftin (left) and Amy Hopp during his senencing hearing in Pontiac, Mich. Parents of students killed at Michigan's Oxford High School described the anguish of losing their children Friday as a judge considered whether Crumbley would serve a life sentence for the 2021 mass shooting. (Carlos Osorio/AP)

Michigan high school shooter sentenced to Life in Prison without Parole

He won his seat on council by a single vote — which...

More Boston Headlines

For the first time, the gender wage gap in Greater Boston shrank. But the racial wage gap continued to grow

According to a report released this week from the Boston Women's Workforce Council, the gender wage gap in Greater Boston shrank, while the racial wage gap grew. We talk about...

How one expert believes we can do philanthropy right this season

Makeeba McCreary, president of the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund and co-author of a WBUR Cognoscenti piece about equitable and sustainable giving, joins Radio Boston to talk...

Radio Boston

10 hours ago

A conversation with Toni Lynn Washington, Boston's 'Queen of Soul and Blues'

Radio Boston talks with singer Toni Lynn Washington and WBUR arts contributor Noah Schaffer ahead of a celebration of Washington's career at Regent Theatre in Arlington.

Radio Boston

11:4110 hours ago

Mao Zedong stands in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Oct. 1, 1949. (AP)

Menu signed by Mao Zedong brings a quarter million dollars at Boston auction

An official menu for a state banquet signed by former Chinese leader Mao Zedong has been sold for $275,000 by Boston-based RR Auction.

Local Coverage

Dec 8, 2023

Harvard professor to receive Nobel Prize in economics

Her research showed women still face large gaps in pay and levels of employment.

Local Coverage

04:11Dec 8, 2023

The author in a screen grab from a video she took of herself playing the flute. (Courtesy Theresa Okokon)

I thought re-learning the flute would be fun. It turned out to be much more

Theresa Okokon first learned to play the flute in 7th grade. When she picked it back up this year, she was just having fun — sending videos to family, posting...

Cognoscenti

Dec 8, 2023

Field Guide: 4 holiday markets around Boston to get your shop on

Procrastinators, beware! The holidays are around the corner but luckily, Boston has a wide selection of holiday markets to find unique and local-made gifts for everyone on your list.

The Common

09:40Dec 8, 2023

Silhouettes of people in the dark looking at a glowing orb of light.

'Solstice' returns to illuminate dark December nights at Mount Auburn Cemetery

A large-scale, luminescent art installation returns this weekend Mount Auburn Cemetery. Last year, in its debut, it attracted more than 8,000 visitors. Now, what started as an experiment, has been...

Arts & Culture

06:19Dec 8, 2023

Rabbi Elaine Zecher of Temple Israel in Boston (Simon Rios/WBUR)

Boston-area Jews celebrate Hanukkah amid strife abroad and at home

David Litvak says he has no reservations about displaying the family menorah. "I'd say right now it's the opposite. I desperately want to show that I'm Jewish."

Local Coverage

05:16Dec 7, 2023

Harvard Medical School, Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Report on Harvard's morgue finds lack of oversight and no policy on handling of human bodies

Outside experts appointed to review Harvard Medical School's morgue operations in the wake of body parts being stolen and sold found the school lacked formal policies and had little oversight...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Radio Boston

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How to shop locally and sustainably for the holidays

Radio Boston talks with Boston Globe senior opinion writer and fashion designer Kimberly Atkins Stohr, who authored a new series arguing that that the textile...

Radio Boston

10:58Dec 7, 2023

Maura Healey in the WBUR studios in 2018. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Gov. Healey talks about what her new economic development plan means for the state

Radio Boston

35:21Dec 7, 2023

Why we keep sending out holiday letters — no matter how stressful it is

Laura McTaggart, contributor for WBUR's Cognoscenti, and local comedian Bethany Van Delft joined Radio Boston to talk about their traditions of sending holiday cards and...

Radio Boston

10:51Dec 6, 2023

Joan Donovan, then-research director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, at the Harvard Kennedy School speaks remotely during a hearing on Capitol Hill. (Al Drago via AP)

Why misinformation expert Joan Donovan filed a whistleblower complaint against Harvard

Radio Boston

10:23Dec 6, 2023

More Boston Headlines

Man who allegedly stabbed 2 relatives dies in Dedham police custody

A Dedham man, accused of a double stabbing, died in police custody Wednesday night after police discharged a Taser and pepper sprayed him. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Voters check in to vote at the polling station at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Cambridge. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Mass. voter ID ballot campaign falls short on needed signatures

An effort to put a voter identification requirement proposal on the ballot seems to have missed the cut. Organizers behind the campaign say they fell tens of thousands signatures short...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Boston Red Sox broadcaster Joe Castiglione, left, celebrates with Red Sox's Jackie Bradley Jr. before a baseball game July 2022, in Boston. (Steven Senne/AP)

Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione wins Hall of Fame’s Frick Award for broadcasting excellence

Boston Red Sox radio announcer Joe Castiglione has won the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting. Castiglione, who has called the four World Series wins...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

Utility contractors dig up the road above natural gas lines along Dracut Street in Lawrence, Mass. (Charles Krupa/AP)

Mass. outlines new strategy for getting customers and utilities off of natural gas

After 3 years of debating the "future of gas" in Massachusetts, the Department of Public Utilities issued a sweeping order that rejects a gas utility plan to inject renewable natural...

Local Coverage

Dec 7, 2023

A home health care worker helps a woman while walking through a park. (Thianchai Sitthikongsak/Getty Images)

Mass. lawmakers approve measure allowing more home health care workers to unionize

The measure, tucked into the state's $3.1 billion supplemental budget, would allow some 4,000 health care workers not currently covered by the union to join.

Local Coverage

02:12Dec 7, 2023

Joel Mackall leads a group of students from the University of London down Long Wharf during one of his Hidden Black History Tours. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

These tours highlight the hidden history of Black Boston

Joel Mackall says Black history in Boston is often overlooked. He's seeking to change that with his tours that shed light on the lives of past Black Bostonians.

Arts & Culture

04:05Dec 7, 2023

Front and back views of a Torah shield made by Elimelekh Tzoref (1781/82). It's composed of silver, partial gilt, with enamel and stone and lavishly decorated on both sides. The design element by the masterful silversmith is unusual because the back-facing side rests against the rolled scroll and is not ordinarily seen. (Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

Museum of Fine Arts unveils a new gallery devoted to Judaica

This is the first Judaica gallery in an art institution in New England, according to the MFA. The dedicated space showcases 27 ceremonial objects, including 20 works on view at...

Arts & Culture

Dec 7, 2023

A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is examined at the New England Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital. (Vanessa Kahn/New England Aquarium)

New England Aquarium sends 52 'cold stunned' sea turtles to Florida

With ocean temperatures rising, sea turtles venture into Massachusetts Bay in the summer, then experience "cold stun" when they can't escape Cape Cod's hook as the winter sets in.

Local Coverage

Dec 6, 2023

Mass. Congressional delegation pushes for more federal shelter funding

The Massachusetts Congressional delegation appealed to the Biden administration Wednesday to increase federal aid and more equitably distribute it between the states.

Local Coverage

Dec 6, 2023