📹 99% of our bananas could be doomed. Can we stop this?
I’ll start with another absorbing, science-inflected journey. There are more than 1,000 different species of bananas, but 99 percent of global exports are Cavendish bananas. The ubiquity of the Cavendish has made it cheap and durable — but also extremely vulnerable. This video explores the threat to the species and what it will take to save one of the world’s (and my) favorite fruits. For a fun bonus: Check out a special behind-the-scenes video of a banana taste test the team put together for our Patreon members.
🎧 Snow day!
Host Byrd Pinkerton ventures into post-snowstorm Brooklyn to gather your questions and then talks to a snow scientist to get some answers (and some more questions). Designer snowflakes, Tempur-Pedic snow, the effects of temperature on stickiness: You won’t ever look at snow in quite the same way again.
The global oil crisis is even worse than it looks
Rising gas prices have been one of the big stories of the week. The increase is the result of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the uncertainty about what will happen next in Iran. Senior correspondent Eric Levitz helps make sense of the situation and offers a warning: Even if the Iran war ends tomorrow, high energy prices will persist.
The strange reason why bears are attacking people in Japan
In 2025, bears killed more than a dozen people in Japan and injured more than 200 others, a noticeable increase from the previous year. In this story, senior correspondent Benji Jones explains new research that offers a compelling answer — and a clear warning for other parts of the globe.
How to help everyday people suffering in Iran — and beyond
I’m going to end on a more serious, and more practical, note. I appreciate the way our Future Perfect team lives up to its mission of finding the best way to do good, even (and especially) when it’s challenging. In this story, Future Perfect fellow Sara Herschander explains the best approach to getting aid to civilians in wartime.
