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This episode was recorded on May 17th, 2026 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Paul Thorn, Ray Benson, Sunny Sweeney, Andy Friedman. https://bit.ly/4afWiMG⁠

Back in 2017, reporters Kristen Clark and David Conrad came to us with a story that dug into the difficult and often dark places discrimination creates. We start in Venice, Italy, where they meet gondolier Alex Hai. On the winding canals in the hidden parts of Venice, we learn about the nearly 1000-year old tradition of the Venetian Gondolier, and how the global media created a 20-year battle between that tradition and a supposed feminist icon.  We circled back to Alex in 2026, to find out where the canal of life ended up leading after our initial reporting, and we’ve included some heartbreaking and heartwarming updates on Alex’s life at the end of this episode.  Special thanks to Alexis Ungerer, Summer, Alex Hai, Kevin Gotkin, Silvia Del Fabbro, Sandro Mariot, Aldo Rosso and Marta Vannucci, The Longest Shortest Time (Hillary Frank, Peter Clowney and Abigail Keel), Tim Howard, Nick Adams/GLAAD, Valentina Powers, Florence Ursino, Ann Marie Somma, Alex Overington, Jeremy Bloom and the people of Little Italy.  EPISODE CREDITS:  Reported by – David Conrad and Kristen Clark. Produced by – Annie McEwen and Molly Webster. with help from – Anisa Vietze Fact-checking for the update by – Angely Mercado OTHER COOL THINGS: Books – The Gondolier, by Alex Hai Signup for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Every few weeks, hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot are bursting at the seams with new underground music to recommend—it's time for another round of Buried Treasures. The hosts share a handful of tracks, and the production team chimes in as well.Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/4frcVZoMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundopsFeatured Songs:Normans, "Mexico Unlimited," Faust Demonica, Solid Brass, 2026The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967Bob Bert, "Smerf's Blues," Beach Bongo Bloodbath, Bar/None, 2026Kenny Mason, "BE WHAT I WANT (feat. Paris Texas)," BULLDAWG, P2026, 2026Elle Barbara's Black Space, "Hitler, Satan & Associates LLP," Word On the Street, House of Barbara / Celluloid Lunch, 2026Golems of the Red Planet, "Hadrial," Surf Masada, Heyday Again, 2026A Wilhelm Scream, "Midnight Ghost," Cheap Heat, Creator-Destructor, 2026Nathan Evans Fox, "Hillbilly Hymn," Heirloom, Free Dirt, 2026Atmos Bloom, "Everything," Everythingness, Spirit Goth, 2026Eaves Wilder, "Just Say No!," Little Miss Sunshine, Secretly Canadian, 2026Westside Cowboy, "Kick Stones (The Boys)," It Goes On, Island, 2026Paycheque, "Temporary Love," Paycheque, Mansions and Millions, 2026Kim McClay, "Velveteen Girls," Velveteen Girls, self-released, 2026Hannah Lew, "Sunday," Hannah Lew, Night School, 2026Kacey Musgraves, "Uncertain, TX," Middle of Nowhere, Lost Highway, 2026Kacey Musgraves, "Rhinestoned," Middle of Nowhere, Lost Highway, 2026Chip Taylor, "I Read it in Rolling Stone," Last Chance, Warner Bros., 1973Noahfinnce, "HEADCASE," GROWING UP ON THE INTERNET, Hopeless, 2024The Cure, "Fascination Street," Disintregration, Elektra, 1989The Cure, "All I Ever Am," Songs of a Lost World, Polydor, 2024Drive-By Truckers, "Let There Be Rock," Southern Rock Opera, Lost Highway, 2001See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two stars that sound a bit scary peek above the southern horizon on summer nights. Together, they form the “stinger” – the end of the curving body of the scorpion. The stars are Lambda and Upsilon Scorpii. Lambda is the brighter of the two. It’s also the more complicated – it consists of three stars. The system’s details are a bit uncertain. That’s largely because its distance is uncertain. Estimates range from about 365 light-years to almost twice that range. Without a good measurement of the distance, it’s tough to figure out how big and heavy the stars really are. We do know that the system consists of a tight binary – two stars that orbit each other once every six days – plus a third star that orbits the others every three years. One of the stars in the binary is much bigger and brighter than the Sun, and 10 to 14 times the Sun’s mass. That means the star will end its life with a colossal explosion. Its close companion is maybe twice the mass of the Sun. But it’s not yet fully formed. The distant companion is another big guy – roughly 8 to 10 times the mass of the Sun. If it’s at the high end of that range, then it, too, will explode as a supernova. If not, its fate is less certain. It could become a supernova, but it also might expire in a more gentle process – a fate similar to the Sun’s. More about the scorpion tomorrow. Script by Damond Benningfield

This week is an exploration of Blues music, Latino style.  Featured artists include Santana, Los Lonely Boys, Diamante Electrico, Bunbury, Andres Calamaro and many more.

We spend an hour in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter, behind and desperate, with people trying any damn thing they can think of. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription.Prologue: Five years after Ora first started experiencing mysterious and debilitating health problems, she decides to try a treatment that she knows very well might kill her. Host Ira Glass talks to her about the experience. (9 minutes)Act One: Two lawyers have just three months to stop their client's execution. In Texas, where this story takes place, these kinds of appeals to get people off death row fail 94% of the time. (38 minutes)Act Two: At the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, migrants figured out an ingenious way to communicate with the activists gathered outside of the detention center’s walls. (13 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.orgThis American Life privacy policy.Learn more about sponsor message choices.