Category: Policy and Impact
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One fish, two fish, red fish, warehouse fish?
Despite the recent drought, the Midwest is producing fresh produce and fish—indoors. 2023 was a rough year for Iowa. According to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) water summary update, the state experienced its third consecutive year in a drought. As the world’s leading producer of corn, this has major implications for agriculture—but the…
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United in Song
Explore the diverse voices and stories behind inclusive LGBTQ choirs thriving in the Midwest. In the grandeur of the vast concert hall of Des Moines’s Scottish Rite Consistory, where tall ceilings and soft, ambient light grace the space, an air of palpable anticipation saturates every corner. Excitement crackles through the audience. All attention converges towards…
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Gen-Z Climate Anxiety
How are young people responding to a crisis that may feel unsolvable? Younger Americans—Gen Z adults and Millennials—are more likely to take action on climate change than older adults. But at the same time, more than half of 16 to 25 year-olds in a 10-nation study said they believe “humanity is doomed.” On this episode…
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This Ape Can Play Minecraft
Seven of the least-studied great apes live in Des Moines where researchers look at how bonobos behave and communicate with one another and with humans. Ice, lettuce, and sunflower seeds. Those are the three symbols the 43-year-old bonobo, Kanzi, points to on the lexigram, a system where a symbol is attributed to a specific word,…
