So far avian flu hasn’t been seen spreading from human to human, but recent mutations indicate some variants are becoming better adapted to infecting humans. Dr. Richard Webby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital also directs a World Health Organization center on the ecology of influenza. He joins Host Aynsley O’Neill to explain what we know about bird flu so far, and how we can prepare for the possibility of a pandemic.

Around a thousand of the firefighters who battled blazes around southern California in January 2025 were incarcerated. They do essentially the same work as other firefighters but are paid as little as around $5 a day. Eddie Herrera Jr. shares with Host Aynsley O’Neill what it was like to serve as an incarcerated firefighter, and how the experience helped him forge a new life after prison as a professional firefighter.

In his last days in office President Biden designated a new national monument in the southern California desert called Chuckwalla. Producer Paloma Beltran joins Hosts Aynsley O’Neill and Jenni Doering to share perspectives from locals on this unique landscape, including a Native tale of how Coyote gave the “painted canyon” in Chuckwalla its name.

On a still winter afternoon, you may hear Common Goldeneyes flying low across the water. As Ernest Hemingway wrote, their wings make the sound of ripping silk. BirdNote®’s Michael Stein reports.

As the planet warms, water supplies are dwindling in Athens, Greece. To meet demand the city is looking to antiquity for solutions. One that’s attracting attention is an ancient aqueduct that runs beneath Athens. Niki Kitsantonis is a freelance journalist for the New York Times and a long-time resident of Athens, and she joins Host Jenni Doering to describe the project to fix it up and raise awareness about water scarcity.