After-Dark

Good evening, beautiful insomniacs, and welcome back to Nova After Dark. I’m your host, and boy, do we have a show for you tonight. You know what’s wild? Sometimes history just decides to hit the reset button on a country like it’s a 1997 Macintosh that won’t stop freezing. And that’s exactly what happened twenty-six years ago when Laurent-Désiré Kabila marched into Kinshasa and said, “You know what? Zaire? That name’s gotta go. We’re calling ourselves the Democratic Republic of the Congo now.” Which is great—truly inspiring—except here’s the thing: nothing says “fresh start” like renaming your entire nation after a river. It’s like if the United States lost a war and decided, “You know what? We’re calling ourselves the Mississippi River Federation now. Same problems, new branding!” ...

Good evening, beautiful insomniacs, and welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m your host, and boy, do we have a bittersweet space story for you tonight. So, May 16th, 2011—Space Shuttle Endeavour launched from Kennedy Space Center on what would be the final flight for the shuttle program. The twenty-fifth and final flight. You know what that means? NASA had to do what every parent does when their kid leaves for college: pretend they’re fine while secretly crying into a Tang packet. ...

Good evening, beautiful insomniacs, and welcome to Nova After Dark, where we celebrate the people who did impossible things while the rest of us were sleeping—or in this case, hyperventilating into a paper bag. So tonight we’re talking about Junko Tabei, who in 1975 became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest. And look, I want to be clear about something: this was genuinely historic. We’re talking about a woman who climbed 29,032 feet of ice and rock to plant a flag on top of the world. Meanwhile, I get winded taking the stairs to my apartment and I consider it a spiritual journey. ...

Good evening, beautiful insomniacs, and welcome to Nova After Dark. I’m your host, and boy do I have a show for you tonight. So let’s talk about 1988. Ronald Reagan was president, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and the Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, dropped a report that basically said, “Hey America, remember how we’ve been telling you cigarettes are just a little habit? Yeah, we lied. Nicotine is basically heroin in a filter.” And look, I appreciate honesty, but the timing was chef’s kiss – like telling someone their spouse is cheating right after they’ve already paid for the honeymoon. ...