In recent years, NPR has explored how small interactions with strangers can do more than just brighten our days — they can improve our well‑being. Our original story from 2023 traced psychologist Gillian Sandstrom’s research back to her experience as a lonely graduate student in Toronto who exchanged a wave and hello daily with a
But now Zhu can sense this freedom being curtailed. She says she finds herself encountering authorities more often in Hong Kong than in mainland China. At one bookshop event, she recalls government officials entering the premises. “They just sat there listening alongside us.” Increasing raids have not only targeted explicitly political shops, according to a
Free the knee? Our readers want the knee locked away. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri recently came out as “pro” shorts in the workplace. He said that it was a “hot debate” in the Instagram office, though “not all shorts are created equal” and not everyone can “pull them off.” We posted the question to our
It’s so hot in Germany this summer that Cologne started a “Cooling Cologne” initiative: Chilled groundwater is dispersed through fine-mist sprays connected to fire hoses. Kadir Ilboga/Anadolu via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kadir Ilboga/Anadolu via Getty Images In a summer of extreme heat, we asked our NPR readers to share the ways they
