Houston After Dark Intro

Summer Mix 2023 🌱 Best Vocals Deep Remixes Of Popular Songs 🌱Coldplay, Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez

Elton John, Dua Lipa - Cold Heart (PNAU Remix) (Official Video)

David Guetta & Bebe Rexha - I'm Good (Blue) [Official Music Video]

Kim Petras & Nicki Minaj - Alone (Official Music Video)

Miley Cyrus - Flowers (Official Video)

Angela L. Harris is child-free by choice and says people often make comments about her decision or want to know all the details. "I should write a book about all these comments," she says. If you're child-free, you don't owe an explanation to anyone, says Harris, the founder of #NoBibsBurpsBottles, an online community for child-free Black women. "If you don't feel like explaining, don't explain. Your life is your life." If you do feel like responding, we shared some of her responses to common questions about being child-free in a recent interview with Life Kit host Marielle Segarra. We also asked our child-free listeners to share their go-to responses to questions from strangers and family members. From the blunt to the lighthearted, here are a few replies to add to your repertoire.

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Responses have been edited for length and clarity "We can't, our cats are allergic." — Jamie Blair "There are many things I'm good at doing, like juggling and removing stains, that I would never want to do all day and night for the rest of my life." —Genevive Bjorn "I'm 68 now, and my standard line for the last couple of decades is 'Oh! I forgot!'" — Trudy DiLeo "My husband and I decided not to have children long before we decided to get married. Someone: you know gay couples can have kids too?! Our response: 'We know; we keep trying to get pregnant, but nothing sticks.'" — Nicholas Tollar, Jr. "Hell, I can't even keep plants alive!" — Joan Chrislip "Children deserve someone who loves them and enjoys taking care of them, no matter the physical, mental, or financial toll — and that's why I will never have them." — Rosie Wilt "I would embarrass them too much." — Barb Bush "I never felt the desire to be a mother. I love the freedom of not having children. — Tracy Beasley "Just because I have ovaries doesn't mean I have to use them." — Kristin Charlton "I can't imagine why you'd ask such a personal question." — Penny Bonkowski "There are people in this world meant to be moms and dads, and there are people in this world meant to be aunts and uncles. The challenge in life is to recognize which one you are meant to be. I am meant to be an uncle."— Bruckner Chase "I love the life I have and the family I've built. There's nothing missing." — Amber Stockham "At a bridal shower early on in my marriage, one of [my mother-in-law's] relatives asked me 'When are you having children?' My mother-in-law, who was next to me, gently put her hand on my hand and answered for me (still the best response I've ever heard) 'You know, some of the happiest marriages have no children.'" — Nancy Jo Seaton "Children just aren't in the cards for us." — Jennifer Rowe "Humor is generally how my husband and I talk to others about our choice to not have kids. If people keep at it, I say that we both have many reasons for why we don't want kids, but the only reason that truly matters is that we don't want them." — Shelby Cooper "I prefer to borrow the children of others, spoil them, then send them home." — Sare Anuszkiewicz "This isn't a haircut; this is my life and the choices I'm making for it. If I'd said I wanted children, you wouldn't tell me to grow out of it." — Missy Ballinghoff "I love my husband, free time, and privacy too much to share them." — Elizabeth Gray "I'm an artist, I don't have time to raise a family." — Cheryl Kandel Gimson "I often get the comment, 'But you'd be such a good mom.' And I always just say, 'Thanks.' Not elaborating or explaining myself generally results in people changing the subject." — Lauren Zettlemoyer

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We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823 or email us at LifeKit@npr.org. Listen to Life Kit on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or sign up for our newsletter.

The Texas Department of Agriculture is ordering its employees to comply with a new dress code, mandating they abide by it in a "manner consistent with their biological gender." An ACLU attorney says it violates federal law that bans employment discrimination based on one's sexual orientation or gender identity. In a copy of the April 13 memo first obtained by The Texas Observer, the new dress code — handed down by Sid Miller, the state's agriculture commissioner — is required by all employees as a part of a "dress code and grooming policy." "Employees are expected to comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological gender," the new policy said. The new dress code restrictions for employees will replace the previous one outlined by the state agency's employee handbook, The Observer reported. The original dress code made no references to "biological gender." The new dress code policy will apply to all employees of the department — including interns and contractors, according to the policy. Those who violate the mandated dress code may face severe consequences and may be asked to leave the premises to change clothes that comply with the policy. If problems with an employee's dress continue, employees can face "remedies up to and including termination," the memo says. It's unclear whether the decision to change the dress code began within Miller's office or is a result of a mandate higher up within the state's government. The Texas Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment about the new dress code.

The ACLU says the new dress code violates federal law

Brian Klosterboer, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas, told The Texas Tribune that the new dress code violates Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which bans employment discrimination based on one's sexual orientation or gender identity, in addition to the First Amendment's right to free expression. "State agencies should be focused on doing their jobs and not discriminating against their own employees and trying to make political statements through their agency regulations," Klosterboer told The Tribune. "There is no important governmental interest that this can meet," he added. The new dress code comes on in the wake of several anti-LGBTQ bills and laws that have been introduced in the state over the last few years. Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate certain gender-affirming care for transgender children as possible child abuse. In 2021, Abbott signed into law House Bill 25, which requires all public school students to compete in interscholastic athletic competitions based solely on their assigned sex at birth. The law, which went into effect in January 2022, made Texas the 10th state to enact similar legislation. Last year, nearly 300 anti-LGBTQ bills were filed during state legislative sessions. However, only 29 of those bills were signed into law.

A bat or a rat or a chicken has a virus. And somehow a person catches it — maybe by contact with the animal's blood or feces, maybe just by breathing in. That's a spillover. We've been exploring the topic of spillover viruses this year — when animal pathogens jump into people and can lead to outbreaks, even pandemics. In a series of radio and digital posts, we've covered a variety of viruses, from Marburg to Nipah to a mysterious new coronavirus found in Malaysia and Florida. We've interviewed disease detectives, and we've looked at how to stop the next pandemic. We also asked you to send us your questions on hidden viruses. Here are some of the queries, answered by the correspondents who contributed to our series. Get ready for a silly question: I love my pups very much – and I think they love me too because I get lots of kisses. Is that bad from a spillover virus perspective – for me or my dogs? Should I train my pups to be less ... kissy? We actually thought this question was relevant to the millions of people who enjoy a furry companion, so correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff wrote a separate story about it. They may indeed be giving you some germs with their love! Find out what that might mean. I just read your story about viruses jumping from animals into people frequently and I have a question: Do all viruses that jump make us sick? Is there a virus that confers an advantage to its host? – Kaveh Shoorideh No, not all viruses that make this jump cause us to become ill. In fact, the vast majority of spillover viruses don't make people sick. Even if a virus does make a human sick it won't necessarily spread. A virus that's too deadly will kill its hosts and peter out quickly, and a virus that's not sufficiently transmissible simply won't spread. The concern arises when a virus that's spilled over into humans causes some people to become very sick and infect others. Severe illness combined with high transmissibility makes for a virus that can spread and cause a lot of damage in its wake. It's unclear whether any spillover viruses are advantageous, but scientists do know that viruses more generally can be helpful to humans. Just take the fact that viruses have shaped our evolution. One study estimated that viruses have driven the adaptation of some 30% of mammalian proteins! They've been at least partly responsible for humanity's strong immune response to pathogens. Some viruses in our gut may even protect us from autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn's. And they're used in laboratories worldwide as tools for research (to help map circuits in the brain, for example). — Ari Daniel I'm assuming spillovers having been occurring since the beginning of time. Is there an uptick correlated to climate change? -- Debbie Stavish Climate change is indeed of great concern to scientists when it comes to increasing the opportunities for spillovers of viruses into humans. As average temperatures and humidity rise in a given region, virus-carrying mosquito species and animals that previously could not thrive there can now move in. Climate change has also increased the incidence of extreme weather events – massive rains and flooding are just one example – that have forced millions of people out of their homes and into camps where a virus can more easily spread. These new types of climate-driven situations obviously expand the chances for a previously unknown virus to make the jump from an animal into humans. But just as worryingly, they may amplify the incidence of existing spillovers that have already been happening at low levels for decades – threatening to turn minor nuisances into major disease outbreaks. An example is the mosquito-driven Zika epidemic that spread through the Americas from 2015 through 2016, causing thousands of children to be born with birth defects, including microcephaly, a medical condition involving a smaller than normal head and brain damage. Climate change could lead to longer warmer periods in which the mosquito that transmits Zika could thrive. South African-based Tulio de Oliveira is a researcher who helped launch an international effort to combat precisely this sort of climate change-amplified spillover possibility. The idea is for ecologists and data experts to collaborate with disease experts to hone in on locations where climate change seems particularly likely to amplify spillover events. Researchers will then make a point of taking blood samples and otherwise monitoring people in those areas to identify new pathogens circulating there and get the jump on developing diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines against any new disease they find. That way, says de Oliveira, "if it starts to spread around the world, we'll know how to respond." — Nurith Aizenman Why are bats so often linked to spillover events and other pandemic outbreaks? Do they carry more viruses than other animals, and if so, why? Thanks for doing this series! -- Jodi McClory There's some fascinating work looking at bat biology and how the immune system of these animals may allow them to carry a large number of viruses without getting sick. It has to do in part with the bats' ability to suppress inflammation. They're the only mammal capable of flight, which requires a high metabolism to keep up. But that creates more stress on their bodies, which causes DNA damage and inflammation. Bats have evolved ways of minimizing this damage and repairing it when it occurs. By boosting their immune response, this ability to self-repair could keep viral infections circulating in their bodies without leading to illness. In addition, there's still some debate as to whether bats host more viruses than other mammals, but Cara Brook, a disease ecologist at the University of Chicago, says, "it is generally accepted that they host the most virulent viruses known to people." — Ari Daniel What components of a virus most frequently change during a spillover event? Spike proteins? Proteins involved in replication? And how do these changes contribute to allowing for successful spillover? Are certain types of viruses more likely to spillover than others and, if so, what types? What are the differences in symptoms of infection and transmissibility between the original animal viral host and the spillover animal host? -- Heather Thompson I'll take this in parts: One research study found that, "the majority (94%) of zoonotic viruses [spillover viruses] described to date are RNA viruses." The authors point out that this is 28 times higher than the proportion of RNA viruses among all viruses in vertebrates, "indicating that RNA viruses are far more likely to be zoonotic than DNA viruses" because they tend to transmit and evolve more rapidly. A virus can act differently in different species. For example, the species in which a virus primarily lives and reproduces, called the reservoir species, usually doesn't show signs of illness. As for which components of a pathogen are involved in a spillover, a virus can benefit if it targets something in one species that's shared across other species. For instance, SARS-CoV-2 enters the cell after attaching to the ACE2 receptor in our bodies (primarily in the lungs). A lot of other vertebrates have a similar receptor, which means that the coronavirus has found its way into many other animals, including deer, mink and hamsters. -- Ari Daniel I seem to recall a spillover virus that was killing horses in Australia. At some point it killed a horse trainer... [but] it never jumped global. -- James Day How likely is the virus Hendra to be a pandemic one day? -- Rachel Barnes The horse-killing virus was Hendra — and it's a dangerous disease. Bats are the natural reservoir. It doesn't make them ill but they shed the virus through their waste, and when horses come into close contact with bat urine or feces, they can catch Hendra. The horses that have been infected developed a frothy, nasal discharge and odd behaviors such as drinking water incessantly or throwing themselves against the walls of their stable. On a few occasions, people from in and around Brisbane and Queensland, Australia interacting with these horses then got sick from Hendra in a second spillover, including a trainer. Of the seven people who've had Hendra, four have died. Bats are more likely to shed Hendra virus when they're not eating enough, a scenario that's become more common due to climate change and habitat loss. But periods of winter flowering have provided bats with enough food to reduce the likelihood of spillover dramatically. Preventing animals other than bats from getting sick lowers the chances that Hendra could become a global pandemic in humans one day. — Ari Daniel Can frequent spillovers provide population-wide low-level immunity to viruses such as COVID-19? I ask because COVID-19 didn't get a grip in Cambodia until late February 2021 when tourists brought in the alpha variant. The original variant came into Cambodia a few times but the outbreaks died out. I've been thinking that one reason for the low transmission rate early on was that people had already been exposed to similar viruses via bats. -- Susan Smith There's some evidence for this idea that "repeated low-dose exposure can increase host immunity to infection," according to one team of researchers. This may be the reason, for instance, why those who handle poultry have been found to be less susceptible to avian influenza. And it may explain why some slaughterhouse workers in Nigeria had increased immunity to a different kind of coronavirus (called MERS-CoV) found circulating in the dromedary camels that were being slaughtered. The workers displayed no symptoms, leading one article to summarize, "The immunity that these individuals had acquired from, presumably, camel-adapted variants might be a further barrier to spillover of more human-adapted strains." But there are counter-examples from the world of bacteria. Tannery workers exposed to Bacillus anthracis, the bacterial species that cause anthrax, don't appear to have heightened immunity against the pathogen. So a population's ability to acquire low-level immunity to a pathogen is complex and likely depends on different factors. — Ari Daniel Have we learned enough from this pandemic to prevent the rapid spread of a new virus? -- Matt Giaquinto The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly raised global awareness of the power of a new and deadly virus. In some ways, it comes down to what was learned about public health messaging. That is, as researchers developed a better understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 was transmitted, health officials honed their recommendations to advise the public on how best to contain its spread. While the next pathogen with pandemic potential may be transmitted differently than COVID (a gastrointestinal virus, for instance, behaves quite differently from a respiratory virus), saving lives will still come down to providing clear, accurate and timely information and developing partnerships with trusted community leaders — even if some distrust the messaging. On the science side, researchers developed vaccines in record speed to combat SARS-CoV-2. The most widely used vaccines rely on new mRNA technology. These advancements will undoubtedly be of great help when the next unknown pathogen surfaces since mRNA vaccines can be developed quickly and flexibly. For an explanation of how mRNA vaccines work, here's an excellent Short Wave episode. And taking the 10,000-foot view, scientists are also getting better at knowing how to search for viruses of concern that have spilled over from animals. A more efficient hunt for problematic pathogens may help us stay a step or two ahead of a virus to shut it down before it becomes a full-blown pandemic. -- Ari Daniel

2022 was a banner year for Honey Dijon. She co-produced two of the fiercest tracks on Beyoncé's latest record, Renaissance, and she released her own studio album this fall, called Black Girl Magic. But Honey – one of the only Black trans DJs playing the biggest clubs in the world – has been a mainstay on dance floors for decades. And she's become a historian, and champion, of the Black musical traditions that house music draws from. In this episode, Honey talks to host Brittany Luse about using music to create spaces of liberation, and paving the way for future generations to do the same. The interview highlights below are adapted from an episode of It's Been A Minute. Follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and keep up with us on Twitter. These excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.

Interview Highlights

On collaborating with Beyoncé on Renaissance Brittany Luse: You were recruited by Beyoncé to work on her album, Renaissance, and you produced "Cozy" and "Alien Superstar." What was it like working with Beyoncé on that album and sharing your experiences of the scenes that made you? Honey Dijon: Well, first of all, I had to pick my jaw off the ground when that call came. I was like, "How does Beyoncé know about me?" It was so humbling to feel that the work, that your lived experience, was being acknowledged by someone of that caliber. One of the things that I was told from her team was that she wanted to make this a dance record and she wanted to go to the true source of Chicago house music. I think of so many people that have laid the groundwork for me to be able to express that. You know, I think of the Frankie Knuckles and the Ron Hardys and the Derrick Carters and all of these amazing artists that have gone before me. For Beyoncé to acknowledge that was just so gratifying, and it made me proud. I had to pat myself on the back. My mother always says, "You may see my glory, but you don't know my story." And I just thought about all of the years of being told, "no," or what I was doing was being misunderstood. So when that call came, it was such a proud moment for me. On the parties she went to as a teenager Luse: You are from Chicago's South Side. And Chicago was famously the birthplace for warehouse music, house music, for short. And that's where you started going to warehouse parties. Were you technically old enough to be out partying like did you have to sneak out of the house? Dijon: No! I lied and snuck out of the house, like most teenagers do, saying I was going to study homework at a friend's house and we would go out. And you could get a fake I.D. So I was a 13 year old dressing like I was 25. Luse: Talk to me about what those parties were like. What was the vibe? Dijon: Unfiltered abandon. You just had, you know, all this teenage energy and angst and community. And it was just electric. I always tell people, "You ain't been to a party 'til you've been to a party like how Black folks party." Because Black folks party were their entire being. Luse: It's true. Dijon: From the rooter to the to tooter. From the hair follicles to the toenails. We use every part of our body. On DJ'ing her own parents' parties Luse: Talk to me about the music that you would play at those parties. Dijon: So I would play my hour and then they would put me to bed. My bedtime was like 9 o'clock so I could play from 8 to 9. Luse: Before it got totally jumping, right. Dijon: But then we would go to bed, and around 11 o'clock, we would start hearing all this laughter and cursing, and we could smell the cigarette smoke and glasses breaking. And it was just like, what is this world? And we would sit on the top of the steps, and that's where I would hear all the music. You know, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan. Minnie Riperton, the Isley Brothers. There was lots of Marvin Gaye. I like to call it Black consciousness music because it was post-civil rights. So those were the records I would play. Luse: So you're in your parents' house. You play music for their parties. Are you starting, at that age, to notice how people are responding to different songs? Dijon: Oh, yeah. I got off on just sharing the music. This sort of sense of fulfillment that just hasn't left me. I think I was just born to do this. On creating spaces of liberation through music Luse: Have you met and/or seen people be able to grow and find themselves in those late night parties that you DJ'd, the way that you were able to at that point in your life? Dijon: Well, in their own way, yes, of course. I mean, I see a new generation of kids coming up and I can tell that they feel a bit more liberated just by my existence and what I stand for. I've had people tell me they've met their spouses and future partners on my dance floor. "Oh, my boyfriend just proposed to me on the dance floor, and I wanted you to know." The club is community for me. And it always will be. So one of the things that I always tell people when they want to become a DJ, I say, "Well, why?" What is it that you want to do as a DJ? Do you want to contribute to culture? Do you have a voice that you want to connect people [with]? I build community through sound. And I try to create spaces of liberation.

The North London-based rapper Little Simz knows her worth. She may be an introvert, but she isn't faint-hearted, and on "Gorilla" she's keeping score: "Name one time where I didn't deliver," she assuredly raps on over a laid-back, plucking bassline. Over producer Inflo's steady break beat and surging streaks, she displays command of her punchy rhymes with a cadence so casual it feels as if she could deliver them in her sleep. The track closes the same way it starts: with the pomp and circumstance of booming brass notes. It's a declaration — Little Simz is here and she wants you to feel it. (A version of this review originally appeared on NPR Music's Best Songs of 2022.)

Ab-Soul is back and he hasn't missed a single beat. The Los Angeles rapper has always been a wordsmith at the top of his game, but HERBERT sees him at his most vulnerable, dynamic and confident. "GOODMAN," a standout from his first album in six years, has all the elements of an addictive Ab-Soul track: a remix of a beloved soul sample, a philosophical premise and an energetic, did-I-even-stutter type of flow. The track's title kinda tells you everything you need to know about it: Ab-Soul ponders, "Am I a good man?" over a slowed down, then accelerated sample of Them Two's 1967 song of the same name. "Never wore a rosary or went to confession / But if I could clean this mess up with a message, it'll be a blessing," Ab-Soul weighs faith against his own actions. Top Dawg Entertainment president and rapper Punch catches the second verse, reflecting on the impact of his predecessors, "Standing on the shoulder of giants / A good man turned tyrant / That's the after effects of my environment." By the end of the song, Ab-Soul fails to reach a solid conclusion on the state of his morality — only bringing more questions into the fold. Might as well hit play again.

On "Ditto," K-pop girl group NewJeans is still holding out for a Christmas miracle. "My feelings for you, like the memories we share, have grown so big," singer Haerin confesses, hoping for reciprocation. Choral synth pads blanket the song like freshly fallen snow, embodying the down-home comforts of the holiday season; their gratitude is the sort that arises in the year's final days, when we reflect on those who've made our lives a little brighter. Their previous single, "Cookie," incorporated Jersey club into the architecture of a bubbly synth-R&B song; "Ditto" takes that fascination with club music further, but only in its most modest form. Instead of brash and bracing kicks, the drums are soft and endearing, like the reverberating heartbeat of someone you're cuddling with. There's little else beyond handclaps and a scurrying drum break — which approximates the Think break in Baltimore club tracks — for ornamentation, but NewJeans has always known that less is more. The group is a refreshing alternative to the maximalist ethos defining contemporary K-pop, and it's in restraint that "Ditto" feels empowering: "I want you so ... so say it ditto."