Two adult sisters revisit old rivalries when they compete for a world record in typing with their pinkies. (16 minutes)

Jackson Landers tells the story of a very strange decision he made one summer day. (6 minutes)The name of today’s show is from a quote by climate futurist Alex Steffen, in an article about wildfires by Elizabeth Weil.

A story by producer Boen Wang about how to get through a summer of bad days. (9 minutes)

A father and son find themselves in a very traditional relationship. Until the end. (21 minutes)Rick McIntyre told this story in his book The Rise of Wolf 8: Witnessing the Triumph of Yellowstone's Underdog.

Writer Tamsyn Muir spent her childhood craving a world that she could not find on earth. So as an adult, she just created it.

We get a tip that an entire town is consumed by a huge, elementary-school-style crush on a local veterinarian.

Jahmal Williams stumbles on a clue about his grandmother’s history that answers a question he’s always had. (11 minutes) Video: The Williams family gets on the bus for their trip north in 1962. WJAR-TV Collection © Rhode Island Historical Society. Archival audio in the story: WPRI-TV Collection ©1962 WPRI-12, Nexstar Media Inc. Courtesy of the Rhode Island Historical Society.More from Gabrielle Emanuel on the Reverse Freedom Rides: The Cruel Story Behind the Reverse Freedom Rides The Long Journey North

Lilly Sullivan talks with former science reporter, Kelsey Padget, who’s on a mission to disabuse the world of its incorrect assumptions about an allegedly murderous creature: the black widow spider. (10 minutes)Kelsey Padgett will be hosting an upcoming weekly podcast about big history rivalries and gossipy petty feuds. Dr.

Documentarian Maisie Crow has been following the fight to stay open by the Jackson Women’s Health Clinic, for ten years. Now the Supreme Court decision is forcing their doors shut for good.

Lilly Sullivan tells the story of an elementary school “movie day” that went horribly wrong for many of the kids. (20 minutes)

The first act of our show was about someone who has spent decades trying to close the gap with her sister because they were apart until she was eight years old. This next story is the reverse.

For years, producer Lilly Sullivan has wondered what goes on beneath the surface in the mind of one of her good friends and co-workers, Diane. This week, she tries to get to the bottom of it. (11 minutes)This was the story director Greta Gerwig gave to Margot Robbie, while Robbie was trying to figure out how to play Barbie.

Producer Lilly Sullivan talks trash with writer Rachel Connolly about people neither of them know.

People given the difficult task of deciding who lives and who dies.

The statistics on first time gun ownership are higher than ever in America.

Producer Lilly Sullivan used to feel such a strong kinship with “the loneliest creature on earth” that one of her first radio pieces seven years ago was about him. (9 minutes) You can read Lilly's 2013 report about this whale.

Lilly Sullivan tells the story of the writer Robert Walser, who moved into a mental hospital and then seemed to disappear from the world. Until people looked more closely.

We turn to those who are truly spineless, and I mean literally, they are creatures that have no spines. Also featured in this story: the people who study them who, like us all, could sometimes use a little more spine.

When a small town loses 100 people in just a few hours, kids come home to find their parents missing. Producer Lilly Sullivan talks to people trying to make sense of where they went and if they’ll come back.

Producer Lilly Sullivan reports out that voicemail. (13 minutes)

Ira Glass talks with producer Lilly Sullivan about a story she heard growing up about men messing with a girl’s mind. Lilly can relate. (9 minutes)

The TV news stories told it as heartwarming tale of reconciliation from small-town America: a black man who was framed by a white cop decides to forgive him. But those stories left out a few things. Producer Lilly Sullivan looked into it.

The Department of Homeland Security’s new policies on deportation have sown fear and confusion among undocumented immigrants. Ira Glass and Lilly Sullivan go to Chicago and meet a family trying to navigate the situation.