Sean Cole speaks to Washington Post reporter Siobhan O’Grady about her visit to the zoo in Kyiv.

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

Writer Marie Phillips has a short story about a strange man in a parking lot, offering to grant one wish.

Vladmir Putin’s approval rating among Russians is always stunningly high. Ira talks to reporter Charles Maynes to find out if that number is real and how it could be that high.

Ken had created a website and abandoned it. Years later, a stranger reaches out to him and tells him he can make money off it.

A super-heated adult debate about trans kids lands in the life of an Alabama teenager named Finn.

Host Ira Glass talks to one of the suspects. Ken learns who is behind the bot and who isn’t.

Senior Editor David Kestenbaum talks with a different kind of advocacy group: animal scientists doing their best to save a particular species before it winks out of existence. (16 minutes)

Valerie Kipnis tells the story of 12-year-old Ilya, a Ukrainian refugee eager to figure out whether his hometown can still feel like home. He and his family return to Mariupol, a city badly damaged in the war, and now under Russian control.

Is it possible for the U.S. to reach the goals set by the Paris Agreement? What steps would we have to take to cut emissions by 50% by 2030? We challenge climate researcher Melissa Lott to get us to that number. (11 minutes)

Sandy Allen tells the story of learning to play an instrument that suddenly sounds very different — his own voice.

Producer Zoe Chace spends time with two brothers in Hungary, trying to win an election that’s basically impossible for them to win.

Ira’s story of Yibin Li continues.

Yang Yi, in China, tells the story of a strange journey he took that started at home and ended at home.  But somehow took a very long path. Yang Yi’s podcast is called Go LIVE.

Kayla Jones was extremely close with her grandmother, Celestine Chaney. For Colored Nerds host Brittany Luse talks with Kayla about her grandmother and their shared love of beauty. (7 minutes)

Emma Green spends time with Anja Baker, who’s working on preparing Mississippi for the influx of babies it will have to absorb now that abortion is illegal in that state.

Host Sean Cole tells us the story of Seattle residents who’ve had their bikes stolen, only to get them back in a way they really are not expecting.

Valerie Kipnis tells Ira about how Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine are making a huge decision in an unusual way: over a hotline.

As Tahir’s revamp of Park View School continues to grow and deliver stunning results, his reputation grows — as does resentment at his blunt, unvarnished style. And then came the letter, and hoax or no, the consequences of its contents began to unravel Tahir’s life’s work almost immediately.

Scaachi Koul is commemorating a Christmas first of her own – and ON her own – this year.

Disinformation and propaganda works differently in Putin’s Russia than it did during the Soviet Union. Instead of tamping down the opposition, the Russian government works to control the opposition.

When Karla Cornejo Villavicencio decided to make a change that had the potential to alter who she’s known herself to be for many years, she didn’t know who would emerge. (17  minutes)

Our former colleague Neil Drumming has never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life” – which makes no sense given that he’s seen almost every other movie there is.