Post Reports

Today on “Post Reports,” the way what we eat – and how we eat it – affects our mental health, not just our physical health. Plus, how to eat for your emotional well-being in the new year. Read more:Washington Post journalist Mary Beth Albright has been fascinated by the connection between food and mood for years. “What I began to realize is that food and emotions are inextricably entwined,” Mary Beth told Martine Powers. “We can either get to know the biology and the connection and how to use it, or we can deny the reality of it and just say, ‘Oh, I don't want to emotionally eat,’” when really the science shows that all eating is emotional eating.” Today on “Post Reports,” we talk to Mary Beth about her new book, “Eat & Flourish: How Food Supports Emotional Well-Being.” We cover why we get “hangry,” the joys and benefits of eating with other people, and how to harness the power of food to improve your mood and your well-being in 2023. 

After decades of attempts, scientists have finally created a nuclear fusion reaction in a lab. On today’s show, what this breakthrough means for the future of energy.Read more:Last week, the Energy Department announced that for the first time, scientists have been able to produce a fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain. This essentially means that in a lab-based setting, researchers were able to replicate the nuclear reaction by which energy is created within the sun. It’s a major milestone in a decades-long, multibillion-dollar quest to develop a technology that could provide unlimited cheap, clean power.While nuclear fusion is still at least a decade – and maybe many decades – away from commercial use, officials from the scientific community and the government are looking at this moment as one of deep promise, in the hopes of developing carbon-free power. Innovation reporter Pranshu Verma unpacks how nuclear fusion works and what this could mean for the future of the planet.

Today on “Post Reports,” how the chaos of war can put even well-intentioned efforts to help Ukrainian refugees on unstable ground.Read more:It’s been 300 days since the start of the war in Ukraine. And since that war began, millions of Ukrainians have fled their homes to seek safety in Western Europe. Back in March, the leaders of European Union countries pledged to help Ukrainians by enacting their Temporary Protection Directive for the first time. This gave refugees access to housing, health care, education and the labor markets of the countries they arrived in. But temporary protection has been far from a golden ticket. Today on “Post Reports,” we hear from producer Rennie Svirnovskiy about how refugees have fared at a transit center on Ukraine’s border with Poland. And we hear from Rick Noack about why many Ukrainian refugees scattered across Europe are still waiting for the help they were promised.

Holidays and winter illnesses go hand in hand. Today on Post Reports, we unpack how to prevent the spread.As families face a “tripledemic” of highly contagious respiratory viruses, we turn to national health reporter Lena Sun to understand the latest on how to stay healthy this holiday season. From effective flu and covid vaccines to DIY air filters, we find out what she has learned to keep viruses at bay, as well as what happened when she pressed a leading health official about the current masking guidance. Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in many parts of the country, and this year’s surge in flu is the worst in more than a decade. It’s overwhelming hospitals and leaving many families out sick for weeks. Yet it’s unlikely that mask mandates are coming back anytime soon. And while the uptake of covid booster shots is still very low nationwide, new studies have found that the updated versions can prevent serious illness and deaths, especially among older adults. 

Months after their Supreme Court victory, conservatives fear that new abortion bans aren’t being sufficiently enforced. Now, from mobilizing citizen investigators to blocking abortion pill websites, they’re pursuing unorthodox ideas to further crack down. Read more:Nearly six months after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering abortion bans in more than a dozen states, many antiabortion advocates fear that the growing availability of illegal abortion pills has undercut their landmark victory. Complaining that strict new abortion bans aren’t being sufficiently enforced and worried about lackluster support from more moderate members of the Republican party, they are grasping for new ways to crack down on access. From mobilizing citizen investigators to blocking abortion pill websites, these advocates are pursuing some pretty unorthodox ideas.On today’s episode of Post Reports, national political reporter Caroline Kitchener takes us inside the antiabortion movement’s war room for 2023, and explains why enforcement is its next big battleground. 

How a tip at a funeral became a year-long investigation into the sport of bodybuilding.Read more:When Post investigative reporter Desmond Butler’s father, George Butler, died last year, work was the last thing on Desmond’s mind. But a friend of his father came to him with a tip – startling allegations in the world of bodybuilding, a sport Desmond’s father helped make famous through his film “Pumping Iron.”What followed was a year-long investigation of the sport of bodybuilding and its culture. In today’s episode of “Post Reports," we explore what Desmond and a team of reporters at The Post uncovered. We explore the origins of bodybuilding, the risks and exploitation athletes face, and the family at the head of the sport.This is just one story from “Built & Broken,” a Washington Post investigation of the world of bodybuilding. To read more about the findings in this episode check out the rest of the series.Female bodybuilders describe widespread sexual exploitationDying to compete: When risking lives is part of the showWhat bodybuilders do to their bodies — and brainsRigged: The undoing of America’s premier bodybuilding leagues

Ahead of Sunday’s final match, two Post journalists and die-hard soccer fans discuss all things World Cup. Columnist Ishaan Tharoor sits down with Jeff Pierre, host of “The 7,” to unpack the controversies, the triumphs and what’s at stake this weekend.Read more:This year’s World Cup has been mired in debates about its host country, Qatar. But it’s more complicated than that, according to Ishaan Tharoor: “I think being there helped me think a bit more deeply and hopefully with a bit more nuance.” For him, being there gave him a unique insight into how the country prepared for the tournament and how players and attendees are reacting to the results. For many watching, the most exciting victories were those of the Moroccan team, which became the first African team to make it to a World Cup semifinal.As the tournament comes to a close on Sunday, two of the world’s most talented soccer stars will face off. Sunday’s final is expected to be veteran Argentine player Lionel Messi’s last shot at winning a World Cup. He’ll be playing Kylian Mbappé, the young French forward who has led his team to its second final in a row. What it’s like being at the World Cup. Morocco’s showdown with France carries complex political baggage.After enduring insults and threats, Iranian team exits the World Cup.How far can the U.S. men’s national team go? At the World Cup, Wales finds itself.No beer, but plenty of scandal at Qatar’s World Cup. 

Today on “Post Reports,” we dive into research on happiness and talk about finding joy in mundane experiences to cultivate a more meaningful life.Read more:Here’s an antidote to an ever-stressful, busy and uncertain world: Try finding and savoring little bites of joy throughout your day. Our Brain Matters columnist, neuroscientist Richard Sima, calls them “joy” snacks.By mindfully tuning in to the pleasant, nice and sometimes routine experiences of every day, we can transform an otherwise mundane moment into something more meaningful and even joyful.Lunch with a co-worker. Walking the dog. Texting with a friend. Watching a favorite show. Eating a favorite meal. Calling your mom. Just hanging out.New research shows that finding and savoring these nuggets of joy can be a way of consistently cultivating a good, meaningful life.“It’s not these big things that we sort of create in our heads, but these smaller day-to-day experiences that bring us meaning,” said Joshua Hicks, a psychologist at Texas A&M University’s Existential Psychology Collaboratory.To learn more about joy snacking, check out Richard’s column or this video about three ways to snack on joy.

Since 2019, the number of Americans killed by fentanyl has jumped 94 percent. Today on "Post Reports," we go inside Operation Sour Cream — and inside the pipeline bringing the deadly drug from Mexican labs to U.S. streets.Read more:In 2019, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Brady Wilson noticed big loads of synthetic drugs, like fentanyl, popping up around St. George, Utah. St. George is not exactly known as a hot spot for drugs; it’s a sleepy city of retirees, out-of-town hikers and Mormon churches. But Wilson had a gut feeling; he suspected a Mexican cartel had set up shop in town. That would be the beginnings of Operation Sour Cream, a federal investigation into the origins of synthetic drugs in the St. George area.  Synthetic drugs have arrived in small cities and rural areas across the United States abruptly, with immediate, devastating impact. In Utah, fentanyl overdose deaths have increased 300 percent over a three-year period, killing 170 people in 2021, according to the state health department. Mexican criminal groups have become experts in producing fentanyl and meth across the border. Now, Wilson knew, they were honing their role in retail distribution in the United States, where synthetics had reshaped the geography of drug demand.Today on “Post Reports,” Mexico City bureau chief Kevin Sieff reports on Wilson’s investigation into how fentanyl ended up in St. George, Utah, and what this increased presence of synthetic drugs means for the opioid crisis in the United States. This story is part of Cartel RX, an investigative series from The Post looking at the deadly fentanyl pipeline from Mexican labs to U.S. streets.This kind of work is only possible because of the support of listeners like you, who subscribe to The Washington Post. If you’re not a subscriber yet, now is a great time to start. You can also gift a Washington Post subscription to someone in your life who could use this kind of valuable reporting. Check out our latest subscription deal at postreports.com/offer.

Today, we hear from a mother and son in Iran about life amid ongoing protests and an escalating government crackdown. Despite communication challenges, journalist Sanam Mahoozi has been carefully corresponding with them for weeks about their lives in a changing Iran.“I am devastated by the way the system is treating the youth,” a mother in Tehran told journalist Sanam Mahoozi during one exchange. “Every mother in Iran is miserable now.”Protests erupted across Iran following the September death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of Iran’s “morality police,” and they show few signs of abating. For one mother and son in Tehran, this has meant life interrupted, halted and increasingly in jeopardy, as safety concerns inch closer to home. But it has also increased their resolve.The government has responded harshly to the uprising, with human rights organizations documenting more than 4,000 deaths. Officials have sentenced at least a dozen protesters to death. Over the weekend, one of those protesters, convicted of killing two officers, was publicly hanged from a construction crane.Even with all the crackdowns and violence around him, the son told Mahoozi, “I have more hope than before.” READ MORE: ‘We want them gone’: Across generations, Iranians struggle for change.As unrest grips Iran’s schools, the government is going after children.Iran is ramping up its secret kidnapping plots.