Madison Staten

Does President Donald Trump see Russian President Vladimir Putin as a partner in peace and business? Chrystia Freeland, an unpaid economic adviser to the government of Ukraine and the former deputy prime minister of Canada, believes the answer is “yes.” “I hope Americans will take a deep breath and recognize that their country, in sort of crucial matters of war and peace, can be sold to the highest bidder,” Freeland told Compass Points host @nickschifrin. "That's a terrible thing." Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

The world is drowning in trash, and, each day, we toss out 3.5 million tons of it. Its presence pollutes our lands and waters, with harmful impacts to many living things on Earth. Recycling is a proposed solution to the trash problem. But placing the "burden" of recycling education on the consumer "is a big problem," Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, co-founder and COO of WATS, a tech company that helps businesses reduce their waste, told Horizons host William Brangham. "One of the things that I always start with when I'm educating people about waste is it's confusing, and it's not your fault," Danberg-Ficarelli said. Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Reduce, reuse and recycle — it's the mantra we have heard for decades. But does it work, and what exactly can be recycled? From single-use plastics to pizza boxes, Horizons host William Brangham discussed separating fact from fiction on recycling with Meredith Danberg-Ficarelli, the co-founder and COO of WATS, a tech company that helps businesses reduce their waste, and Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, an organization that campaigns to end plastic waste. Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Screens are everywhere. They’re in our pockets, workplaces, homes and schools. Americans are spending more than seven hours a day looking at screens. What are these devices doing to our well-being? And, does all this screen time affect different generations differently? According to Courtney K. Blackwell, who studies pediatric mental health and well-being at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the moral panic around children's vulnerability to technology and media is nothing new. “We can actually go back in history all the way to the radio and early days of television, and we see the exact same thing," she told host William Brangham. Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Just four months ago, the U.S. and Israel launched a joint war, with a level of military and political integration rarely seen in history. But the U.S. is now unilaterally negotiating a memorandum of understanding that Israeli officials have openly criticized. President Donald Trump has a “real feral sense” for “the public pulse,” Danielle Pletka, a distinguished senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told host Nick Schifrin. But, Pletka added, "in terms of national security policy, it's not just that he has no vision, there's nothing there.” She noted that the president got advice from different parties throughout the course of Iran conflict. “He adjusted to the people who he wanted to hear from, and now he's listening to other people,” Pletka said. Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Ahead of America's 250th anniversary, author Walter Isaacson has turned his attention to a single sentence in the Declaration of Independence. @JudyWoodruff spoke with Isaacson about the enduring power of those words and his new book, "The Greatest Sentence Ever Written." This report is part of her series, Crossroads: America at 250.

Roughly one in 10 Americans gets their water from the Colorado River. But the river is drying up due to a persistent drought driven in part by climate change. The crisis has been building for decades, but will likely come to a head this summer, as the past winter was brutally warm. The heavy snow that was supposed to fall on the Mountain West and slowly melt, sending water down into rivers and reservoirs, never happened. "Simply put, the basin is not producing the water supply that all of our states anticipated decades ago," California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot told Horizons host @WmBrangham. "So we all anticipated and planned for and built infrastructure to use more water than is currently available." The Colorado River has slipped to record low levels, threatening the water supply for 40 million people across seven western states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada. But the crisis is not just about water; it's also about electricity. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, two reservoirs on the river, are also nearing record lows. The man-made lakes generate hydroelectric power for millions. In February, the seven Colorado River basin states failed to reach a new agreement on how to share the river's dwindling resources. The federal government is threatening to impose its own plan. Joel Ferry, the commissioner of Utah's Department of Natural Resources, called it a "solvable problem," and said the seven state governors are working with the federal government to find solutions. "Ultimately, this is something that both our political leaders and the water users have got to come together to find a creative solution," he said. Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Fifteen years have passed since the historic raid that killed the world’s most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In May 2011, Mark Kelton served as the CIA’s top official in Pakistan, where bin Laden met his demise. Kelton shared with host Nick Schifrin the moment when he saw live footage of the raid. “We were up cheering in my office,” Kelton, who is now a senior advisor at the Chertoff Group and a founding partner of the Five Eyes Group, told Schifrin. Kelton shared that another great moment was informing colleagues who were not necessarily aware of the operation, but contributed toward it. Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Biologically, menopause is defined as the point at which a woman has gone 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period and is no longer able to become pregnant. Menopause is usually preceded by a phase called perimenopause, when natural hormone levels start to fluctuate. Perimenopause can often trigger a series of emotional and physical symptoms. “What we forget is that, yes, hot flashes, insomnia, vaginal dryness, all these not only impact on quality of life, but they are also impacting on length of life,” Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, told host William Brangham. Streicher, who is also a certified menopause practitioner and the founding medical director of the Northwestern Medicine Center for Sexual Medicine and Menopause, added that the choices made in midlife, during the menopause transition, can affect chances of developing osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, stroke and other conditions later. “We've learned so much that there is a very high association with what women are experiencing now and how that is going to have repercussions years down the road,” Streicher said. Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Fifteen years have passed since the historic raid that killed the world’s most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden. In May 2011, Mark Kelton served as the CIA’s top official in Pakistan, where bin Laden met his demise. Kelton shared with host Nick Schifrin an inside look at the dangerous operation and the intelligence that led up to it. “Finding bin Laden, of course, and bringing him to justice was for me the only way we could say that we had closed the door on what happened on 9/11,” Kelton, who is now a senior advisor at the Chertoff Group and a founding partner of the Five Eyes Group, told Schifrin. “It was about justice, and frankly, it was about vengeance, and I don't have any problem saying that.” Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

PBS @NewsHour named recipient of a @PeabodyAward for its coverage of the Trump administration’s changes to U.S. immigration policy during his second term. More on and links to our award-winning coverage here: to.pbs.org/3QjmJdp Congratulations to our colleagues who contributed to this reporting!

PBS News has been nominated for a @PeabodyAward and three #NewsEmmys Awards. You can read more about the nominated coverage here: to.pbs.org/3O64Wpe And congratulations to the @newshour and @washingtonweek teams who contributed to this reporting!

Last week, the United States and Israel unleashed the largest conflict in the Middle East in more than two decades when they launched joint attacks on Iran. Although the Pentagon says the specific military goals include destroying both Iran's navy and its missile and military infrastructure, U.S. and Israeli officials also envision changing the Islamic Republic's regime. Former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman joined Compass Points host @nickschifrin to discuss how long the U.S. will sustain the war and President Donald Trump's endgame in Iran. Sherman pointed out that "one of the many objectives" played out by the president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is that Venezuela is Trump’s “template.” In other words, the idea, Schifrin said, is "removing the head of the regime but leaving everyone else intact and conducting gunboat diplomacy to achieve your objectives," similar to the U.S. operation that removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power in early January. “Exactly, get oil, get gold, get whatever you can, very transactional as you pointed out," Sherman said. "If that is true in Iran, and the Iranian experts know better than I, that's not likely to happen here.” Sherman added that it leaves the Iranian people “as an afterthought,” after Trump said he would have their back following the Iranian government’s mass killings of protesters. “If it's a Venezuela template, their back is not going to be had. Their lives are going to be had,” she said. Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Consciousness, defined as the awareness of our existence and the hidden internal lens through which we view the world, has long been held up as a defining aspect of being human. But why do we have this power, and are we the only ones who do? Science writer Michael Pollan joined host @WmBrangham to explore the questions surrounding consciousness and how it relates to the human experience. Pollan called it a "miraculous fact" that humans have a private, internal space "where we can talk to ourselves" and "where we have complete mental freedom to think about whatever we want." But, he argued, that humans are "polluting" their consciousness through excessive phone-scrolling and social media use. He said humans are not making enough time for daydreaming and mind-wandering. As the use of chatbots rises, Pollan said he is worried that "things are going to get even more dangerous for consciousness." “Now they're even more sophisticated algorithms that are creating chatbots that are essentially telling you they're conscious and they're your friends," Pollan said. "This isn't real companionship. These are zero-friction relationships with machines." Pollan also discussed the idea of “consciousness hygiene” and ways to protect your internal awareness. “When you're standing in line at the cafe, don't take out your phone, look around, listen to the conversations,” Pollan said. “Or get out in nature or meditate. Meditation is a great way to put a fence around this experience.” Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

The United States and Israel launched an unprecedented joint attack on Iran with the stated intention to overthrow the Iranian regime Saturday. PBS News Hour co-anchors Amna Nawaz and Geoff Bennett hosted special coverage of the latest developments with correspondents, expert analysis and an on-the-ground report from Tehran. to.pbs.org/4aSKsYk

Artificial intelligence tools can help answer questions and make life more efficient, but for others, AI has become even more. It can offer companionship, such as through a virtual friend, a therapist or even a romantic partner. Science writer Justin Gregg, MIT professor Sherry Turkle and The Atlantic CEO Nick Thompson joined Horizons host @WmBrangham to explore whether AI is a cure for loneliness -- as some say they’re developing real relationships with AI chatbots -- or a symptom of technology gone wrong, especially when some of these interactions end tragically. “Anthropomorphic relationships are part and parcel of the human condition. Yes, our pets, but even our tools and our music instruments, or your teddy bear,” Gregg told Brangham, describing giving non-human objects human-like attributes. “We’re developing an anthropomorphic relationship with a language-using system. But that language-using system doesn’t have a mind like a human mind,” Gregg added. “The question becomes, is it always dangerous to have these anthropomorphic parasocial relationships with AI, or is there any way to have it be a benefit?” Horizons from PBS News, dives into the science, health, technology and environmental issues making headlines each week. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has entered its fifth year. The war is a brutal, bloody stalemate and diplomacy appears deadlocked. Retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine until the end of 2025 and is now the co-chair of American security at the America First Policy Institute. Compass Points host @nickschifrin sat down with Kellogg for an inside look at the Trump administration's strategy for ending the war, how we got here and what's ahead. “It's sort of like an American poker game. If you go all in, the other side doesn't know, do you really have the cards or not? And I think we do, we the United States, have got the cards to force Putin to say, 'Time for you to go home. Time to call it a day, time to end this war,'” Kellogg said. He added that the Russian leader “is not gonna win this war. I don't think he's got the wherewithal to do so." Compass Points from PBS News analyzes prominent international affairs topics and America’s role in a shifting world, breaking down global conflicts, rising tensions, and their implications for U.S. interests. Visit the PBS News website to watch this week's episode.