The American west is facing a more severe wildfire season, which comes with stress, loss and a sense of mourning for our planet called climate grief. We spoke with Wired science journalist Matt Simon about this grief many of us are experiencing and the delicate balance of covering “the apocalypse beat” while keeping readers engaged with an often bleak topic.

Later on the show: Antigen tests for covid-19 are being used more and more, especially in places like nursing homes and colleges. But a reporting team from Kaiser Health News found that 21 states don’t report the results from these tests, restricting our understanding of the pandemic and our ability to respond to it. We spoke with one of the journalists behind this report, Rachana Pradhan, about why we need more antigen testing and how the pandemic has underscored longstanding problems with our health care system.

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