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For the first time in decades, obesity rates in the U.S. are not on the rise.The adult obesity rate fell to about 40 percent in 2023, down from 41.9 percent in 2020, according to the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from the CDC.While the study doesn't pinpoint one sole reason for the change, the timing coincides with the rise of a new class of drugs targeting diabetes and weight loss, like Ozempic and Wegovy.As part of our series In Good Health, we discuss these new medications and the falling rate of obesity.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Octavia Butler's 1993 novel "The Parable of the Sower" contains a powerful and poignant vision of the United States of the future, one that rings scarily true in the present. The 2024 of Butler's 1993 work isn't so far away from the 2024 in which we're all currently living. Butler published a sequel, Parable of the Talents, in 1998. Both feature a protagonist named Lauren Olamina, a young woman trying to survive and make a life for herself.So what can we learn from Butler's novel? What makes both Sower and Talents so enduring as a series of speculative science fiction? And what does it mean that our world more and more bears resemblance to works of apocalyptic fiction?We discuss Butler's novels, and the message of hope she has at the center of this dark story.Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Millions in Florida and across the southeast are bracing for the arrival of Hurricane Milton.On Monday, the storm was upgraded to Category 4 hurricane over the southern Gulf of Mexico. The storm's expected to landfall on Wednesday suggests a path of movement that includes Tampa and Orlando.Mass evacuations are underway less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene swamped the coastline. We discuss how those in harm's way are preparing for another storm with life-threatening power. Want to support 1A? Give to your local public radio station and subscribe to this podcast. Have questions? Connect with us. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy