NPR News Now - NPR News: 04-23-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

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Aviv Regev is the co-founder of the Human Cell Atlas. It's a huge leap in understanding how human cells work. She says it's like upgrading from a 15th century map of the world to Google Maps. If I want to develop a medicine that would only go to the place where something is broken, I need to know how to get there. The new wave of biotechnology. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The public viewing of the body of

Pope Francis has begun. The pontiff's body is lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican today. The Roman Catholic College of Cardinals has begun several days of mourning for the pope, who died Monday at the age of 88. The funeral for the pontiff will be held this Saturday. World leaders are planning on attending, including President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. Roman Catholic cardinals will soon choose a new pope. They must begin the conclave within 20 days

of the death of a pontiff. They'll be locked inside the Vatican, and MPS Bill Chappell reports they cannot leave seclusion until a successor to Pope Francis is named. The first conclave dates to the 13th century. When the Roman Catholic Church went nearly three years without a pontiff, cardinals were locked up until they finally agreed on a new pope. Experts say this conclave likely would be much shorter. Here's Bree Jensen,

host of the historical podcast Pontifacts. All of the conclaves from the 1900s onwards have been under four days. The cardinal electors live in a hotel-like facility in the Vatican. They are denied access to all news media and are strictly forbidden to use telephones or personal computers. They vote on candidates each morning and afternoon in the Sistine Chapel. The candidate who wins a two-thirds majority will be the next pope. Bill Chappell, NPR News. Stock futures are sharply higher this morning. Dow Jones industrial average futures in pre-market trading are up about 600 points. That's about one and a half percent. This comes after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a speech yesterday that ongoing U.S. tariffs against China are not

sustainable and he expects a de-escalation. Stock futures are also soaring after President Trump said he does not plan to fire Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell. But as NPR's Franco Ordoña's report, President Trump continues to call on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. President Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell for not taking more action to lower interest rates. Trump has even said his, quote, termination cannot come fast enough. But now Trump seems to want to quell concerns about the independence of the Federal Reserve. Now I have no intention of firing him. I would like to see him be a little more active in terms of his idea to lower interest rates. This is a perfect time to

lower interest rates. Trump has cited easing inflation and argues that lowering interest rates. This is a perfect time to lower interest rates. Trump has cited easing inflation and argues that lowering interest rates would stoke the economy. But the Fed has been hesitant to lower rates because of the uncertainty around Trump's tariffs and the expectation that they will increase prices. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. New Jersey officials say a wildfire has burned more than 8,500 acres in the eastern part of the state. About 3,000 people have been evacuated. Parts of the famous Garden State Parkway have been shut down.

The measles outbreak continues to grow in Texas. There are at least 624 cases there. Nearly all of them are among people who were not vaccinated. Two Texas children have died. There's a new poll out showing how much misinformation people are seeing about the measles. The poll comes from KFF, a nonprofit health policy research organization.

NPR's Maria Godoy has more. Pollsters asked about three false claims, that the measles vaccine is more dangerous than the disease, that the vaccine causes autism, and that vitamin A can prevent a measles infection. None of these things are true, but a significant proportion of adults polled thought they might be true. Liz Hamill of KFF says there was a clear political divide. We see that Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to lean towards believing this misinformation about measles.

And that's true among parents as well. Among parents who said that at least one of these false claims was probably or definitely true, one in four said they'd either skipped or delayed some recommended vaccines for their kids. Maria Godoy, NPR News. The state of Florida is suing the owner of the social media platform Snapchat. Florida's attorney general alleges Snapchat is addicting children and he claims it is introducing them to harmful activities in violation of Florida law. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.

Hey, it's News in Washington.