Germany Rearms
After decades of low-key defense posture, Germany is embarking on a major rearmament and modernization effort. Faced with a changed security environment in Europe, political leaders have committed to expanding budgets, accelerating procurement and reducing dependence on foreign supply chains. New spending targets are coupled with efforts to revitalize domestic defense industry capacity, buy advanced aircraft, ships and land systems, and invest in munitions and logistics that were allowed to atrophy. The move reflects a shift from symbolic contributions to sustained, interoperable capability alongside NATO partners, while prompting debate at home over strategic aims, export rules, and the balance between national readiness and European security cooperation.
The Price of a Life
Medicine has delivered astonishing breakthroughs—gene therapies, engineered cell treatments and one-time curative procedures that can completely transform patients’ lives. But those breakthroughs often come with jaw-dropping price tags: single-dose treatments running into six or seven figures. The segment examines why costs are so high—small patient populations, years of research and development, complex manufacturing, and regulatory hurdles—and how manufacturers, insurers and governments negotiate access. It looks at how hospitals and families manage decisions when an effective treatment exists but carries an extraordinary cost, and examines proposals to spread risk and cost (outcomes-based contracts, pooled purchasing, government negotiation, and new payment models). The piece explores the tension between incentives that drive innovation and the ethical, practical urgency of making life-saving therapies available and affordable.
Hoosier Hysteria
The Indiana Hoosiers’ football program has attracted national attention with an improbable run from overlooked underdogs to an undefeated record. The story traces how the program’s transformation was built: coaching changes that reshaped culture, player development that unlocked previously underestimated talent, and a unifying strategy that emphasized identity and resiliency. Off the field, the revival energized the university and its community—ticket demand, alumni involvement and renewed TV interest—and posed questions about sustaining success, recruiting in a competitive landscape, and balancing tradition with the pressures of modern college athletics. The segment profiles players and coaches who helped flip the narrative from outcast to powerhouse and explores what the streak means for the conference and the program’s future.