Has this ever happened to you?

You wake up, look at your phone, scroll through the news for a minute or two, and then think, wow, how did we get here?

Well, that's the question we tackle every week on NPR's ThruLine podcast.

We tell you the surprising stories of the people who made our history.

Carl Sagan was in people's living rooms talking about the wonders of the universe, making

science feel personal and important to an everyday person.

Listen to Thuringland from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts.

Music For decades, for decades, Germany avoided enlarging its military or deploying large numbers of troops abroad.

These were topics that were almost systematically excluded from the public debate.

Now that is changing. I'm Carolyn Beeler. And I'm Marco Wurman. Also today, the transition to renewable

energy is putting enormous demands on the global supply of copper. We need copper supply to

increase by about 100% over the next 25 years.

That will require building many more copper mines.

Plus, we'll visit one of the holiest sites in Syria, now under the control of a new government,

and a potential breakthrough on malaria.

Instead of killing the mosquitoes that spread the disease, treat them.

Surprisingly, this was a pretty novel idea.

All that and more today, here on the world.

This is the world. I'm Marco Wurman.

And I'm Carolyn Beeler. Thanks for being here today.

Any other country saying this would be less of a big deal,

but for the German leader Friedrich Meritz to announce today that the country is, quote,

...