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A memorial and jazz funeral honored 19 Black Americans, whose remains were recently repatriated from Germany where they were used for racial research in the late 1800s.

Disease researchers from South Africa were the first to identify the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus. Scientists there are racing to detect new pathogens before they can spark another pandemic.

NPR's Ivan Watson reports from Cotonou, the capital of Benin, on the practice of child slavery in West Africa.

Through her independent documentary project Rainbow Girls, photographer Julia Gunther captures the stories of protection and prejudice among a group of South African lesbian women.

Charities helping victims of last week's Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami report receiving a huge outpouring of money from Americans. Some groups have been overwhelmed by the response, but all are heartened at the level of contributions. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

NPR's Noah Adams speaks with NPR's Ira Flatow, host of Talk of the Nation Science Friday, about the successful flight of a NASA prototype "scramjet," an unmanned experimental aircraft with a revolutionary new air-breathing engine that achieved a speed of nearly 7,000 mph in a recent test mission over the Pacific Ocean.

This past April, a group of oceanographers was part of an expedition off the coast of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean. They were studying various aspects of the Mariana volcanic arc. While on board their ship, they witnessed the underwater eruption of a volcano. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Dave Butterfield, one of the oceanographers who witnessed the eruption.

In the first of a two-part National Geographic Radio Expedition, NPR's John Nielsen reports from Peru on how road construction can hurt the rain forests. It happened in Brazil several years ago, when the Trans Amazonian Highway brought loggers and settlers into previously inaccessible parts of the jungle. Now, the Trans-Oceanic Highway could have similar results in Peru.

In the conclusion of a two part National Geographic Radio Expedition, NPR's John Nielsen reports from Peru on the mixed reactions to the Trans-Oceanic Highway. Nielsen completes his journey along the road and witnesses the hazards it has created for the people of the Amazon while establishing the jungle's only bridge to the 21st century.

Monday's earthquake did not trigger a tsunami, but it did spark a scare across the region. Several countries along the Indian Ocean received early word of the possibility of a second tsunami, including Thailand, where tens of thousands fled to higher ground.