If the apocalypse is nigh, do you want a text alert?

What's it like to live in Antarctica around Adélie penguins

Adélie penguins are the smallest and most widespread penguin species in the Antarctic, and one place you find them is Cape Royds. Conservation biologist Louise K. Blight is one of very few people who's spent time in the remote field camp in Cape Royds, living alongside those penguins, and doing field research. We’ll talk to the author of “Where the Earth Meets the Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica," about the magic and mystery of Antarctica, the power of solitude, and what it’s like to be courted by an emperor penguin?

The Victoria group lending an ear to strangers

Sidewalk Talk in Victoria is a community listening group that’s on a mission to help people in the city foster human connections and a sense of belonging. We chat with one of the group’s volunteers about why talking with strangers is so important and how being a good listener is a skill that needs to be practiced.

If the apocalypse is nigh, do you want a text alert?

Artist and coder Kyle McDonald has created an apocalypse early warning system. It tracks billionaires' jets to see if they are fleeing to their private doomsday bunkers. If the end really is upon us, it won't save you. (The super rich will probably be toast too.) But he hopes the social commentary it provides might make you feel less helpless and nudge you to do something about the mess he says we're in.

Why this Ebola outbreak could be "catastrophic"

The World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is outpacing response efforts to contain the virus. We speak with Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician and public health professor at Brown University, who contracted Ebola while treating patients in west Africa in 2014. He says the dismantling of US aid and CDC response teams have hampered efforts to detect and contain this latest outbreak.

Will a US-Iran deal happen?

There were reports on the weekend about an imminent deal to end the U.S. war with Iran — but those hopes were dimmed by fresh airstrikes Monday. What’s happening with talks between Washington and Tehran? And what does it mean for the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon? Guest host Catherine Cullen talks to Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist; and Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C.