♪ john: tonight on "pbs news weekend"... turkey votes to pick their next leader, as the world waits to see if president erdogan can hold on after two decades in power. then... a look at the misdiagnosis and unequal treatment of women with parkinson's disease. and... some never-before-seen celestial events thrilli scientists and space enthusiasts alike. miles: it's a reminder that we are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. and yet we've gotten pretty smart at figuring some big things out. ♪ >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer

cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- and friends of the "newshour." ♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. john: good evening.

i'm john yang. in turkey, they are counting the votes from today's election to see if president recep tayyip erdogan will extend his two decade hold on power. the state run news agency indicates erdogan may be headed for a runoff in two weeks. the election, with a unified opposition, represents the greatest political challenge yet to erdogan's increasingly authoritarian rule. challenger kemal kilicdaroglu narrowly led erdogan in pre-election surveys. he's a retired civil servant and ran on a promise of restoring democracy, which erdogan has eroded. some turkish voters went to the polls in the mood for change. murat: for me this feels like a parting of ways. i don't know how to describe it. i can't think of a more important election. john: while we await the final vote count, we turn to soner

cagaptay, who's head of the turkish research program at the washington institute for near east policy. his most recent book is a sultan in autumn: erdogan faces turkey's uncontainable forces. to use your terms, what are the uncontainable forces driving erdogan to a runoff tonight? soner: i would say the economy. he has won elections until recently on a platform of economic growth and he has never one elections well not delivering -- while not delivering both. the economy was a big factor going into the elections and the earthquake hurt his popularity. his strength is his information control, or control of information flow. he has eliminated the autonomy of many of turkeys institutions from courts to foreign ministry, to the central bank with grave ramifications for policy but also electoral boards and media.

90% of the media is aligned with him and 80% of citizens cannot read linkages other than turkish. you can curate reality. in the run-up to elections, citizens to not hear about inflation, journalists in jail, or relief agencies providing eight after the earthquake, but how erdogan has made turkey a great military industrial power. he repeated this over and over in the media, given a large majority of citizens read what he curated. erdogan the inventor of nativist politics of this century globally. you spread lies, you repeat them so much they become reality and you win elections based on that, and people forgot ey were lies. john: the selection is closely watched in western capitals, here in washington and at the kremlin. what is at stake?

soner: a lot is at stake. turkey plays a role in the role -- a role in the war in ukraine. vladimir putin decided he wanted erdogan to win. there was hyperinflation under erdogan, and large amounts of cash transferred from russia to turkey and erdogan handed these out in the form of social security benefits as well as cheap gas from russia he gave for free to voters and i think perhaps that put them close to the finish line. clinton wants her to want to win because he is a like-minded meter -- like-minded leader that challenges the international order. we have a runoff likely in two weeks and putin will continue to support erdogan financially and through information operations because he cannot afford to see erdogan lose when he is not winning in ukraine. john: tell us about the opponent in the race.

how much of his strength is support for him, how much is opposition to erdogan? soner: he is a soft-spoken politician, opposite of erdogan. erdogan demonizes and utilizes and tracks down on demographics that don't vote for him. this opponent reach across the aisle, tried to breach the traditional split. perhaps it worked, he was able to unite opposition forces but i think he could not really get to the 50% margin. in this regard, i think erdogan played a masterful gain. the party was supported b a pro-curtis faction, and he -- pro kurdish faction and he branded them as terrorists. i think some voters were convinced that support for this candidate meant support for that faction. john: if it goes to a runoff and

erdogan wins, do you think his assault on democracy will continue? soner: i have argued that countries could be vegetables and turkey is an onion. there is no core, you peel it and there is no core. turkey is not an autocracy, not a democracy, it is a democracy that has fallen under an autocrat. it is trying to make a comeback. if erdogan wins again, i think turkey will become a complete talker c. the remaining institutions -- a complete talker c. the remaining institutions will fall under him. the rule of law will disappear. erdogan will be anointed as the country's new sultan. turks will flee the country, giving up hope he will be voted out. i think turkey will dissent into deeper autocracy. john: thank you very much.

soner: my pleasure. john: elsewhere, tropical cyclone mocha made landfall over myanmar today, battering the coast with heavy rain and winds up to 130 miles an hour. the storm lashed the sprawling rongya refugee camps in bangladesh, but the country was spared a direct hit. so far, officials report three casualties, all in myanmar to the east. in recent days, hundreds of thousands of people in myanmar and bangladesh were moved to safer areas and sturdier structures. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy's diplomat tour of european allies took him to berlin today. he told reporters there that the goal of a planned counteroffensive is to drive russian forces out of ukrainian territory they occupy, not to attack russia. at a news conference with german chancellor olaf scholz, zelenskyy was disputing a

report that said leaked u.s. intelligence documents suggested he'd considered trying to capture russian territory as bargaining chips in peace talks. pres. zelenskyy: we do not attack russian territory. we liberate our lawful land, we are not interested in this. we don't have time for this, we don't have powers for this. john: zelenskyy's next stop is paris, where he's arrived for talks with french president emmanuel macron. and, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas today said that the number of people crossing the mexican border illegally was cut in half since the pandemic-era immigration policy known as title 42 ended at midnight thursday. mayorkas said border patrol agents encountered more than 10,000 peoe entering the country illegally in the days leading up to title 42's expiration, but on friday there were just over 6,000, and just over 4,000 saturday. illegal border crossings remain higher than in previous months, and remain well above the lows during the pandemic.

still to come on "pbs news weekend"... the celestial events thrilling space scientists and enthusiasts. and... the story of the first indian-american astronaut who gave her life exploring space. >> this is "pbs news weekend" from weta studios in washington, home of "the pbs newshour" weeknights on pbs. john: after alzheimer's disease, parkinson's is the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the united states. it's a diagnosis nearly 90,000 americans get every year. but, as ali rogin tells us, it exhibits its symptoms differently in women than in men. ali: parkinson's disease damages or kills nerves in the brain, causing muscle stiffness, tremors and other symptoms that worsen over time. and while it's more common in men than women, women are more often misdiagnosed or diagnosed la.

and sometimes women experience symptoms and respond to treatment differently than men. joining me to discuss is sonia mathur, a parkinson's disease advocate and family physician. dr. mathur, thank you so much for joining us. as you've described it to me, parkinson's disease is really more of a spectrum of neurogenic neurodegenerative disorders more than any one ailment. so with the understanding that it's not a monolith, can you describe what some of e most common symptoms of parkinson's disease are? dr. mathur: parkinson's disease is um the second most common neurological disease behind dementia, but it's the fastest growing of the neurological illnesses. and as you mentioned, is neurodegenerative, progressive, relentless, without a cure. and the symptoms can sort of be divided into two groups. the motor symptoms, those are things like tremor and slowness of movement and stiffness and falls. non-motor symptoms can be anything from head to toe, including hair and skin changes, fatigue, sleep issues,

constipation, a variety of symptoms. ali: how is it that men and women experience these symptoms differently? dr. mathur: women are more tremor dominant. we have more facial masking and more restless leg syndrome. when it comes to non-motor symptoms, tend to suffer more from mood issues such as anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances compared to our male counterparts. we also experience more fatigue, pain and urogenital symptoms such as urinary dysfunction and incontinence. and what's even more is that we know that the severity impact of these symptoms varies according to the hormonal status of the woman, for example, throughout her menstrual cycle or with menopause, for example. we believe that the longer that you are exposed to estrogen through your life, that that may help to prevent or to protect you from getting something like parkinson's disease. but we just don't have the answers. historically, most research participants were white, older gentlemen, so a lot of our treatment guidelines came from that research were based on a result of a small set of

population that's actually affected by this disease, because the stereotype is still there today that it affects white older gentlemen, as opposed to the fact that this disease really knows no boundaries in terms of age, gender, race, geographical borders. ali: and you yourself were diagnosed with what's known as young onset parkinson's at age 28. what was that experience like for you getting diagnosed and how did you come to understand that that's what you had? dr. mathur: i basically noticed an intermittent tremor in my right pinky finger, and i just completed my residency in family medicine, and was expecting my first daughter. and my husband, who's also a physician, said, i had better go get it checked out. and instead of getting the news that i had hoped, i was instead diagnosed with young onset parkinson's disease at the age of 28. and that was almost 24 years ago. and the disease continued to progress. so much so that i had to actually stop my clinical medical practice unfortunately and instead devoted my life to words -- advocacy, education and

research in parkinson's disease. the impact of this disease is really extremely disabling. it affects you, not only physically, but mentally, socially, emotionally. relationships get affected and it's pretty unpredictable in terms of this disability. your symptoms and response to medication can really vary day by day, hour to hour. and that's sort of what i'm experiencing now as well. ali: and speaking of that unpredictability, are there any symptoms, any changes that women should look out for if they think potentially they may be experiencing parkinson's disease symptoms? dr. mathur: the issue with young onset painson's disease in general and women in particular is that we often present with nonspecific symptoms. mine was a little bit unusual in that i had the tremor right away. a lot of women, or men for that matter, in young onset parkinson's, will present with, you know, shoulder pain or slowness of movement, not swinging their arm, loss of smell, constipation, depression, what we call our rem sleep behavior disorder, which is acting out your dreams and moving during sleep.

and the other problem with diagnosing women or men in this younger age is the fact that not only is symptoms nonspecific, but physicians also are not of the mindset that this happens in younger people. they're still on the lookout for it in older people, and particularly men. ali: to that point, are there any advancements in the study of this thagive you hope? dr. mathur: it's definitely improving. researchers are much more aware of the need to include underrepresented populations in general in their work. we need to do research that are inclusive of women and our unique genetics, our unique hormonal status. the research that is out there currently is lacking in these areas. for example, i mentioned that we think that there may be a neuroprotective role for estrogen. when it comes to the timing of estrogen exposure when's the , best to start something like hormone replacement therapy? what type of hormone replacement therapy for how long? what about oral contraceptive pills? we know that women report that their parkinson's symptoms tend to get worse just prior to menstruation, sometimes during it as well.

what is the best way to manage those fluctuations? that's something we don't know yet. how does pregnancy affect the trajectory or progression of your parkinson's or does it? there's so many unanswered questions that affect women uniquely. and i want to always stress that this this type of research is not only just important for women, but can benefit the whole parkinson's community because it increases our general understanding or knowledge of this disease, which will benefit everybody. it's really a win win situation in that way. ali: dr. sonia mathur, family physician and parkinson's disease advocate. thank you so much for joining us. dr. mathur: thank you so much for having me. ♪ it's john: it's been an exciting time for astronomers, astrophysicists and other scientists who specialize in the goings on in the far reaches of space. since the beginning of the month, observations of some never before seen celestial events have been reported in

science journals. science correspondent miles o'brien is here to explain it all. miles, thanks for joining us. the first one is, i am told it's a a star swallowing up a planet that was orbiting around it. and as you talk about, we're going to show some animation from caltech depicting it. miles: well, john, i don't want to ruin your weekend, but this is, in fact, a preview of what lies ahead for our little planet earth. a team of researchers at palomar observatory outside san diego were using a wide field camera called the zwicky transient facility, which looks at a big swath of the night sky looking for things like comments and asteroids. astronomer kingsley day at m.i.t. is going through data from 2020. there's so much data that they have a backlog. and he noticed a star about 12,000 light years away that grew a hundred times brighter over the course of a week.

he thought maybe that was a binary star, which he studies quite a bit. two stars which kind of interact with each other and their brhtness changes as the gravity pushes and pulls. but the problem was the total amount of energy that was releasedy this event was way less than it would be if it was two stars. and so that meant by virtue of that, that it was probably a black hole swallowing up a planet. but it's not just any planet ten times bigger than jupiter. and i guess the flash that he saw, i guess it amounts to a cosmic belch. john: you say this is going to happen to earth. does this happen to all planets? do they eventually sort of go into their suns? miles: not all of them. the outer planets in our solar system are likely to be spared. and we're kind of on the bubble. we novenas and mercury are goners eventually. there's some scientific debate as to what will happen to us. but basically the star gets bigger and bigger as it gets older, like we all do, i suppose, and gets hotter and

eventually gobbles up the nearer planet. so i'm sorry to give that piece of news to everybody here this weekend, but we have some time to plan. john: you have given us a lot of lead time. the next thing i want to ask you about is the largest space explosion ever detected. miles: this one is very far away. 8 billion light years away. so that means what we're seeing in these images or animations or data is at about 6 billion years after the creation of the universe, the big bang. this explosion lasted about three years. so what was it? no one's really sure. the current thinking is that maybe the black hole in this case much more powerful than ours, swallowed up a huge gas cloud and in so doing created this multiyear explosion. so, again, the universe is rough place, john. john: tough neighborhood.

there's also a neutron star that is behaving in a way that scientists didn't think a star could behave. first of all, start out by telling us what a neutron star is. miles: it is like a dead star, did not quite make it to blackhole status. a neutron star is very dense. there are limits to how bright they can become, called the eddington limit. basically a push and pull between the light photons and gravity. a physicist would tell you given the size of any particular object, there is a limit to how bright it can be. this one it turns out is 100 to 500 times brighter beyond this so-called eddington limit and theyhink what is happening is the magnetic field of this neutron star is working the atoms and allowing the star to hold together longer than it would otherwise.

it's a little mindbending. john: this is all mindbending to me. describe what a black hole and we will play some animation from nasa. miles: these are huge gravity wells at the center of most galaxies. this one they say is close in astronomical terms. we know about these title disruption events, my favorite astronomical term, spaghettification, it pulls things and so rapidly they stretch out spaghetti style. this is the closest one weight seen. if you look at this animation nasa made for us, it's a reminder of number one, how far science has taken us to even understand all of this, and the fact we know this exists, we have the webb space telescope,

we have the rubin observato coming online soon. all because of things to take us farther and further back in time. to me it is a reminder we are pretty insignificant in the grand scheme, yet we've gotten pretty smart at figuring some big things out. as we face our problems on earth, we do have the capability of understanding big things and maybe that is something we can take in our daily lives to help us understand how we solve smaller problems on earth. that's my philosophical note for the weekend. john: this has been fascinating. our master of the universe, miles o'brien. thank you. miles: it is a pleasure. ♪ john: finally tonight, our hidden histories series. we explore the legacy of the first indian-american astronaut,

who gave her life in the name of research, science, and exploration. >> dr. kalpana chawla, also a rookie mission specialist. john: in 1997, kalpana chawla realized her lifelong dream of traveling to space. she was the first american of indian descent to accomplish that feat. once, it seemed unimaginable. >> for me it was far-fetched to think i would get to fly on the space shuttle. i grew up in a very small town in india and forget about space, i didn't even know if my folks would let me go to engineering college. john: she did get a degree in india, and a phd from the university of colorado boulder. in 1994, she was one of 20 applicants accepted into nasa's astronaut program out of a pool of nearly 4000.

she was assigned to the shuttle columbia as a mission specialist and crime robotic arm operator. on her first mission, she used the arm to deploy a research satellite intended to study the sun, but it malfunctioned. her second vision, she oversaw the impact of low gravity. on the return to earth on february 1, 2003, just minutes before it was to land in florida, the columbia disintegrated, killing the entire crew. nasa suspended spaceflights for two years while it investigated the disaster, which was blamed on damage the shuttle suffered during liftoff. in india, shock and horror. many said tearful play oils -- tearful prayers in her hometown. >> and liftoff. john: in 2020, nasa launched a commercial spacecraft named

after the modest but determined woman who pursued her passion, inspired others and contributed to the cutting edge of science. ♪ and that is "pbs news weekend" for this sunday. i'm john yang. for all of my colleagues, thanks for joining us. happy mother's day. >> major funding for "pbs news weekend" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can find one the fits you. to learn me, visit consumercellular.tv. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions -- ♪

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.]

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