geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on the "newshour" tonight. israel and hamas extend the temporary ceasefire, and expand the prisoner exchange. we speak to a palestinian woman released by israel and an israeli man whose family was freed by hamas. >> we do value life and we do appreciate the return of our loved ones and there is no too big price to pay, we have to bring them back. geoff: vermont police arrest a suspect in a shooting of three college students of palestinian

descent being investigated as a hate crime. amna: and, tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines as congress returns with a full agenda. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma klorfine, and koo and patricia ewing. >> yes, i'm legally blind, and yes, i'm responsible for the user interface. data visualization. if i can see it and understand

it quickly, anyone can. it's exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. i think that's the most rewarding thing. people who know, know bdo. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. supporting institutions to promote a better world, at hewlett.org. >> 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. amna: welcome to the "newshour." it appears tonight that the lull in the israel-hamas war will last a little longer. the two sides agreed today to extend their cease-fire for two more days. geoff: the announcement came as the initial four-day pause was in its final hours. but, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said his policy has not changed. >> with regard to the hostages, we are continuing with the outline as agreed and we are also continuing with the main goal we said, to bring about the release of our hostages, to complete the elimination of hamas and, of course, also to ensure that this threat will not repeat itself in gaza. amna: in the meantime, hamas released 11 more hostages. almost all children, for 33 palestinians held by israel. it was the fourth exchange under the cease-fire.

the pause has also created a window for hundreds of trucks. loaded with fuel and humanitarian aid, to flow into gaza. today, the white house welcomed the prospect of additional days of calm. >> the approach that we're taking with israel and quite frankly with our partners in the region is working. it's getting aid into people that need it. it's getting a pause in the fighting, it's getting hostages out. it's getting americans out. and quite frankly, we continue to urge and will continue to urge the israelis as they conduct military operations to do so, with the utmost care for innocent civilian life. geoff: foreign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin joins us now. what were the sticking points in getting to this deal? nick: the core of the agreement is an extension of what we've already seen. 10 hostages were released for 30

detainees. israel allows a significant more amount of aid to reach gaza, including fuel. it has been difficult to get there. the united states originally wanted this first part of the deal, the four day pause, to have all 90 women and children released all at the same time, but what hamas told mediators in qatar and egypt is it could only find 50 of those 90 women and children. so it is not clear if the cease-fire has allowed hamas to find about 20 or so more women and children in the next two days, or if -- or if hamas has collected those women and children from other terrorist groups who were taken from israel on october 7. bottom line is that for israel, hamas has been able to pledge it can find these 20 extra hostages and today the white house welcomed the deal and said it wanted the troops to extend until all 90 women and children

could be released, all the hostages come up to 240, could be released, and those include two american women, a 70 year old and 49-year-old. geoff: and we know 11 more hostages were released today. what can you tell us, based on your reporting? nick: it is all focused on women and children, perhaps none more so obviously than today. of the 11, 9 were children, all of them kidnapped from the kibbutz where one out of four residents were either killed or captured. a family there, a 12-year-old, there is video of them being taken on the morning of october 7. the people taking him were not wearing the traditional hamas flag. that day their father was also

taken, you see him there and he is still a hostage. 33 euros sharon and her three-year-old twins, their father also remains a hostage. the others released today include the engle family, the father remains a hostage, and a 12-year-old was released by himself. his father also remains a hostage. for all of those children and women, they will all go into israeli hospitals for they will receive mental and physical care that they need. part of this is the ratio, for every israeli hostage release, you get 10 palestinians released. that has meant that we have been seeing every day, palestinian prisoners released from israeli detention. that was one of hamas' stated

aims, to force israel to release palestinian prisoners. it has been part of the palestinian national movement for decades. >> they arrived to an adoring crowd, buses full of freed palestinians. as soon as they set foot in ramallah, the west bank's largest city, they received a hero's welcome, surrounded by the flags of hamas. tearful family reunification's between emotional -- a mother and her teenage son she hasn't seen in months. inside, her extended family welcomed her back. she told us today her homecoming felt bittersweet. >> it's a mixed feeling between happiness and sadness because of all the people who have been killed in gaza. we've lost a lot of women, children, and innocent people in gaza. nick: years ago, a documentary

chronicled her dreams of joining the palestinian police force. these days her dream is instilled by her mother, to finish her education. >> i have a lot of dreams and ambitions it's -- my mom's dream was to go to college and study political science. nick: but right now, those are dreams deferred. in august 2022, she was arrested outside a checkpoint in the west bank. israel accuses you of trying to shoot is readily soldiers at a checkpoint. did you i denied this. they stopped me when i was with my friends, trying to visit one of my friends to congratulate her on her wedding. they brought us to the jail and accused us of trying to kill some israeli soldiers. she says actor -- after the october 7 terror attacks, condition since i got much worse. they treated us in a very bad way. they threatened us that they

would rape us. they prevented us from having food and water. after the seventh of october, we lost everything. they hit us, kicked us every day for 49 days. israel denies mistreating prisoners. it wasn't the first time she or her family members were arrested. she was detained in september 2017 for scuffling with prison guards to protect her brother, who himself has been arrested. her mother served eight years in prison for helping an israeli suicide bomber. was she guilty of that crime i do not find my mom guilty because she resists any occupier of our stolen lands. we have the right to defend ourselves and get our lands back, and we deserve to be free. nick: she even praises the hamas october 7 terrorist attack that killed 1200 people in israel. >> at that moment, i expected

our lands will be claimed back, and god willing, we will return, because it is our land, our rights. >> for palestinians, prisoners are in issue that affect every family. they are seen as heroes because they have been able to withstand the process and the experience of being in israeli prison. these experiences are very harsh, their very lonely. there is no contact with the families most of the time. nick: israel currently holds more than 7000 palestinian prisoners. 2000 are being held without charges. of the 300 identified as possible releases, one third are under 18. >> most of the kids and women have not been charged and it not been tried. all of them would have gone through the israeli military

court system. nick: since october 7, israeli-palestinian clashes on the west bank have increased. human rights groups say some 3000 additional palestinians have been arrested. >> is also viewed as israel's way of having more bargaining chips in these negotiations. nick: now that the truce has been extended, those negotiations can continued. each day, hamas is committed to released 10 more hostages, and israel to release 30 more palestinian prisoners. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. amna: so far, about 70 hostages have been released by hamas over three days of a ceasefire and as many as people remain held in 175 gaza. we turn to someone with family members in both situations. dori roberts is the cousin of doron katz-asher, who was just freed by hamas, along with her two daughters, raz who is 4, and aviv is 2.

but dori's aunt, doron's mother, efrat katz, was killed by hamas en route to gaza. and efrat's partner, gadi moses, and another of dori's cousin, ravid katz, remain held hostage. she joins us now. let's just begin with what a bittersweet moment this must be for you and your family. how are they doing, what can you tell us? >> they are doing much better. they are surrounded by family and by loved ones. they are back at home, back in their home now after medical examinations, the doctor surrounding himself with mental health and social workers and course family. they are back home and doing well after being held by hamas. they are finally home and they are safe and we are trying to

provide them that safety and hugging, loving family care that they will need from now and for quite a while until they are fully recovered. amna: could they share anything about their time in cap -- captivity, where they fed and how they were treated? >> we're getting more detail about their time held us captive, where food was very minimal, pretty much tin cans and canned food, wherever they could, some beans and chickpeas, dried pitas and water. maybe an hour max of daylight, and they had some medication provided to them, but not something you can really exist, and nutrition based on that. so we are providing to -- trying to provide them all that back now, especially the kids, a lot

of those crucial nutrients and food that they need just to grow and be healthy, normal kids. we are so happy they are finally home. being down there under the tunnels, it's very dark, and there were groups of about five or six groups in one cell with heavy guards, so that is very intimidating for two years old to five years old. their mother took it on herself to keep them safe and keep them protected as much as she could. amna: we are so sorry for your loss, i can imagine what these children have seen. at the same time, i have to ask, one of the stated goals of hamas on the day they attacked was to release palestinians who were held by israel, which is now happening as part of the hostage release deal. do you support that, especially

if it means more of your loved ones could come home? >> after so many days of ongoing more, i think that it was time to take the break and return those hostages back from hamas. to my view, all the palestinian people are evacuated from their homes, there was a release of food and fuel, clothing and electricity, and the prisoners held by israel were released back to the palestinian authorities, and we saw some unpleasant images from their of them going straight back to the hands of hamas and some even paying with their own lives, being accused as spies and whatnot. it is sad to see, but we do valued life and we do appreciate the return of our loved ones.

i think there is no big price to pay, we have to bring them back. amna: we thank you so much for joining us tonight. we are glad your family a somewhat reunited and we hope everyone else's home with you soon. thank you again. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, the pentagon said militants who seized an israeli-owned tanker over the weekend were likely somali pirates, not rebels from yemen. the rebels, backed by iran, have staged other attacks since the israel-hamas war erupted. in sunday's incident, a u.s. navy destroyer rescued the tanker in the gulf of aden. later, two ballistic missiles were fired into the area, from rebel-held areas in yemen. the ship was not hit, and the pirates were put under arrest. elon musk visited israel today and said he supports neutralizing hamas, and condemns

hate speech. the billionare has been accused of both endorsing anti-semitism and letting it go unchecked on his social media platform x. formerly known as twitter. today, he toured a kibbutz attacked by hamas on october 7th. he also met with hostage families and israeli president isaac herzog. >> you have a huge role to play. and i think we need to fight it together because under the platforms which you lead, unfortunately, there's a harboring of a lot of old hate, which is jew hate, which is antisemitism. amna: officials said musk also agreed that his starlink satellite network will be accessible in gaza only with israeli oversight. war-torn swaths of southern and central ukraine are struggling to deal with the fallout from a powerful black sea storm. on sunday, snow drifts up to six feet knocked out power to some 2,000 towns and shut down more than a dozen highways. today, rescuers were out moving thousands of stranded vehicles. others cleaned up trees blown

down by strong winds. the storm also battered southern russia. forecasters said it was one of the most powerful ever recorded in the region. in sierra leone, a curfew has eased a bit after authorities said they arrested leaders of an attack that killed 20 people on sunday. gunmen in the west african nation stormed the main military barracks and prison. but hours later, the country's president said calm had returned. >> in times like these, we are reminded of the importance of national unity. let us not succumb to fear or division. let us come together as one people, one nation. amna: nearly 2,000 prisoners escaped during the chaos. it followed the president's disputed re-election victory this past summer. back in this country, three days of memorial tributes began for the late first lady rosalynn carter. this afternoon, a hearse

carrying the casket arrived at the jimmy carter presidential library and museum in atlanta. mrs. carter is lying in repose there this evening. funerals are planned in atlanta on tuesday and in the carters' hometown of plains on wednesday. rosalynn carter died last week, at the age of 96. class was back in session at public schools in portland, oregon today as a teachers strike ended. school officials announced a tentative deal with the union late sunday. teachers had been on the picket line since november first over pay, class sizes and planning time. on wall street, stocks edged slightly lower to start the week. the dow jones industrial average 56 points. the nasdaq fell nearly 10 points. the s-and-p 500 was down 9. and, merriam-webster is keeping it real this year. the dictionary company says authentic is the word of the year. it's based on large numbers of searches for the term and its meaning.

runners-up influenced greatly by news events included deepfake, coronation and indict. still to come on the "newshour." tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. a new book details the u-s governments search for alien life. the shortest member of the marine corps reflects on the challenges and triumphs of his service. plus much more. >> this is a pbs newshour, from weta studios in washington, and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: the shooting of three college students this holiday weekend has added more fear and concern about a rise in bias, discrimination and violent attacks against arab americans and muslims in the u.s. william brangham has the story. william: 48-year-old jason eaton was arraigned today in connection with the student of three college students of

palestinian descent in burlington, vermont, over the weekend. he is charged with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree. authorities say he shot the men about saying a word, and while no motive has been determined, the shooting is being investigated as a possible hate crime. the uncle of one of the victims spoke today at a news conference. >> he grew up in the west bank, and we always thought that could be more of a risk in terms of his safety than sending him here , would be the right decision. i feel somehow betrayed in that decision here. william: families identified the other victims and relatives said the three were walking to dinner on a residential street when they were suddenly attacked. two of them were wearing the traditional palestinian

headdress, and they were reportedly speaking a mixture of english and arabic. a junior at brown university, a student in college, and another attends connecticut's trinity college. they were in vermont for thanksgiving, visiting one of their families. today attorney general merrick garland said that because of the israeli-hamas conflict, tensions here are high. >> all of us have seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against jewish, muslim, and arab communities across our country since october 7. there is understandable for fear in communities across the country. william: the shooting comes amid a documented rise in islamophobia. the council on islamic -- relations has received over 1200 request for help or reports of bias. a 216 percent surge from the same time laughter.

those incidents include at least one murder, two other attempted murders, and numerous violent threats involving guns being discharged or brandished. on october 15, a six-year-old chicago resident was killed, stabbed 26 times by his landlord. officials say he targeted the family because they were muslim. the alleged shooter in burlington pleaded not guilty today, and the three young men are being treated at a local hospital. while the motive for this attack is still unclear, some groups argue officials should clearly consider this a hate crime. national executive director of the american arab antidiscrimination committee has been in regular touch with the families of the the three students. could you first tell us how these three young men are doing? >> the young men right now are first of all relieved that the person responsible for their shooting has been apprehended and is in custody.

burlington is safer with him off the streets. one of them has recovered fully and should be released from the hospital spoon -- soon. two of them have some injuries, one of them some very serious injuries, that they have a long road of recovery ahead of them physically and emotionally as well. william: and how are the families doing? we heard one of the uncles describing how his nephew moving to the u.s. from the west bank was considered by the families to be a safe choice. how are they all processing this? >> this has come as a shock to the family members and the community. they had a difficult time initially being overseas, putting it together and flying over here. the students were at the grandmother's house of one of the victit is good that there we familiar faces there.

but it is difficult when they are thousands of miles away and your son get shot, it is a whirlwind of emotions to try to gather yourself. a lot of folks in the community have stepped up and are on their way here. william: as we reported, we still don't know what the motive is here, whether this was a random attack or whether they were specifically targeted because they are palestinian. the families put out a statement today saying they clearly believe this is a hate crime. i want to read an excerpt of this. they place the blame on u.s. media and even elected officials from the highest levels of the government, have repeated racist and dehumanizing language in recent weeks. this hateful rhetoric emboldens people to act with violence. i'm curious, do you share that same belief? >> absolutely. our belief is that the rhetoric against arabs, the

dehumanization of palestinians would eventually lead to these violent hate crimes we are seeing. that is exactly what happened. that's what happened in chicago where the six-year-old was stabbed. the rhetoric, the way we are being dehumanized and the way arabs and palestinians are being portrayed leads to these violent hate crimes. unfortunately, this may not be the last incident we hear of, unless there is an effort to change the rhetoric and the way they are being portrayed. william: what would you like to see local and national leaders do at this moment? you wrote on social media that you wanted college campuses in college leaders to make sure that arab and muslim students are safe on campuses. what would you like our leaders to do? >> the first thing they can do is recognize that the arab and palestinian community here are under attack and on the rise.

they can change the rhetoric and stop the attacks, the baseless attacks on the community long after allowing for the dog sing of arab students on your college campuses. all of this will lead down one road, and that will be violent hate crimes. we have to stop a lot of these things that are happening on college campuses and our elected leaders need to stand up and say enough is enough. we don't need to see any more of the targeting, we don't need to shut down arab and palestinian student groups. we can engage in civil debate, but we don't need to start vilifying individuals just to shut them down and keep them quiet. william: what is happening between israel and hamas is horrifying to watch, and there are groups on both sides supporting the israelis and

group supporting the palestinians here in the u.s.. they have the legal right to be processing. -- protesting. how do you council people how to express their first amendment rights, while also staying safe in the united states? >> both sides do have a first amendment right to protest, but only one side is under attack and having that right taken away. it should worry all americans. if you can start taking away the right of protest and assembly of individuals you disagree with, then we have nothing left when it comes to the first amendment on our campuses and elsewhere. so this is a critical moment in our country's history. this is bigger than a palestine protest, this is an attack on her fundamental freedoms in this country, and people need to start paying attention. william: thank you so much for being here. >> thank you, i appreciate it.

geoff: we're less than 50 days out from the republican iowa caucuses, and a couple of key endorsements are aimed at shifting the momentum in the gop primary race. if that is even possible. to help us make sense of it all, we're joined by our politics monday duo of amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. it's good to see you both. thanksgiving is behind us and we are back to work and so are the 2020 presidential candidates. we have talked about the ways in which ron desantis is sinking a ton of time and resources into iowa. he picked up that key endorsement from governor kim reynolds. he also got the backing of an influential evangelical leader. what difference do these endorsements make? >> is not clear that they will make a difference.

and one big question i have with evander plotz endorsement is, how significant are evangelical voters as a block? are they voting is a block or caucusing as a? ? block in iowa anymore is an influential figure still as influential as he used to be, if he is telling people not to vote for donald trump, who has significant support among evangelicals in iowa. there seems to be a real disconnect there. the reality is that, while he has had a decent record of picking iowa caucus leaders, he hasn't had a great record of picking nominees for president. so how far this takes desantis is just not clear. at this point it is really desantis and nikki haley battling it out for second place, and battling it out

pretty viciously, while former president trump is seemingly above the fray and doing quite well and basically every iowa poll that we see. >> the viciously attacking is an important point, because it feels like we just got back in the time machine to 2016 her all the candidates who were not named donald trump are fighting among themselves to get to be that one candidate to take on donald trump. the most recent ads if you are sitting in iowa right now watching television, the ads for the desantis super pac or attacking nikki haley, and her super pac is attacking desantis. and donald trump's super pac is talking about joe biden. i also think it is important to note that donald trump is taking iowa seriously.

he has been doing rallies there. it's a fascinating piece for donald trump is the anti-establishment establishment candidate, and he is basically the front runner because he is almost like the sitting incumbent and has the benefit of that, while at the same time, the regular establishment line up against him. geoff: looking beyond iowa, nikki haley in many ways has pushed past ron desantis. >> she has pushed past him with the establishment of republicans who are looking for a place to go that isn't donald trump. ron desantis came into the race with all this promise and everybody thought he would be great, and his super pac has spent a ton of money, and it hasn't gotten him anywhere. haley is writing off strong debate performances and also

harnessing momentum as you head into actual voting occurring. the theory of the case with haley's team is she is probably not going to win iowa, but come in second with a strong showing in new hampshire and make it to her home state of south carolina, and somehow they all had this idea that you can pierce the inevitability of trunk, and then the air will be out and they can really take him on. that is a great theory, but until it happens, it hasn't happened. geoff: let's talk about president biden and his handling of the israel-hamas war. he has had to navigate these complex political realities and is facing pressure from all sides. this headline from the washington post, biden's resistance to the cease-fire could alienate youth voters in 2024.

come to find out he was helping to craft a temporary cease-fire behind the scenes. >> the challenge and talking about how young voters see what is happening in israel and gaza and how older voters see it, for many older voters, this is a geopolitical issue. it has long been a human rights issue, and what separates -- we're hearing from posters saying we have never seen such a generational gap. technically as foreign policy for sending more aid to israel is 40 points more for 60 and older voters. if you are younger voter sees the issue of palestine and israel through a lens that looks very different than their parents and grandparents, namely one in which race and privilege

and access is the main focus, versus one that is really looking at this as what is the stability in the region, who is at fault, what does it mean for the rest of the world? even if he is able to have a cease-fire work for a certain amount of time, releasing some of these hostages, those are all things he can get credit for, but it is not changing the nature of the conversation about what it means to be palestinian. geoff: how does the white house see it? there is this notion that president biden feels he doesn't always get the credit for doing the work because he doesn't do thwork in a way that is ly, politically eatrical. >> this is the story of joe biden as seen by the white house. he very much does not make a public show of things until after it is done, neutrons to

claim credit, like with all of his economic accomplishments. that is just the story of joe biden. with this case, the people in the biden inner circle think it is a year out. these numbers are not good, but it is a year out, and a lot can change into your. this is unlikely to be the top headline and driving issue for voters a year from now. the reality is that most voters don't make decisions based on foreign policy. they pick the candidate they like and then sort of mailed their foreign-policy views to the candidate they have hooked themselves on to. the white house does realize they have a problem with young voters and it ties into what is happening with israel in gaza, but it goes well beyond that. they are working on it, and they know, they readily acknowledged

this will not be easy. running for reelection is hard. the sheer act of being president means you have committed policy that has turned off people who voted for you the first time around. >> it goes back to the generational issue. young voters biggest concern about biden has long been his age. this is just a representation of that. he is in the 65 plus category, not in the younger category, so his worldview as well as his ability to connect with these voters, that is a big challenge because of that generation. that's one thing may cannot change, is the president's age. geoff: thank you both. ♪ amna: since the 1940's,

unidentified flying objects, or ufo's, have been a part of our nation's cultural phenomena. but for the u.s. government, they've been a mystery and something the military has been investigating for decades. i recently sat down with author garrett graff to discuss his new book, called ufo: the inside story of the us government's search for alien life hereand out there. amna: garrett graff, welcome back to the newshour. garrett: thanks so much for having me. amna: so youave written incredible, deeply researched and reported books on watergate, an oral history of 911. why ufos? why did you turn your attention to this? garrett: so i came at this as a national security writer, as you know. and what changed for me, what got me interested in the subject was there was this sea change in recent years in washington around this topic that you started to hear serious people talking seriously about this subject. and for me, there was this one very specific moment in december 2020 where john brennan, who was

just wrapping up the better part of a decade, is the former cia director. white house homeland security adviser in the obama years, said, basically, like, there's stuff out there. we don't know what it is. it puzzles me. and the phenomenon may end up constituting some new form of life. and it was a really startling comment to me, and so for him to be leaving office saying i'm still don't know what this thing is felt to me like a topic that would be fun to dig into. amna: tell me more about that sea change, though, because you do trace in the book the 75 year history of related military programs. and there was for years a real lack of transparency. i think it's fair to say. you cite specifically, of course, the 1947 crash outside of roswell, new mexico. but what has happened over the years that's moved this conversation from the fringe to the mainstream? garrett: yeah. so in the book, i try to trace two threads that historians and journalists normally treat differently. there's the 75 year, 80 year

history of the military's attempt to solve the mystery of ufos here. and then there's the evolving science and astronomy of what's known as a search for extraterrestrial intelligence. seti out there in the rest of the universe. and both of sides of these conversations have really seen revolutions in the last decade where there was some blockbuster reporting here by the new york times and politico in 2017 that outlined the pentagon's study of what the government now calls up -- calls uap's, these unidentified, anomalous phenomenon. and then the other thing that's really changed in all of the science is our understanding of how big the universe actually is. and we now understand sort of just how many stars around the universe have planets and how many of those planets would be habitable by things that we recognize as life. and sort of as part of that,

we've seen the science really shift from the possibility that life exists to the probability that there's actually likely a lot of life and probably a lot of intelligent life out there across the universe. amna: you talked about this specifically. you said that the math is on the side of the aliens. what does that mean? garrett: yeah. so we now understand and this is a huge sea change that as late as the 1990s, we didn't know that there was a single planet outside of our own solar system. we now believe that almost every star, effectively every star has planets. and that is we understand the scale and the scope and the breadth of the universe. what that translates to is once you adjust for what they call the goldilocks zone sort of planets, that would be at the sort of temperature and ability to hold water and atmospheres of oxygen that we would recognize. there are potentially a sextillion habitable planets across the universe.

so that's 1,000,000,000 trillion habitable planets across the universe. amna: so, you know, all of this made me think about you probably know this very well, the pale blue dot photo. it's taken by nasa's voyager one back in 1990. the small dot. we're going to show folks here from a distance of some 4 billion miles from the sun. that dot is earth. you deal with facts and you deal with evidence. so are you convinced we're not alone? garrett: so i think that the math, it really strongly suggests we are not alone. the flip side of that is the math also says that the life and intelligent life out there is probably too far away for us to ever know. and that part of what's fun about diving into the ufo history of this, the, you know, the pop culture, the science of these siding -- sightings is

there's this wonderfully sort of human centric. the vision that aliens would care about us. that aliens would travel, you know, master interstellar intergalactic travel. come all the way here to make friends or in feed us or conquer us. whereas the statistically what's probably most likely is that there's intelligent life out there and it doesn't know about us. and even if it did, it wouldn't necessarily care at all. amna: i want to be as specific as we can about this, because you've studied this so in depth. when you say intelligent life out there. what does that mean to you? what does that even look like? garrett: i think we don't really know. and i think part of this journey and sort of coming to try to understand and write about the subject is you have to be really humble about what we know and what we don't know about just how weird the universe actually could be and just how new our knowledge and understanding of the universe probably actually is. amna: the author is garrett

graff. thanks for being here. >> my pleasure, thank you. ♪ geoff: we will be back shortly to hear from the man who is believed to be the shortest u.s. marine ever. amna: the first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. ♪ geoff: for those staying with us, a look at the intersection of arts and health. a music school known for training some of the world's most talented arists is bringing music into the lives of people with disabilities. earlier this year, jeffrey brown traveled to berklee institute

for accessible arts education. it's for our arts and culture series, canvas. jeffrey: 11 year old ashton kiprotich on the cello and the ukulele. ashton, i saw you play the cello and i saw you play the ukulele. which is your favorite? ashton: both of them. jeffrey: both of them? ashton: i would never say that i dislike them. jeffrey 24 year old shania ward : on the keytar, her mother donna gibbons-ward watching. every time i see you performing, you're smiling. you have a beautiful smile. >> thank you. jeffrey: why are you smiling so much? are you happy with the music? shania: yes, i'm happy with the music.

jeffrey why do you think music : became her thing? donna: i think it helped her to shania: helped me to learn. jeffrey part of the berklee : college of music in boston. founded in 2007, it started small with a focus on autism, but has expanded to serve more than 300 people of all ages wi disabilities of all kinds. >> every person can learn in the arts, can grow in the arts, can create, can in this case make music. so i think you have to start with that belief. jeffrey: rhoda bernard heads the institute, which she says is the only such program offered at a college or university. the goal: to develop and share new ways to reach and teach this community, while expanding the field of arts education. >> to make it more accessible means providing more entry

points providing students with , more ways to engage with material and more ways to show what they know and are able to do than just the conventional. jeffrey: the institute holds a wide variety of classes every saturday, including many ways to play together rock band, chorus, an i-pad ensemble, and more. there's also a two week summer camp. >> we're creating a place where they're accepted for who they are, where they belong. a place of 'yes'. these are folks who hear a lot of 'no'. this is a place where it's 'yes, you can. jeffrey: ashton kiprotich, diagnosed with autism when he was nearly two years old, didn't speak until he was 7. he still has difficulty processing thoughts into speech. but here, his mother kelly phillips says, teachers like

miles wilcox really get it, offering love and patience, as well as training in how to hold a bow. and music somehow brings out something different in her son. >> he still, he struggles with processing, auditory processing disorder. and so it's really, there's a lot of delay in getting answers from him. so we still see that. with music, i don't see that happen at all. it's just there. he is very spontaneous. he plays in different keys. he'll sit down and play something he's heard that he's never seen the music for. jeffrey: ashton, does music, is music easy for you? easier than other things? ashton: yes. jeffrey: why do you think? why can you play music so well? ashton: because i can. jeffrey: shania ward, diagnosed with mild intellectual delay, also takes full advantage here: singing in the rock band, taking

lessons with her teacher, nadia castagna morin. there's a lot of -- >> i wanted her to be around her peers and for her to be free, and for her to also gain -- she loves music, so being here, you are free. jeffrey: you mean free in a way she is not free in the rest of the world? >> society always judges us, looks down on other people, and other kids point fingers and laugh at you. that's what i mean by free, here you can be yourself and just express yourself however you want, and that makes her happy with the music, so she is happy. >> and here i definitely like to learn music.

jeffrey: shania is about to enter a specialized college program and wants to be music teacher herself. why is that important? >> because i want to help at -- be a teacher to help younger kids and older kids. jeffrey: a big part of the mission is training a new generation in accessibility practices. in addition to offering a masters program, she and her team run diff -- professional development training programs around the world, but it remains a work in progress. >> i think it has taken the education profession and particularly the arts education field a long time to understand the wide range of difference in how people learn, in what people bring into the classroom, and then because there are these established frameworks that don't allow for that, there is a

struggle. and we are in that struggle now, and it is moving. even in the 20 years or so that i've been doing this work, i've seen a lot of movement, and i'm really excited for what the next generation is going to bring. jeffrey:, for the pbs newshour, i'm in boston. ♪ amna: and now a profile of someone who didn't let height define him. at just over 4.5 feet tall, nathan is thought to be the shortest marine on record. he entered boot camp with something to prove. >> if you have a weakness and you know it is your weakness, i can pretty much promise you that by the end of the time in the

military, it will become one of your greatest strengths. >> the 19-year-old private first class just became a marine. he is believed to be the shortest person ever to serve in the u.s. armed forces. >> it kind of has always affected me, i was always the shortest guy. when i joined the marine corps, it was, he has something. >> the boot camp training regimen at paris island. he hiked for miles, carrying a 40 pound rucksack, and overcame huge obstacles. >> there's a lot of weight in our hikes, and sometimes they're moving at a faster pace. i don't want to go back and say, oh, it's because i have little legs, but it is a tad harder to keep up. but you just keep your head up, keep your legs moving one foot in front of the other.

honestly, i always felt that i had to do better than everyone else. everywhere i went, it was, where's the short one? we'd be running obstacle courses or on the range it would be look at what the little ones doing. usually it was a good thing because, i was really efficient with the obstacle course. >> laprade credits his success at boot camp to guidance from his instructors. nathaniel: the instructors would tell me either it's all in my head or just push a little harder and dig a little deeper. and sure enough, i just do what the instructors tell me to do, and i got through it. what i'll do is i'll pick a role model from them and i'll say, i want to be like that guy. and so when he tells me to do something, it's straight on the spot. >> his goal is to become a logistics specialist, which means he'd be part of the teams who manage and prepare equipment for deployment. but laprade has a longer-term plan. he wants to come back to parris island as a drill instructor to motivate other marines, following in the footsteps of the instructors who motivated him.

nathaniel: i've always liked teaching, i've always thought of myself good at teaching, because if i use what they've been using on us, i'll be able to become an even better teacher. >> a teacher to inspire and command respect just like he had. for the pbs newshour, im casey kuhn. geoff: that is the newshour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> architect. beekeeper, mentor. the raymondjames financial advisor taylor's advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> the kendeda fund committed to advancing restorative justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas.

more at kendeda fund.org. supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation committed to building more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound .org. and with the ongoing support of these 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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