Neural Newscast

[00:00] Frederick Moore: From Neural Newscast, this is Deep Dive, exploring the moments that shape today.
[00:10] Claire Donovan: Welcome to Deep Dive from Neural Newscast. I am Claire Donovan.
[00:15] Frederick Moore: And I'm Frederick Moore. Today is March 18th, 2026, a date that reminds us of the terrifying power of nature and the incredible heights of human potential.
[00:27] Claire Donovan: That balance is never more evident than when we look at the events of 1925, Frederick.
[00:34] Claire Donovan: It was a day when the sky itself seemed to turn against the American Midwest in a way no one was prepared for.
[00:42] Frederick Moore: You are talking about the Tri-State Tornado, the deadliest single twister in United States history.
[00:49] Frederick Moore: It was a storm that moved with such speed and ferocity that it truly defied the meteorological understanding of the time.
[00:56] Claire Donovan: It really did.
[00:58] Claire Donovan: On this afternoon in 1925, an F-5 tornado touched down in Ellington, Missouri and didn't stop for three and a half hours.
[01:09] Claire Donovan: It traveled 219 miles across Missouri, Illinois, and into Indiana, leaving a path of total destruction.
[01:20] Frederick Moore: What is truly haunting, Claire, is the speed. Most tornadoes move at 20 to 40 miles per hour, but this one was clocked at over 70. People didn't even have time to seek shelter because it moved so much faster than anything they had ever experienced.
[01:36] Claire Donovan: Right. And the damage reflects that. 695 people lost their lives that day.
[01:43] Claire Donovan: Southern Illinois was hit the hardest, particularly the town of Murfreesboro, where over 230 people were killed in a matter of minutes.
[01:54] Frederick Moore: Entire towns were practically erased from the map.
[01:57] Frederick Moore: It devastated 164 square miles and left 13,000 people injured.
[02:04] Frederick Moore: The property damage reached $17 million, which was an astronomical sum in 1925.
[02:11] Claire Donovan: It changed the way we look at disaster response and meteorology forever.
[02:17] Claire Donovan: But even in the shadow of such a tragedy, Frederick, history shows us that life continues to find ways to thrive and create beauty through the arts.
[02:27] Frederick Moore: That is a perfect segue into the birthdays we are celebrating today.
[02:31] Frederick Moore: We have three pioneers of the stage and screen who all share a March 18th birthday, each
[02:37] Frederick Moore: breaking ground in their own unique way.
[02:40] Claire Donovan: Let's start with Queen Latifah, born in 1970.
[02:44] Claire Donovan: She is a powerhouse who really paved the way for women in hip-hop before becoming an Academy Award-nominated actress and a true mogul in the industry.
[02:55] Frederick Moore: Exactly. She was actually the first female hip-hop artist to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
[03:02] Frederick Moore: Her career has been a masterclass in versatility, moving from music to critically acclaimed films like Chicago.
[03:10] Claire Donovan: Then there is the legendary Charlie Pride, born in 1934.
[03:16] Claire Donovan: He was a trailblazer in a completely different genre, becoming one of the first African-American
[03:23] Claire Donovan: stars in country music during a very complicated era.
[03:28] Frederick Moore: Pride had such a smooth, distinctive voice.
[03:32] Frederick Moore: He is beloved for hits like Kiss an Angel Good Morning.
[03:36] Frederick Moore: He broke through massive cultural barriers in Nashville during a time when that was incredibly
[03:43] Frederick Moore: difficult to do, earning three Grammys along the way.
[03:48] Claire Donovan: And we can't forget Irene Kara, born in 1959.
[03:53] Claire Donovan: She provided the soundtrack for so much of the early 80s, both starring in the film fame
[04:00] Claire Donovan: and singing its iconic title song.
[04:03] Frederick Moore: Yeah, she also co-wrote Flash Dance, What a Feeling, which won an Academy Award.
[04:10] Frederick Moore: She had this incredible ability to capture the energy and ambition of that entire decade in her voice.
[04:17] Claire Donovan: It is fascinating how all three of these artists used their talent to break new ground.
[04:24] Claire Donovan: Whether it was Latifa in hip-hop, Pride in country, or Kara in pop and film, they were all firsts in their own right.
[04:35] Frederick Moore: No way is that a coincidence.
[04:39] Frederick Moore: That spirit of breaking boundaries actually extends beyond our atmosphere, Claire.
[04:45] Frederick Moore: On this same day, in 1965, the world watched as a man did something no human had ever done before.
[04:55] Claire Donovan: You are talking about the Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov.
[05:00] Claire Donovan: He became the first human to conduct a spacewalk,
[05:05] Claire Donovan: flowing in the open vacuum of space during the Voshood II mission.
[05:10] Frederick Moore: He was outside the spacecraft for just over 12 minutes,
[05:15] Frederick Moore: connected only by a 16-foot tether.
[05:19] Frederick Moore: It's hard to imagine the courage it took to step out of that airlock
[05:24] Frederick Moore: into the total silence of the cosmos.
[05:27] Claire Donovan: It was a pivotal moment in the space race.
[05:31] Claire Donovan: That 12-minute walk revolutionized human spaceflight,
[05:36] Claire Donovan: proving that humans could work outside their craft,
[05:39] Claire Donovan: which paved the way for everything from moon landings to the ISS.
[05:44] Frederick Moore: It was dangerous, too.
[05:46] Frederick Moore: Leonov's suit actually pressurized so much in the vacuum
[05:50] Frederick Moore: that he had to bleed off some of his oxygen just to fit back through the hatch.
[05:54] Frederick Moore: It was a close call, but a massive victory for exploration.
[05:59] Claire Donovan: From the terrifying wind speeds in the Midwest to the silence of orbit,
[06:04] Claire Donovan: March 18th is a day that captures the full spectrum of our history and our ambition.
[06:11] Frederick Moore: It really is, whether we are remembering the victims of the Tri-State tornado
[06:16] Frederick Moore: or celebrating the pioneers who changed our culture and our reach into the stars,
[06:22] Frederick Moore: There is always something deeper to discover.
[06:25] Claire Donovan: Thank you for joining us today.
[06:27] Claire Donovan: I'm Claire Donovan.
[06:29] Frederick Moore: And I'm Frederick Moore.
[06:31] Frederick Moore: DeepDive is AI-assisted, human-reviewed.
[06:35] Frederick Moore: Explore history every day on Neural Newscast.
[06:39] Frederick Moore: Discover more at deepdive.neuralnewscast.com.
[06:44] Frederick Moore: This has been DeepDive on Neural Newscast.
[06:47] Frederick Moore: Exploring the moments that shape today.