Ripped from the Headlines: August 2020: This Week In Culture: August 22–28, 2020

Nikola Tesla, the inventor and namesake of the electric car brand, is the subject of a new biopic released on demand. Ethan Hawke plays Tesla, a contemporary and employee of Thomas Edison who was essential to the development of alternating current, which allowed the transmission of power over long distances and is now the household standard. The movie includes a number of unusual devices for a period film, including scenes of Tesla and other characters in modern situations like a karaoke bar.

Scientists trying to understand how ice is shifting and changing on Antarctica are using tiny creatures to map its movements. Collembola are microscopic arthropods that live in the soil and can only populate ice-free land. By analyzing their DNA, researchers can see how long ago different groups became isolated from each other by changes in the ice pack.

Since the shooting of Jacob Blake by police, the Milwaukee Bucks have gone on strike. Now other NBA teams are debating wether to stop playing as well. Many NBA athletes have been outspoken in the wake of recent police shootings, and several have openly expressed reluctance to begin playing again in the absence of police accountability and reform. The Raptors and Celtics are scheduled to begin their second-round series, but it's unclear which players will participate.

Justin Townes Earle, the singer-songwriter son of Steve Earle, died at 38. He began playing in his father's band, the Dukes, at the age of 12, and released nine records under his own name between 2007 and 2019. In He won two Americana Music Awards, in 2009 for emerging artist of the year and in 2011 Harlem River Blues won song of the year. He had struggled for years with addiction.

Trevor Noah brought The Daily Show back very soon after lockdown. Initially he sat at a table wearing smart casual clothes, but after the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests he switched to doing it from his couch, wearing a hoodie and often unshaven, his face much closer to the camera. He says the intimacy that results from this approach helps to connect with his audience, and the show has transformed into more of an interview show with fewer produced segments.

Despite the pandemic, there's still a lot of new television dropping this fall as shows finish postproduction and a few even begin filming again. This list of recommendations includes fifteen shows that premiere in September and October. One of them is Woke, a half-hour comedy out September 9 on Hulu. Naive is French, meaning "innocent," "inexperienced," or "gullible."

Lucas Giolito pitched a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He threw 101 pitches, striking out 13 batters. There was no crowd in the stands, but stadium staff turned up the crowd noise towards the end to cheer him on. Erik Gonzalez lined the very last pitch into right field, but Adam Engel grabbed it in a nail-biting catch to finish the game.

This year's hurricane season is halfway through the alphabetical list of names for storms with three months left to go before the official end on November 30. The last time meteorologists ran out of letters, forcing them to use the Greek alphabet for the remaining storms, was 2005, the year Katrina devastated New Orleans. In this interview, an expert explains how a warming climate contributes to more storms, and more powerful ones.

DC Comics and Warner Brothers teamed up to present DC FanDome, a one-day virtual convention for fans of the comics and movies featuring Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman, and the other denizens of that universe. Critics were impressed with the ways in which the producers kept the pace brisk and engaging,

The Joe Exotic story, made famous in Tiger King, is being made into a dramatic series for NBC. Kate McKinnon will play Carole Baskin, Joe's nemesis, and will also be an executive producer. As if that weren't enough feline royalty, CBS is reportedly developing another Joe Exotic series, this one with Nicholas Cage playing Joe.