Josh Leeman News Today

In this episode of Brains, Black Holes, and Beyond, Senna Aldoubosh and Noelle Kim sit down with Josh Leeman, a graduate student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department.

Disruption that began with the peaceful transfer of power. >> i, donald john trump do solemnly swear -- this american carnage stops right here and stops right now. >> reporter: donald trump became president of a deeply divided nation. a country that couldnt even agree on how many people were there that day. >> photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed to minimize the enormous support that gathered on the national mall. >> reporter: but our year of unrest is just getting ...

Baseball practice. >> steve scalise, congressman in leadership was among those who was shot. >> reporter: not a country music concert in las vegas. >> a storm of gunfire raining down upon an innocent crowd. >> reporter: not even a church in rural texas. >> it was rapid fire. boom, boom, boom, boom. >> reporter: but killing even more people than guns this year, americas opioid epidemic. >> he said you have a nickname for this street. >> morgue avenue. in 47 minutes there was already nine deaths o...

Vladimir putins outmaneuvering of the united states in the 2016 election leads us to the precarious state were now in. the former u.s. ambassador to nato warned in the article, quote, the russians are on to something, they will find a weakness and they will be back in 2018 and 2020 with a more sophisticated and targeted approach. joining us now to discuss this and the days other news, hans nicholls and former national security department reporter josh leeman. let me ask you first of all what you...

Defiant. >> there is blame on both sides. i have no doubt about it and you dont have any doubt about it, either. >> reporter: nature showed her ugly side this year. >> harveys eye cut through here. in august, hurricane harvey made landfall, drenching texas. >> we have nothing. nothing left. >> reporter: irma, jose and maria came next to make this one of the most intense hurricane seasons on the books. parts of puerto rico still without power. another storm named harvey erupted in october. >> sex...

>> as we enjoy spending time this christmas with our family and look forward to welcoming new members into it next year. >> reporter: william and kate will welcome baby number three in april and many may, wedding bells at windsor castle, where prince harry and meghan markel will tie the knot in front of a massive tv audience. after their first public holiday together, the british public approves. >> the me too movement shows no signs of slowing down in 2018. now as the sexual misconduct allegati...

Series. the stock market soared. >> we are watching the dow which just hit 23,000 for the first time. >> reporter: but the real bright spot came in total darkness. >> it didnt matter where you were. the reactions seemed universal. >> reporter: a rare total eclipse of the sun. >> it was the most spectacular thing ive seen in my life. >> reporter: giving all of us a reason to look up and hope for a better 2018. cynthia mcfadden, nbc news, new york. >> well be right back. (chris) the very first tim...

The vote and not go so far as to antagonize russia to where they did something that could show collusion with the russians even more. >> i think thats fair and i think you see this in some of the -- like the june "washington post" article from "the washington post," quoted dennis mcdonough talking about the tension, there was one official that said we kind of choked on this. all of this is retrospective, the president himself at the time, president obama was very forceful with president putin, t...

Becoming a preferred weapon, beginning in march on londons westminster bridge. >> the new calling card for a low tech terror strike. >> reporter: as the year went on, more deadly attacks in london, sweden, spain, and new york. >> this is a nbc news special report. >> reporter: in april, the u.s. responds to a different kind of terror, a chemical attack on civilians. >> u.s. military forces have just waged a launch of cruise missiles. >> reporter: while a political battle was heating up in washin...

>> i have to speak faster, because im a slow peeker. . >> no, no. >> do i need to use a british accent? >> if you start pausing between the answers, youre going to start getting the face. >> their friendship in full display, raising some speculation about whether the obamas will be on the guest list when prince harry gets married this spring. the two spent their first public holiday together with the whole family. >> reporter: its a royal first, meghan markle spending christmas with the queen, a...