Tina Brown's Must Reads: Women Vs. The World
The editor in chief of Newsweek and the Daily Beast joins NPR's Steve Inskeep to talk about women taking on big cultural challenges, and the stories of how they got there.
Arts & Life
Mining Books To Map Emotions Through A Century
Anthropologists find that the use of "emotional" words in all sorts of books has soared and dipped across the past century, roughly mirroring each era's social and economic upheavals. And psychologists say this new form of language analysis may offer a more objective view into our culture.
Justin Timberlake Returns To Music With Enthusiasm And 'Experience'
On his first album since 2006, The 20/20 Experience, Justin Timberlake explores his range, from soul-man groove to falsetto croon, taking inspiration from neo-soul and the expansiveness of '60s and '70s rock song formats.
Nora Ephron's 'Lucky Guy' And Tom Hanks Make Their Broadway Debuts
Lucky Guy is one of the spring theater season's most highly anticipated plays. It stars Hanks, in his first Broadway performance, as tabloid journalist Mike McAlary. Director George Wolfe calls Ephron's last play "a love poem to journalism."
In Digestion: Mary Roach Explains What Happens To The Food We Eat
With books like Stiff and Spook, Roach has built a reputation for making unpalatable subjects entertaining. In her new book, Gulp, she tackles the human digestive system, from the mouth on down. Along the way, she gets a sedation-free colonoscopy and goes on location for a fecal transplant.
Cristian Mungiu: Metaphor Or Not, 'Hills' Has Eyes For Romania's Past
Already the poster child for his country's so-called New Wave of filmmakers, the director takes another realistic dive into the post-Communist Eastern Bloc with Beyond the Hills. Though he hesitates to call it a straight metaphor, the symbolism of the film is uncanny.
A Fossilized Confection Baked For Easter 1807
A British couple believes they've come across a hot cross bun that was baked more than 200 years ago. Host Scott Simon explains.
Gripping Science Tales Need Not Be Science Fiction
When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.
Self-Taught Architect Behind Brooklyn's 'Broken Angel' Faces Eviction
Over the past three decades, artist and sculptor Arthur Wood has turned his four-story home into a towering cathedral built out of salvaged junk. But after a fire in 2006, the New York City Department of Buildings determined that the Clinton Hill landmark was no longer a safe place to live.
A Film So Sumptuous, 'Renoir' Himself Might Have Helped Out
The slow, silky pace of Gilles Bourdos' biopic Renoir might burden a lesser subject. But the beauty of the cinematography suggests the aesthetic of the Impressionist master, lending the whole film a surreally beautiful air. (Recommended)