Interviews

The Serial podcast is Sarah Koenig's reinvestigation of the murder of Hae Min Lee, a Maryland high school student who was strangled in 1999. Lee was found in Baltimore's Leakin Park. Her schoolmate and ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed was convicted of the murder a

Arts

Serial Host Sarah Koenig Says She Set Out To Report, Not Exonerate

6:32pm December 23, 2014

The podcast is a reinvestigation of the 1999 murder of Maryland high school student Hae Min Lee. Her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed is serving a life sentence but has always maintained his innocence.

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Timothy Spall says he had to use a lot of empathy to play a character like Mr. Turner, who wasn't always "very pleasant" and was a "man of massive contradictions."

Fresh Air Weekend: Timothy Spall, Review Of D'Angelo's 'Black Messiah,' John Cleese

11:30am December 20, 2014

Spall plays J.M.W. Turner in the new film Mr. Turner; Ken Tucker says Black Messiah is as adventurous as any fan could hope for; Cleese'smemoir, So, Anyway..., covers his boyhood and early career.

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Health & Safety

Countering The 8-Hour Sleep Schedule

6:05pm December 18, 2014

Many assume that sleeping 8 or 9 consecutive hours at night is instinctual. But in a recent essay in Aeon, Karen Emslie says that this sleep schedule is in fact distinctly modern.

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Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks with Doctors Without Borders staff during a visit in August to an Ebola treatment center in Monrovia, Liberia.

Endless Ebola Epidemic? That's The 'Risk We Face Now,' CDC Says

5:12pm December 15, 2014

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Dr. Thomas Frieden visits West Africa this week to assess the fight against Ebola. His goal? Figure out how to keep the disease from turning into a permanent problem.

Jacqueline Woodson has published 30 books, and won three Newbery honors and a Coretta Scott King Book Award for her young adult book Miracle's Boys.

Fresh Air Weekend: Chris Rock, Nunberg's Word Of The Year, Jacqueline Woodson

12:08pm December 13, 2014

Chris Rock talks about finding the line between funny and "too far"; Geoff Nunberg declares "God view" as the word of the year; National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson talks about her memoir.

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World News

Reporter In Kabul Wins Award For Courage In Journalism

1:35pm December 09, 2014

Rolling Stone's Matthieu Aikins reported on this year's opium harvest — the biggest in Afghanistan's history. He also talks about traveling with a rescue crew in Syria and a Shia militia in Iraq.

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Pumping Up A Star: The Leaky Suit That Blew Up A Career

5:36pm December 06, 2014

From the My Big Break archives: Designer June Ambrose talks about how her big break came when hip-hop artist Missy Elliott needed a signature look for her first big video, "The Rain."

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In Inherent Vice, Joaquin Phoenix (left) plays a burned-out hippie private eye, while Josh Brolin is a Los Angeles Police Department detective -- Lt. Detective "Bigfoot" Bjornsen -- who is investigating a murder and kidnapping case.

Fresh Air Weekend: Ray Davies, Books For Jazz Lovers And Josh Brolin

12:56pm December 06, 2014

Ray Davies discusses 50 years with The Kinks; jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews three jazz books out this holiday season; Josh Brolin, who stars in Inherent Vice, still wonders if he's good enough.

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Taking Stock Of America's Toxic Sites And The Millions Living Near Them

11:12am December 04, 2014

A National Geographic article looks at toxic waste sites in the U.S. and the more than 49 million Americans who live near them. NPR's Eric Westervelt talks with writer Paul Voosen about his piece.

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Politics & Government

President Obama And The Courts: A Shift In Balance

1:53pm December 03, 2014

Journalist Jeffrey Toobin notes how Obama's appointees are a new mix of ethnic minorities, women and gay judges. But a couple of these courts are hearing suits that could undo some of Obama's actions.

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