This summer of record-breaking heat followed a spring that brought some of the most extreme weather on record. In her book The Weather of the Future, climatologist Heidi Cullen writes, "It's time to face the fact that the weather isn't what it used to be."
Singer Blake Shelton scored his fourth consecutive No. 1 country hit with "Honey Bee," from his just-released album. Rock critic Ken Tucker says the album shows Shelton's playful, unpredictable side.
Nik Worth is a failed musician who painstakingly documents his life and non-existent career, leaving his sister to worry about practical things like paying his rent. Dana Spiotta's new novel investigates the long-term costs of an artist's passion.
New Orleans went decades without a homegrown label to document its riches. Rock critic Ed Ward says this explains why many 1950s New Orleans classics were released by Ace Records in Jackson, Miss.
The latest Marvel Comics superhero movie stars Chris Evans as the 98-pound weakling who transforms into Captain America. Critic David Edelstein says the film "has an easy, classical pace and a lot of good, old-fashioned craftsmanship."
A group called ALEC — the American Legislative Exchange Council — "is at the forefront of an effort to push business-friendly, conservative legislation at the state level," says reporter John Nichols. He discusses what recently leaked documents reveal about the organization.
Louisiana state Rep. Noble Ellington is the national chairman of ALEC, a membership-only group that brings together state legislators, interest groups and corporate representatives to draft model bills. He responds to a series of pieces about the organization recently published in The Nation.
Project Nim is the new documentary about a chimpanzee raised in a human household as part of an experiment to see if chimps could learn language. Director James Marsh and two of the people who cared for Nim talk with Terry Gross about the controversial study.
In December 2009, an al-Qaida mole believed to be a CIA informant detonated a suicide bomb inside a fortified military base in Pakistan, killing seven CIA employees. Reporter Joby Warrick writes about the man who pulled off the attack — and explains how he did it — in The Triple Agent.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the compromises we refuse to make say the most about our character. "Sometimes we stand on principle for the heady satisfaction of showing that we can't be pushed around," he says.
Welch and Rawlings perform an in-studio concert featuring several songs from The Harrow and the Harvest, and talk about many of the lyrics they've written over the years.
The Boy Who Lived takes his final bow, in what proves to be a majestic, engrossing, proper fantasy conclusion. Critic David Edelstein approves of the film's steady aura of doom and will be sad to see the now-grown boy wizard hang up his wand for good.
Constantly having access to our cellphones is changing the way we interact with the world, says technology writer Brian X. Chen. In a new book, he explains how being "always on" will affect law enforcement, the medical community and higher education.
Neuroscientist Dean Buonomano explains why our brains make mistakes when we try to remember long lists of information or add large numbers in our heads. Humans live "in a time and place we didn't evolve to live in," he says.
Dr. Jennifer White is a retired orthopedic surgeon diagnosed with dementia — who cannot remember whether or not she killed her friend. Alice LaPlante's debut novel is a fearless and compassionate investigation into the erosion of her main character's mind.
Sherwood Schwartz, who created the TV sitcoms Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch, died Tuesday in Los Angeles. He was 94. Fresh Air remembers the TV producer and writer with excerpts from a 1988 interview.
New York Times financial reporter Louise Story explains how guidelines issued by the Justice Department in 2008 have allowed prosecutors to take a softer approach to corporate crimes. To this day, no high-level executive has been charged in a case related to the 2008 financial crisis.
New seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Torchwood premiered over the weekend, and three other cable shows return to prime time starting Wednesday. Never mind that it's the height of summer — TV critic David Bianculli says this week will be a TV fan's Christmas.
The physician and anthropologist has spent 30 years treating patients in Haiti. In Haiti After The Earthquake, he details what it was like on the ground in the days after the 2010 quake — and why the country is still struggling to recover.
