Undestroyed Earth Defies Oakland Ministry (Again)

The Oakland minister who predicted the end of the world would take place on Friday, Oct. 21, was confronted by the continuation of the world instead. It marks the second time this year that the ministry led by Harold Camping, 90, has settled on a doomsday date, only to have it tick by in quotidian [...]

Biggest Study Yet Finds No Cancer Risk From Cellphones

Danish epidemiologists have some real advantages. Citizens of the Scandinavian nation gets a unique ID number for life that can be used by researchers to pull together health records, including data from cancer registries, for just about anybody in the country. Combine that information with lists of all the people who’ve had personal cellphone accounts [...]

Don’t Count On Facebook Boosting Your Brainpower Just Yet

A lot of people seem to be running wild with the idea that there is a direct, positive link between Facebook and the brain’s grey matter. I want to believe a study that suggested Facebook can enhance the size of key parts of your brain. Really I do. But Facebook hasn’t been proved to build [...]

New Varieties Haven’t Taken The Nutrition Out Of Broccoli

Quick question: Are vegetables less nutritious than they used to be? You’re free to argue about this, because scientists haven’t managed to come up with a clear answer. There’s some new data out this week in the journal Crop Science, and at least for broccoli, the answer seems to be no. But keep reading, because [...]

Citing Frustration With Strategy, Bachmann’s Paid N.H. Staff Quits

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s paid New Hampshire staff quit Friday, according to a report by James Pindell, political director at WMUR-TV. It’s not that the staffers, a half dozen or so, had soured on the Minnesota congresswoman, Pindell told NPR, it’s that her campaign has pretty much ignored New Hampshire since her visit to the state [...]

Jimmy Fallon’s Giant List Of ‘Thank You Notes’

This interview was originally broadcast on May 23, 2011. Every single day of Jimmy Fallon’s life is like Thanksgiving. The comedian and host of Late Night tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that he is appreciative of the word moist — for being the “worst word ever.” He’s thankful, too, for taco shells that have survived [...]

Pop Culture Happy Hour: The Aging Of Admiration And A TV Pool Update

On this week’s Pop Culture Happy Hours, we start off with a discussion of the sometimes painful process of watching your admiration for a creative person age and change as you learn more about them — sometimes things you didn’t really want to know. Spurred by a discussion of a John Updike review that’s been [...]

Hamilton’s Lesson For Europe: Pay Your Debt

This weekend, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet in Brussels with other European Union leaders. Their goal: to settle on a plan to pay the debts of struggling member nations. Their meeting might go better if Alexander Hamilton’s ghost could get a seat at the table. Hamilton, one of the [...]

Chinese Toddler Dies, Days After Being Hit By Vans And Ignored By Witnesses

In China, an “outpouring of grief” is meeting the sad news that a toddler has died after being struck by two vans on a crowded street in the city of Foshan, according to state-run media. The story became a national — and then international — sensation after a security camera’s video revealed that more than [...]

Unemployment Report Shows Little Change In States

Unemployment rates across America didn’t change much in September, says the Labor Department. But among the mostly small shifts that occurred, 25 states reported decreases in their unemployment rate. Of the remaining states, 14 saw a higher jobless rate, and 11 remained the same. Looking at the national picture, Bloomberg reports, “Unemployment has exceeded 8 [...]