Americans Say Security Checks Are A Bigger Health Concern Than Flights

If you’re heading for the airport humming I’ll Be Home For Christmas, all of us at Shots hope your trip goes without a hitch. With all the comings and goings of the holiday season on our minds, we recently asked Americans a few questions and air travel and health. And the latest NPR-Thomson Reuters Health [...]

David Sedaris Reads From His ‘Santaland Diaries’

You might not expect “Santa’s Helper” to be a career-altering gig, but for David Sedaris, it changed everything. The writer and humorist spent a season working at Macy’s as a department store elf. He described his short tenure as Crumpet the Elf in “The Santaland Diaries,” an essay that he read on Morning Edition in [...]

Myth Busting: The Truth About Animals And Tools

A wasp uses a pebble as a hammer. An octopus carries around a coconut shell to hide in. A shrike impales its prey on a sharp thorn. Those are just a few examples of animal tool use that appear in the new book Animal Tool Behavior by Robert W. Shumaker, Kristina R. Walkup and Benjamin [...]

Ten Years Of Hanging On As An Afghan Potter

After the fall of the Taliban, Abdul Wahkeel was the first potter to return to the Afghan village of Istalif. Istalif had been home to generations of potters who crafted teapots, dishes and pots that glow a jewel-like blue. But Wahkeel and other villagers left after the Taliban torched workshops, smashed pottery and — it [...]

With N. Korea In Flux, Neighbors Reassess Policies

The boundary between North and South Korea has been called the world’s most dangerous border. But on Thursday, the most dangerous thing about it appeared to be the biting cold and bone-chilling wind, with one Korean soldier jokingly describing the temperature as “hell.” At the Joint Security Area where the actual demarcation line is, half [...]

Ron Paul Has Support In Iowa, But Old Issues Linger

Texas Congressman Ron Paul is anything but an establishment GOP candidate. Yet, he is at the top of the polls in Iowa, largely because his message appeals to more than just the typical Republican Caucus-goer. That was made clear John McCarthy and Michelle Godez-Schilling, both of whom attended a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa. “I [...]

For Black Americans, A Longer Time Without Work

Although the U.S. gained more than 120,000 jobs last month, the numbers of the long-term unemployed barely shifted and the unemployment rates for African-Americans continued to go through the roof. A recent NPR and Kaiser Family foundation poll shows although the long-term unemployed face many of the same difficulties regardless of race, there are distinct [...]

Italians Are Mostly Window Shopping This Christmas

A tour of how Christmas shopping is going in Italy starts with Via Condotti — Rome’s premier shopping street. It features high-end stores like Prada, Gucci, Armani, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Valentino and Ferragamo. But salespeople are standing idly by the door. There’s a yawning emptiness in these shops. Two streets down, the only Christmas sound [...]

A Bowlful Of Memories About A Mama Named Sugar

Everybody loved Cora Lee Collins — known to all, including her children, as Sug. “Oh, I called her Mama, too, but I called her Sug,” her daughter, Penelope Simmons, tells her own daughter, Suzanne Wayne. “When she was a little kid, she would climb up on the kitchen table and eat sugar out of the [...]

Report: Cuts In Federal Funding Put Public Health Preparedness At Risk

Do you remember the E. coli outbreak that started in an Oregon strawberry patch this August? Probably not, because public health officials there pinpointed the farm responsible for the affected fruit with the first (and only reported) death, and confirmed the source of the bacteria less than two weeks later. Oregon’s State Public Health Officer [...]