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Jag Bhalla's new book I'm Not Hanging Noodles on Your Ears provides a compendium of worldwide idioms. The title comes from a Russian expression meaning "I'm not pulling your leg," and though Bhalla hasn't found any Russians who know the source of this image, he says that's not unusual when it comes ...

Barbecue chef extraordinaire Adam Perry Lang teaches NPR's David Greene how to grill that ultimate burger. The recipe is complex, but Lang says barbecue novices need not be concerned. The trick, he says, is to get organized and be prepared.

Twenty one years ago, Morning Edition launched what has become an Independence Day tradition: hosts, reporters, newscasters and commentators reading the Declaration of Independence.

Dinosaur bones are pretty rare, but even more unusual is dinosaur skin. Paleontologists working in North Dakota have unearthed the remains of a hadrosaur with much of its fossilized skin still intact.

The Nigerian musician brings his mesmerizing beats and animated performers to Seattle for an exciting show of Nigerian juju music. The 70-minute set features Yoruban praises and proverbs, backed by an incredible percussion section.

NPR Music's Stephen Thompson takes a crack at crafting music reviews for Twitter, keeping them to 140 characters or less. Think you can do better? Listen to the music tracks he picked and give it your best shot. You can post them here, on NPR.org or on Twitter with the tag #140review so we can find ...

Photographer Ed Kashi has been all over the world, documenting some pretty tough pills to swallow. That's why his latest project is a real departure. In his book Three, photographs are presented as triptychs with no context, no captions.

Three new genetic studies are providing some tantalizing hints about what causes schizophrenia. The studies, published in the journal Nature, identify sections of our genetic code in which small changes can affect a person's risk for developing the disorder.

Thousands of helicopter-borne Marines launched a massive assault early Thursday in southern Afghanistan's Helmand River valley, the main source of the Taliban's cash crop, the poppies that produce heroin. The mission is the first major test of the Obama administration.

Got five minutes? Got a cell phone? Want to do good? The Extraordinaries can help. It's an iPhone app that delivers "microvolunteering" opportunities that can be done on-demand, using the phone itself.

Commentator Rob Kapilow explains how Copland's pure, American sound springs from two simple chords that open the ballet Appalachian Spring. Stacked upon each other, the chords reveal a sound like all of America, like the purest values, and like Shaker simplicity.

The pronouncement by DC Comics editor Matt Idleson was just eight words, but it will be inscribed forever in the annals of comic book history: "I never want to see Supergirl's panties again." No, really: As comics blogger Glen Weldon explains, this is kind of a big deal.

Zombies, long a horror-movie staple, are taking bigger bites out of pop culture, infecting books, banking, even our vocabulary. Beth Accomando surveys a genre trope that refuses to die.

A bruised teenage girl who is the only known survivor of a Yemeni jet crash clung to wreckage for more than 13 hours before rescuers found her floating in the Indian Ocean, a French official said today.

Roadside bombs are the greatest threat facing troops in Afghanistan. Metal detectors can find many of these bombs. But increasingly, insurgents are using homemade explosives that contain little metal. Now, U.S. Marines are training bomb-sniffing dogs to detect this type of explosive.

Yesterday they announced the winner of the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which honors the world's worst writing: David McKenzie of Federal Way, Washington. Read what he wrote and take our challenge - try to write something even worse than he submitted.

Republican Norm Coleman conceded to Democrat Al Franken in Minnesota's contested Senate race on Tuesday, ending a nearly eight-month recount and court fight over an election decided by only a few hundred votes.

The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled 5-0 that Al Franken, the Democrat, is the rightful winner of the protracted Senate race that was held last November.

Petina Gappah's richly observed stories in "An Elegy for Easterly" capture a world tourists could never hope to see - of people, rich and poor, living their lives in the surreal shadow of Zimbabwean President Mugabe's regime.

Join NPR Music for a live listening party and chat with Moby, beginning at 11:15 a.m. ET, today (June 30). Moby will take your questions and talk with All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen about his new album, which is streaming at NPR.org. Listen to the album now and prep your questions for today's...

A passenger jet from Yemen with 153 people on board crashed in the Indian Ocean early Tuesday as it tried to land during heavy wind on the island nation of Comoros, and search teams rescued a child from the sea, officials said.

Bjork's pick for music you must hear--Syrian techno star Omar Souleyman. According to Bjork, Souleyman is all about the party. He's not above using synths, electronics, drum machines and YouTube to make something vibrant for today. Hear his music and other Bjork favorites at NPR Music.

Persians are known for their poetry. So it is not surprising that following Iran's disputed elections, many Iranians have tweeted poetically. Meet 26-year-old Parham Baghestani, whose tweets range from the mundane to the spiritual.

Actor-comic Andy Richter has stepped into shoes once occupied by the recently departed Ed McMahon, taking on announcer duties on Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show. Richter joins Scott Simon to talk about what it's like to work on a much loved late-night show.

Bernard Madoff would be stripped of all his possessions under a $171 billion forfeiture order handed down only days before prosecutors seek to put the disgraced financier away in prison for the rest of his life.