The Best of NPR

The creator of the KonMari method says there are other things that spark joy besides a totally tidy home.

A new book draws from a broad range of research to explain the power of apologies, why we don't always get good ones, and the best way to tell someone you're sorry.

After months of COVID, flu and RSV infections, parents of little kids are kinda losing it. But the data shows kids have always brought home waves of respiratory illness.

I've become partial to Passion Planners, which contain calendars, reflection prompts and journal pages. It's got enough structure to get me in the right headspace, with blank space to make it my own.

Even guardians of America's atomic clocks say time doesn't work the way we think it does.

«It's my belief that the forward passage of time is mostly a human construct," he says. "From a physics sense, it doesn't have that much value."»

Call it "precision waking" — the alleged ability to decide when you want to wake up and then doing so, without an alarm. If you think you can do it, you're not alone, though how is still mysterious.

For decades birth control research focused on women. Now there's a new push to develop gels, pills or other products that could keep men from getting their partners pregnant.

Some companies and researchers think smart computers might eventually help with provider shortages in mental health, and some consumers are already turning to chatbots to build "emotional resilience."

Anger can be a powerful teacher — if we know how to use it. In this episode, Lama Rod Owens, a teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, explains how he learned to love his anger, and gives listeners a six-step…

«Anger is a complicated emotion that many of us try to suppress rather than examine — a desire often reinforced by societal narratives that dictate who is allowed to hold and process the sentiment.»

While many people believe that how we feel and express anger is hard-wired, some scientists suggest our experience and culture help shape it. One way to get a handle on it may be to personalize it.

The tepid results have prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to revise his office's estimates of how much money the state will net from its cannabis industry.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore, now has a master's program dedicated to the science and therapeutics of medical weed because of a growing number of students looking for expertise in the field.

Themes like everything is connected, nothing happens without a purpose, and nothing is what it seems are central to both yoga philosophy and conspiratorial thinking.

In the absence of information about why the Buffalo Bills player collapsed during a game, misleading claims about COVID vaccines quickly spread online.

We speak with the Nobel Prize-winning founder of behavioral economics about the new — and last — version of his classic book, Nudge.

Boy, have we talked a lot about inflation. It affected every part of our lives (and the economy) in 2022. Here are some of its highest highs and lowest lows. (It wasn't all bad news!)

In the Web3 vision of the internet's future, tech giants like Facebook and Google aren't as critical. The internet instead is a peer-to-peer experience built on what's known as the blockchain.

«"It's a promised future internet that fixes all the things people don't like about the current internet, even when it's contradictory."»

Viral conspiracy theories are dangerous, and maybe profitable.

Paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman says the concept of "getting exercise" is relatively new. His new book, Exercised, examines why we run, lift and walk for a workout, when our ancestors didn't.

A lot of us have been sitting too much, and it's hard on us mentally as well as physically. Research shows breaking up that couch or desk time with short stints of movement can help lift your mood.

«Don't blame yourself if you're struggling to get started.»

Brain scans show that when people listen to songs, an area in the left hemisphere decodes speech-like sounds while one on the right processes musical information.

There's Bandcamp, beloved by artists. There's Spotify, very well-liked by listeners. And then there's that big question mark. The artist Damon Krukowski takes a look.

At the top of the world, the Inuit culture has developed a sophisticated way to sculpt kids' behavior without yelling or scolding. Could discipline actually be playful?

Backlash against Disney Adults reveals a lot about the ever-morphing hierarchies of fandom within the cultural zeitgeist, and what's considered cool to obsess over and what's not.

Arts therapies appear to ease brain disorders from Parkinson's to PTSD. Now, artists and scientists have launched an effort to understand how these treatments change the brain.

The symptoms of Parkinson's disease can vanish briefly in the face of stress or a strong emotion. Now scientists are searching for a treatment based on this phenomenon, a form of the placebo effect.

«To Stauffer, this behavior is one more piece of evidence that people with Parkinson's still do have an intact movement circuit in the brain, a pathway that is only switched on in certain situations. "If you can somehow isolate the pathway that enables that and turn it on," Stauffer says, it might offer a new approach to treating Parkinson's.»

An NPR and PBS Frontline investigation reveals how the oil and gas industry used the promise of recycling to sell more plastic, even when they knew it would never work on a large scale.

A new report from Greenpeace found that people may be putting plastic into recycling bins — but almost none of it is actually being recycled. Meanwhile, plastic production is ramping up.

Improv comedy is about more than making people laugh. It can help performers be more creative and self-assured — and combat anxiety, both on and off stage.

«"Mistakes can really overwhelm us with a sense of shame and embarrassment," says Drinko. But if we embrace them and realize that everyone makes mistakes, we're less likely to dwell on them or let them trip us up.»

Being offended by something that someone did or said can be upsetting — but it doesn't have to eat away at us. Mental health experts share how to slow down and gain clarity when things get personal.

«stewed about the incident»

The fear of missing out isn't confined to our social lives; worrying about whether we're missing out on new experiences, content, trends and even investments can create an existential crisis.…

Constantly saying yes to everything and everyone drains us of time and energy. This episode helps explain the roots of people-pleasing behaviors and how you can say no more often.

«A hard no is clear, concise and brief — "No, thank you" or a "Thanks so much for asking. But I'm not able to this week." A soft no might be easier for a recovering people pleaser. That's when you give more of an explanation. For example: "Thank you so much for asking me to do this project. It sounds really exciting, but I don't have the bandwidth for it at this time." Simple.»

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