The Best of NPR

Light-mapping technology is expediting the pace of archaeological discovery in the dense jungles of central Mexico. The latest find could offer clues about how humans advanced agriculturally.

You don't even have to own one. Research shows just 5 to 20 minutes interacting with other people's pooches can reduce stress hormones and increase well-being.

In a Jeopardy-style game at the annual Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas, hackers tried to get chatbots from OpenAI, Google and Meta to create misinformation and share harmful content.

Researchers are exploring the impact of interactions with strangers and casual acquaintances. Their findings shed light on how seemingly fleeting conversations affect your happiness and well-being.

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.

An estimated 4 million workers in the U.S. are struggling to work due to debilitating symptoms from long COVID. The government is urging employers to provide accommodations to keep them on the job.

Thinking about the next pandemic is job number one for many researchers around the world. Here's a look at the World Health Organization's current list of pathogens with pandemic potential.

Inflation has been pushing prices up all year, but economists and politicians don't agree on where it's coming from.

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.»

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.

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?

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.

«Greenpeace found that no plastic – not even soda bottles, one of the most prolific items thrown into recycling bins – meets the threshold to be called "recyclable"»

Research finds five to 10 minutes daily of a type of strength training for muscles used in breathing can help anyone reduce or prevent high blood pressure. The training can also help elite athletes.

Happiness can sometimes feel just out of reach. But having more fun? You've got this — and those giggles and playful moments can make a big difference to your health and well-being.

For months, Colleen Hoover and Emily Henry have occupied multiple spots on the New York Times paperback trade fiction bestsellers list. The success of these romance writers has been aided by Gen Z.

Quiet quitting is taking over TikTok as a new workplace trend popular with Gen Z. However, it may be a misnomer for setting healthy boundaries in the workplace.

«The term 'quiet quitting' is so offensive, because it suggests that people that do their work have somehow quit their job, framing workers as some sort of villain in an equation where they're doing exactly what they were told,»

World champion Magnus Carlsen abruptly resigned after making a single move in his highly anticipated rematch with Hans Niemann. Calls have increased for an investigation.