NPR Staff

Crossing over — musically and metaphysically — has of late consumed the mind of Steven Ellison. He says his new LP as Flying Lotus is "my opportunity to make a film" about the moment of death.

Actor Cary Elwes, best known for his dashing performance as the heroic farm boy Westley in The Princess Bride, has a new book out, full of memories from the cast of the cult classic.

Iran is in the middle of a tourism boom. American travel agencies say they are planning more trips to the Islamic Republic. Officials in Iran say they are issuing more tourism visas, and spending by foreign visitors is up.

Of course, that's not Iran's reputation. With neighbors Iraq, Afghanistan and ...

Where did Lear get the confidence to spend three years fighting to get All In The Family on air? His answer: "Can you say 'beats the **** out of me' on NPR?"

As a gay Christian, Mary Lambert says singing the hook on Macklemore's "Same Love" is the best introduction she could have hoped for. She speaks with NPR's Arun Rath about finding her own audience.

Esposito discusses her new album, Same Sex Symbol, and tells NPR's Arun Rath she feels concern for the people who heckle her about her sexuality: "I just wonder, what's up with your life? Are you OK?"

Pop star Pink is known for her tough-as-nails attitude, powerful voice, and infectious songs. But the woman born Alecia Moore has a soft side, and it can be heard in a new collaboration with City and Colour's Dallas Green.

Together, Green and Moore perform as You+Me. ...

Angaleena Presley really is a coal miner's daughter. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter, one-third of the trio Pistol Annies, drew from her own experience to write her new solo debut, American Middle Class. And that, she says, meant talking about hard times: drug addiction, alcohol, money problems, a dead high school football ...

Singer-songwriter Ásgeir shattered records in his native Iceland with his first album. This year he re-released it in English — but he says the originals have had an uncanny staying power.

On her way up, Adm. Michelle Howard found herself becoming a spokesperson for women in the military. Complaining to her mom, she got this reply: "As long as you stay in the Navy, this will not stop."

Anne Purfield and Michelle Dynes, epidemiologists at the CDC, recently spent several weeks in Sierra Leone. The Ebola epidemic, they explain, has taken a heavy toll on local health care workers.

Fifty years ago, a New York musician and his lawyer friend started a small record label that would become a global brand, taking salsa music from New York clubs to the rest of the world.

The United States has been a major military player in the Middle East for decades. Whether or not that is in the best interests of the U.S. and the world has been a source of controversy for just as long.

The focus of the debate today is the U.S. bombing ...

Last month, the U.S. promised to build treatment centers for health care workers and for the general public. Our photo gallery checks in on the progress thus far.

Steve Jobs was said to be a low-tech parent, and so are others in the tech industry. That means they're often putting strict limits on family use of the very gadgets and software they're developing.

To protest the shooting death of Ferguson, Mo., teenager Mike Brown, audience members at a St. Louis Symphony concert unfurled banners and stood to sing an old union song.

In his new book, The End of Greatness, historian Aaron David Miller argues that the nation might be better off without any more truly great presidents — or the national crises that produce them.

The singer and songwriter wrote "The Birds Of St. Marks" about the singer Nico in the '60s. In revisiting it, he remembers a particular New York scene — and a younger version of himself.

Marlon James' latest novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, is not brief, and it contains many more than seven deaths. It's a portrait of Jamaica in the '70s, when gang warfare and reggae reigned.

Dolphins are often considered the geniuses of the ocean. But some researchers have begun to challenge that notion, saying many mammals have similar skills and dolphins might not be that special.