Daily Schedule

On today’s show: We’ll find out how scientists are making robots more human than ever and how these sophisticated machines could one day do our cooking and watch our kids! Then, two of the stars of “Measure for Measure” talk about this year’s Shakespeare in the Park productions. Also, Cory Arcangel discusses his new exhibition at the Whitney Museum. Plus, this week’s Please Explain is all about those pesky weeds—and why they keep cropping up in your garden.

One tidy mathematical formula may hold the key to how cities work. We take to the streets to test the numbers, & ask what really makes cities tick.

NPR’s Scott Simon reports on the world’s top news, features and entertainment to your Saturday morning. 

The NPR news quiz where the panelists are funny, the limericks are lyrical and you get to shout answers at your radio. Hosted by Peter Sagal.

This week, the News of the World scandal unfolded like a high-stakes political thriller — Kurt Andersen talks with a television executive about just how closely reality resembles fiction. The novelist Sapphire's new book picks up where Push (which became the movie Precious) left off: The Kid tells the story ...

Acclaimed musician and songwriter Chris Thile welcomes a wide range of well-known and up-and-coming talent to share the stage and create a beautiful listening experience on his variety show, Live from Here.

ThisAmericanLife: Themed, offbeat, (mostly) true stories that shed new light on the extraordinary side of everyday life. Host Ira Glass and a regular cast of personalities, including David Sedaris, Sarah Vowell and Mike Birbiglia, bring the best of nonfiction storytelling to the radio. 

Listen to new music from the West African country of Mali, a veritable hotbed of great voices and great instrumentalists.  For this New Sounds, we’ll hear both the latest from Bamako-born Oumou Sangare ("The Songbird of Wassoulou") - "Seya," and Vieux Farka Touré (son of Ali Farka Touré) - "Fondo," along with something from the kora master Toumani Diabate. Plus, Nigerian kora player and composer Tunde Jegede offers a gorgeous reading of minimalism with Malian Royal Court Music, and more.