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Astrophysicist Adam Frank doesn't usually read self-help books, but something about Walker Percy's existential optimism in Lost In The Cosmos actually changed his outlook on life. Do you have a favorite self-help book? Tell us in the comments below.

The Consumer Price Index is one of the most familiar measures in economics and politics. Some in Washington want to change the way the index is calculated to better reflect consumers' shopping habits. While the proposed change is described as a technical fix, it could cut the federal deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade.

Weekend Edition host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Tom Goldman about the week in sports, from college football to marijuana and the NFL.

Robert Siegel reviews the top auto news of 2012 with Dan Neil, automotive columnist for The Wall Street Journal.

A private employment agency in Maine helps convicted felons find jobs as laborers. MaineWorks employees are much less likely to re-offend than other people with criminal records.

A federal judge will hear testimony Tuesday in a civil suit over who is to blame and who should be financially liable for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On Monday, the court in New Orleans heard more than eight hours of opening statements from lawyers for the government and several defendants.

Set in 1930s Berlin, Paris and Los Angeles, The Teleportation Accident is a sci-fi-noir-comedy mashup overstuffed with astute social observations, high-brow literary allusions and vivid prose. Critic Jennifer Reese finds this freewheeling farce both brilliant and exasperating.

With limited options, some Americans are willing to pay thousands of dollars for stem cell replacement therapy. But the Food and Drug Administration, as well as many scientists, have concerns about its safety and argue more research and oversight is needed.

In a business where effects-laden movies bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, many of the studios that create those effects are barely staying afloat.

On the last day of South by Southwest's Interactive conference, Youth Radio reporter Noah Nelson explores the growing base of independent game developers in Austin.

The word itself has been around for centuries, but only lately has it become an unpopular way to describe people who are old.

Fall is here and that's when automakers roll out their latest models — with new technologies, better fuel efficiency and other bells and whistles. Renee Montagne talks to automotive analyst Michelle Krebs, of Edmunds.com, about the new models.

Steve Inskeep talks to Beijing-based economist Patrick Chovanec about too many subsidies in China's solar energy industry. It is resulting in money-losing companies. One company, Suntech, could soon be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange because it is performing poorly.

Wal-Mart and American Express have teamed up to offer a new prepaid card. The two companies say it will act like a checking account, but without the many fees that frustrate customers. Audie Cornish talks with Stephanie Clifford, retail reporter for The New York Times.

For President Obama and Mitt Romney, voter reaction to their first debate may be less about what they say and more about how they say it (and how they look, sound and gesture). That's what experts in body language, fashion, even makeup said when asked for their unsolicited advice to the candidates.

When an aspiring writer agrees to look after his old friend's flat, enduring an absent homeowner's passive-aggressive notes isn't the worst that will happen. In his first novel, Care of Wooden Floors, Will Wiles follows a housesitting job gone terribly, terribly wrong.

In the closely watched Senate race in Virginia, Democrat and former Governor Tim Kaine holds an edge over Republican and former Governor George Allen. Kaine is a former Democratic National Committee chairman and Allen is a former senator who wants his seat back.

Nearly all economists in a recent poll believe growth is "likely to be negatively affected" by the automatic federal spending cuts set to go into effect starting Friday. The $85 billion in cuts could have wide-ranging impacts, from military spending to consumer confidence.

The actor, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in David O. Russell's film, talks about watching movies with his father as a kid in Philadelphia, his childhood fascination with soldiers and being up against Daniel Day Lewis for an Oscar.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southeast Washington state is set to lose $182 million due to federal budget cuts known as the sequester. The cuts come just after news that six tanks full of radioactive waste are leaking. Those tanks are filled with millions of gallons of the most toxic nuclear waste on Earth and are not far from the Northwest's iconic Columbia River.