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With crowd-sourced funding through Kickstarter, a team of inventors are building a Solar Pocket Factory: a machine designed to print micro solar panels--like the ones used in phone chargers and garden lights. Co-inventor Shawn Frayne stopped by Flora Lichtman's backyard with a few pieces of the prototype to explain how the machine works.

Neither President Obama nor Republican challenger Mitt Romney has offered many specifics on how to fix the economy. But economists say that, based on what we do know, the candidates offer very different visions for spurring growth.

China is the one country that is looking to invest in Pakistan in a big way. But that has upset militant nationalists in southern Pakistan. They accuse China of trying to be a new colonial power. A recent bomb blast near the Chinese Consulate in Karachi underscores the rising tensions.

Yesterday, Disney announced that it was purchasing Lucasfilm for four billion dollars and would be putting out new Star Warsfilms. The good news is that we already know what some of the headlines of 2015 will look like.

The president has been relatively mum during the campaign about what he would do if given a second term. He outlined more specific ideas this week — but he hasn't explained how he would get those ideas through Congress.

California starts the ball rolling Wednesday on a controversial scheme to keep the planet from overheating: Businesses will have to get a permit if they emit greenhouse gases. And one California company is hoping to get in on the ground level, by turning trash into biomass energy.

This is a great music documentary that wasn't supposed to be about music. All too quickly, this chronicle of Mali's Festival in the Desert became a memento of vanished joy.

Mexico's Ali Gua Gua brilliantly fuses traditional cumbia with punk and hip-hop. She invited Alt.Latino and Fusion to her house for an intimate performance alongside Argentine rapper Miss Bolivia.

More and more home owners are refinancing, and a full quarter of homes sold last year went to investors instead of live-in homeowners. How long can this hot market last, and when it ends, are we looking at a minor chill, or a full-blown ice age?

Academic turned cultural critic Camille Paglia argues that the way poetry is taught often strips the art form of its power and context. Her book, Break, Blow, Burn, aims to teach readers how to reconnect with the power and pleasures of poetry.

There are 3 million children receiving special services for learning disabilities in American public schools. With a possible 10 to 15 percent of children have serious learning issues, pediatrician Mel Levine is challenging many assumptions about learning.

The Disney+ series WandaVisionaired its season finale this week; critic Eric Deggans calls it a comic nerd's dream that's also accessible to audiences who may not know all the Marvel comics lore.

Ken Lloyd, author of Jerks at Work: How to Deal with People Problems and Problem People, discusses what to do when your boss is a bully. It's an issue that's been in the news as a result of the John Bolton confirmation hearings.

President Biden is expected to add prominent tech critics to his administration. Some have advocated for breaking up major companies like Facebook.

The Bible has gotten a makeover: Two new editions target a young — even secular — audience. One is a slick, illustrated version of the New Testament; the other is an environmentally friendly edition that takes advantage of the popularity of the green movement.

When they're not lighthearted movie star cameos, the digital doppelgängers have scary disinformation potential. A deepfakes researcher hopes our wariness keeps up with the tech's quickening advances.

The Biden administration, signaling a tougher stance on Russia, announces new sanctions targeting seven senior Kremlin officials in response to the nerve agent attack on the Kremlin critic.

In essays, weekly poems, and books, the writer Calvin Trillin has turned a humorous eye on topics from the news, as well as his life, for the last forty years. Now a new book, Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin, collects that work.

Jess Walter's latest novel spans decades and traverses the Atlantic to create a kaleidoscopic collection of "beautiful ruins." Characters include a hotelier, a young script reader and real-life movie star Richard Burton. NPR's Maureen Corrigan says the book is a "literary miracle."

Over the past 30 years, the growing divide between rich and poor has become an American crisis, Timothy Noah writes in his latest book. The Great Divergence is part descriptive, laying out shifting economic trends, and part prescriptive, offering several solutions to help ease the crisis.