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Scott Simon speaks with author Dan Chaon about his new novel, "Sleepwalk," about an eccentric character who finds those indebted to a shadowy corporation.

The Digital Services Act, one half of an overhaul for the European Union's digital rulebook, helps cement Europe's reputation as the global leader in efforts to rein in the power of digital platforms.

New techniques are allowing companies to create big, brilliant white diamonds like the kind found in a traditional engagement ring. But the traditional diamond industry is fighting back with technology they say that can distinguish a man-made gem from the real thing.

During the pandemic scientists launched a vaccine in record-breaking time. Their successful use of mRNA technology could lead to progress in the decades-long effort for an HIV inoculation.

U.S. automakers are facing many challenges, including foreign competition. But it's not just from Japan and Europe. There's fierce competition coming from South Korea too. And it's being felt in unexpected places, such as Alabama, where a billion-dollar Hyundai plant recently opened. Tonya Ott of member station WBHM reports. This story is the third in a series on the U.S. auto industry.

A powerful Chicago alderman has proposed that the city become the first in the United States to ban the use of trans fats in restaurants. Trans fats are considered the most unhealthy of all cooking oils. Michele Norris gets the skinny on trans fats from Kim Severson, a New York Times reporter and author of The Trans Fats Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet.

A growing number of Americans are embracing ethanol and bio-diesel as possible alternatives to gasoline. But one Berkeley engineering professor is waging a campaign against what he considers a delusion about bio-fuels.

As the U.S. nears one million deaths from COVID-19, analysis finds nearly a third of those deaths could have been prevented — if people had been vaccinated.

After months of fighting and shelling, Ukraine has ended its combat mission in Mariupol, and its remaining soldiers have been evacuated to Russian-held territory.

The American Music Center has commissioned six composers to write original compositions for its phone system. The idea is to make sitting on hold a more stimulating experience, and create new venues for electroacoustic composers. Robert Siegel talks with Joanne Cossa, the executive director of the American Music Center.

Ed Gordon talks with jazz piano legend Herbie Hancock about his new CD Possibilities, which features collaborations with pop vocalists old and new.

This second of two reports explores the practice of American farmers using Brazilian soil. The land is a fraction of what it costs in the Midwest, labor is cheap, and the climate hospitable enough to grow crops 12 months a year. But U.S. farmers have other issues to deal with there.

Tens of thousands of cases of silicosis have been filed by a few doctors and lawyers across the nation. Defendants say these cases are being manufactured for money, that there is no medical basis for these lawsuits and that the entire process is a fraud. Recently, a federal judge agreed. Part two of Wade Goodwyn's report.

For more than 40 years, Tom Jones has been strutting his stuff across the stage. Now, at 68, he's got a new album called 24 Hours, his first U.S. studio disc in more than 15 years. It combines big-band sounds with catchy beats, occasionally suggestive lyrics and a booming voice.

With many hundreds of new recordings each year, jazz maintains a lot of biodiversity in its tiny ecosystem. Chances are, it's got something for everyone, but finding the right fit is like searching for an ant in the jungle; it's never an easy quest, but when it happens, you'll likely find an entire colony. Here are the 10 finest jazz records of 2009, as chosen by WBGO's Josh Jackson.

It's always a bad sign when the academy has to say it doesn't condone violence.

NPR's Danielle Kutrzleben speaks with T.J. Raphael and Amber Van Moessner, the team behind the podcast Biohacked: Family Secrets, which puts a spotlight on the donor conception industry.

Arooj Aftab has been nominated for two Grammys for her song "Mohabbat." But the singer and songwriter is wary of defining her work too precisely, or letting accolades tell the whole story.

If you are used to regular exercise and conditioning, the sudden shock of immobility or pain is both frustrating and depressing. Here are some things you can do to make your recovery easier.

The Sacklers, who own Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin, have maintained they did nothing wrong. People who lost loved ones and years of their lives to opioid addiction believe otherwise.