"I will be much happier doing this here where many kids see it every day than doing a wall in an area [that's] going to have a tourist guide," says one of the artists.

Last month, workers were getting longer hours and higher pay just as their commuting expenses were declining. Happy holidays!

Condom dispensers in San Francisco jails could be used as the model for the entire state.

After decades of research, Yale University is decommissioning a massive underground particle accelerator. Take a look at what it looks like inside:

Whatever the animal is, an environmental conservation group says that this is "yet another sign of the health of the river returning."

Not only is the weather severely dry, but the extreme heat has baked much of the moisture out of the soil.

Sony shrugged off North Korea's promise of "merciless counter-measures" until last week, when hackers hit the studio where it hurts.

A short time-lapse showcasing the many walkable areas of Denver.

D.C. doesn't have a "brewery" category of business license, so many breweries are listed and regulated as "delicatessens." That smells skunky to some D.C. beer aficionados.

"Teaching a dog to find an odor really isn't the hard part."

Tip: Watch in full screen mode.

"We are taking this seriously and apologize to anyone who was affected by the story," writes the magazine's managing editor.

The graph looks like a sideways horseshoe: High-wage and low-wage jobs saw pay gains, while jobs in the middle saw wages stagnate or decline.

Do you know where your Red Cross donations really went?

Do you drive an electric car? NPR wants to know how you charge at home and how difficult or easy it was to set up. Send an email to nprcrowdsource@npr.org, with the subject line "electric car," to describe your EV charging method -- please include your city and state.

For practically our whole history of cooking and eating, plants provide our spices and most of our flavors. Now, labs are taking a stab at it.

Set phasers to "WHOA!"

OkCupid's chief technology officer says users have been asking for more options for years.

SPECTRE, as James Bond fans will know, stands for Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

They might play traditional Spanish-style classical guitars, but they're not your standard guitar ensemble.

A few years ago, NPR's Linda Holmes summed up the types of commenters you encounter on best-of lists. Can you think of any archetypes we should add for 2014?

Some immigrants, low-income adults and others are falling through the gaps.

All you have to do is check the box: Google says we prove our humanity through the way we move the mouse in the moments before the click.

Shakespeare's starlings, Native American gourd-carving and a society of strangely enthusiastic landlords: it's all part of the puzzle of a half-million missing birds.

And so begins the year-end best-of extravaganza from NPR Music.

Plenty of people see no benefit to hosting the world's biggest athletic event in their city. Boston critics may need to resort to a ballot measure to stop a push for the 2024 games.

Detractors say "Food Babe" exploits scientific ignorance and spreads unfounded anxiety.

In the Dallas school district, students come from nearly 150 different countries. Meet one of them.

An uptick in unaffordability and foreclosures landed Ada County, Idaho on a list of U.S. counties being closely watched for an emerging home price bubble.

The world's fastest supercomputer, explained in 78 seconds.

We may be in for a nasty flu season.

The search for the massive star explosions called supernovae is about to get a big boost. Astronomers at Caltech are building a new camera that will let them survey the entire night sky in three nights.

The prosecutor did not ask for the release of full transcripts or exhibits -- instead he sought, and received, a limited release of information.

Thought to be the largest homeless encampment in the U.S., the 75-acre camp was home to about 300 people.

The ballot's got everyone from ¡Aparato! to Zola Jesus -- and, of course, write-ins are welcome.

"By making a simple tongue click, I can actually see visual forms around me"

A crowd protesting police brutality has stopped traffic on Interstate 35W in Minneapolis.

Have you been working part-time for at least 6 months — but really want a full-time job and can’t find one? NPR’s John Ydstie wants to talk to you! Contact us Thursday at nprcrowdsource@npr.org with a phone number where we can reach you. Use the subject line “Part-time.”

The Department of Justice has found that the Cleveland Police Department has "engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force," including shooting guns in a "careless and dangerous manner."

Have you bought a smartphone using cash from SmartPay – a lease-to-own option from the company Better Finance (aka BillFloat)? If you have, NPR tech reporter Aarti Shahani would like to hear about your experience.

Please shoot us a message at nprcrowdsource@npr.org with your full name, location, contact information and a bit of background: when did you take out a SmartPay lease? How much money did you borrow? Did you have to give your bank account number? Were the terms of the contract clear? Did you pay back what you expected?

Thanks to social media, an Oregon couple has a snapshot of their engagement from a secluded trail in the Columbia River Gorge.

This display includes a banner with the words "Happy holidays from the Satanic Temple.”

Partial nudity, a nuclear accident and dozens of free-roaming buffalo. It's just another day at the Lego-ized CU-Boulder.

Yukiko Koyama, 35, is one of about 3,000 women in the Japanese government's Women's Forestry Program. It trains and certifies women to work in the logging industry and pays timber companies half the cost of employing women for up to three years.

Wilbur Sargunaraj eats and drinks his way through his father's home village in southern India. Bonus: He shares some recipes! http://n.pr/11WrM5C

A health care worker wheels a stack of freshly washed boots to an Ebola treatment unit in Monrovia, Liberia. ELWA3 is the largest Ebola hospital ever built, with 250 beds. It was full as recently as October. Now it is nearly empty. http://n.pr/12o1zfW

A gallery of some of the artists’ work from performances at popular stages in Philadelphia

We've been covering Eric Garner's story after a grand jury in Staten Island declined to indict the police officer involved his death. There is one clip of audio, however, that really sticks with us. It comes from NPR member station WNYC, and captures Garner's stepfather as he tries to calm a protester who pleads, "What's the future for me? ... For my son, for my child?"

Manfred Karg says he doesn't know how his eldest son, Alfons, became mixed up with radical Islamists.

Whatever happened, the German pensioner's 19-year-old son from Hamburg is now dead, one of at least 60 Germans killed fighting alongside ISIS militants, nine of them in suicide attacks, according to German authorities.

"I believe the president must come to Congress to begin a war and that Congress has a duty to act," Sen. Rand Paul said introducing his measure. "Right now, this war [against ISIS] is illegal until Congress acts pursuant to the Constitution and authorizes it."

R&B singer-songwriter Elle Varner flew out of the gate in 2011 with a feel-good, boom-bap-heavy tune about a man who had managed to snag her attention away from a particularly nice pair of shoes. But three years already feels like an eternity, and on her newer material Varner sounds far from satisfied by either a sweet talker or some new kicks.

Over a 10-year period, HIV has picked up mutations that make it slightly less virulent in parts of southern Africa, researchers report. That means it could take a little longer for some people to develop AIDS if they don't get HIV treatment.

But virologist Philip Goulder, who led the study, is quick to point out that HIV is still deadly and dangerous.

Apparently our primate ancestors were getting a buzzy kick from fermented fruit.

The big political donor who becomes an ambassador to a relatively small country is something of a Washington punch line and also a tradition. Presidents have done this for decades. But critics say the Obama administration has taken it too far.

"It raises the possibility that the development of human cognition — human culture — was a very long process. It was not a sudden development." — Alison Brooks, paleoanthropologist, George Washington University

A grand jury's decision in the Eric Garner case sparked anger, protests, and a Twitter conversation about the idea that the police treat people differently based on their race.

Seventy percent of women in a recent survey said smartphones were interfering in their romantic relationship.

Thanksgiving kicks off holiday party season, and at office holiday parties around the country, this means co-workers will make merry and mischief.