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Why 'Black Friday' Has Dark Roots

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People waited in line to make purchases at a Macy's department store in New York during last year's "Black Friday" shopping weekend.

By editor

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:43 am

Black Friday may not yet be a bigger holiday than Thanksgiving, but it certainly has a bigger marketing budget. Retailers may have needed it to overcome the term's long and negative history.

7:03 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Jazz Vocalist Susie Arioli Goes 'All The Way'

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Susie Arioli's new album, All the Way, was released in June.

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By editor

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:54 am

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This interview was originally broadcast on Aug. 8, 2012.

6:54 am

Fri November 23, 2012

How To Oust A Congressman, SuperPAC-Style

Credit Jae C. Hong / AP

U.S. Rep. Joe Baca of California, shown at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, learned the power of superPACs firsthand this year, when he lost for the first time since he was elected in 1999.

By Peter Overby

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:53 am

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After spending millions of dollars in the presidential and Senate campaigns with little to show for it, many superPACs and other outside groups are still tending their wounds. But it's too soon to write off superPACs as a waste of wealthy donors' money.

Consider, for instance, this upset in a congressional race outside Los Angeles.

6:03 am

Fri November 23, 2012

The NPR Music Holiday Gift Wish List

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What do you want for the holidays?

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Credit Photo Illustration: Lars Gotrich/Photos: Pieter van Hattem, Sarah Barrick

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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 7:23 am

We at NPR Music spend most of our days listening to music, thinking about music, writing about it, arguing with each other over it, calling the people who made it to ask them about their work, enthusing over songs, griping about albums. Our thirst for the new and the intriguing and the great is insatiable. And every year at about this time try to we sum up a fruitful year of listening in our best-of-the-year bonanza.

5:56 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Cyprus, Turkey At Odds Over Natural Gas Drilling

By editor

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:53 am

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The tiny eastern Mediterranean country of Cyprus is expected to become the fifth eurozone nation to receive a bailout. But the island-nation, which is about half the size of Connecticut, could soon access a massive treasure under the sea: natural gas.

If all goes well, Cyprus could start making more than $25 billion a year — about the same as the country's current GDP — starting as early as 2015, says Solon Kassinis. Twenty years ago, few listened to the engineer when he said there was gas and oil under the seabed.

5:32 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Scientists Get A New Look At Einstein's Brain

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Credit Brain(2012)/National Museum of Health and Medicine

Pathologist Thomas Harvey took dozens of photos of Einstein's brain. This one shows that Einstein's prefrontal cortex (associated with higher cognition and memory) is unusually convoluted. On the right side of the brain there are four large ridges, where most people have only three.

Credit Published in Falk, Lepore, & Noe, Brain (2012) and reproduced here with permission from the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, MD.

A black and white photo of the front of Albert Einstein's brain from the right side taken by Thomas Harvey with a 35-mm camera in 1955. Harvey took dozens of photos, many from non-conventional angles.

Credit Published in Falk, Lepore, & Noe, Brain (2012) and reproduced here with permission from the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, MD.

A photo of Albert Einstein's brain from the left: anthropologist Dean Falk and her colleagues found that the parts of Einstein's brain associated with movement and sense in the face and tongue were larger on the left side compared to the right. Why? Falk's not sure.

Credit Published in Falk, Lepore, & Noe, Brain (2012) and reproduced here with permission from the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Silver Spring, MD.

Einstein's brain from the front: According to a new study, Einstein's pre-frontal cortex (connected to higher cognition and memory) is unusually convoluted. For example, on the right side of the brain he has four large ridges, where most people have only three.

Credit Keystone / Getty Images

Albert Einstein, seen playing the violin in the music room of the S.S. Belgenland, had knoblike structures on the part of the brain that controls motion of the right hand. Brain scans of modern musicians show similar structures.

Credit Miguel Medina / AFP/Getty Images

Thin slices of Einstein's brain were preserved on slides prepared by lab technician Marthe Keller in 1955.

By editor

Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 12:00 pm

Albert Einstein was a smart guy. Everybody knows that. But was there something about the structure of his brain that made it special?

Scientists have been trying to answer that question ever since his death. Previously unpublished photographs of Einstein's brain taken soon after he died were analyzed last week in the journal Brain. The images and the paper provide a more complete anatomical picture and may help shed light on his genius.

5:01 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Post Card Takes 69 Years To Reach Its Destination

By editor

Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 11:35 am

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Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. The postcard begins: Dear Pauline and Theresa, we arrived safe. But the news was out of date. Sent from Rockford, Illinois, the card took 69 years to reach Elmira, New York. Pauline and Theresa's parents went to visit brother George at a military camp. They're all dead now, but another family with two girls lives at the Elmira address, and the card has become a seventh grade history project. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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4:56 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Christmas Is About The Gold-Plated Christmas Tree

By editor

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:53 am

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

3:20 am

Fri November 23, 2012

Warrant Issued For Ivory Coast's Ex-First Lady

By Steve Inskeep

Originally published on Fri November 23, 2012 11:53 am

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The International Criminal Court has identified another defendant in its prosecution of violence in Ivory Coast. The former president is already awaiting trial in The Hague, accused of crimes against humanity for his effort to stay in power after losing an election. Now the court is calling his wife a co-perpetrator, and issued a warrant for the arrest of Simone Gbagbo. NPR's Africa correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton covered the conflict. She's on the line. Ofeibea, welcome back to the program.

2:35 am

Fri November 23, 2012

How Much Does Crowdfunding Cost Musicians?

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The Mallett Brothers Band is, from left to right, Brian Higgins, Wally Wenzel, Luke Mallett, Will Mallett, Nate Soule and Nick Leen.

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A House For Lions is, from left to right, Mike Nissen, Daniel Norman, Eric McCann and Joe Luisi.

By editor

Originally published on Mon November 26, 2012 9:42 am

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8:21 am

Fri November 23, 2012