Search results for

On her current tour, Madonna sings "Live to Tell" while hanging from a mirrored cross and wearing a crown of thorns. Prosecutors in Germany, where she performs this weekend, say the pose might break laws that prevent insulting religious beliefs. Donna Freitas, a professor of religion at St. Michael's College in Colchester, Vt., wonders if she is the only Christian on the planet who admires Madonna's pose.

The human brain definitely differs from the brains of our primate relatives. But how did we get such big brains? A paper in the journal Nature says part of the answer may lie in a snippet of DNA buried deep in the human genome.

Hezbollah operates as a state within a state, according to many observers of Lebanon. The Shiite group's influence is a vestige of Lebanon's long civil war, when the country had no central government.

Today's expensive gasoline is making people look for alternatives. That has opened doors of opportunity for entrepreneurs like Andrew Perlman, who is betting that the newest fuel will be made from one of humanity's oldest: coal.

Refugee camps in Sudan's Darfur region are underfunded and desperately in need of supplies. Carlos Veloso, The World Food Program's Emergency Coordinator for the region, talks with Renee Montagne about camp life.

Among the topics: Matt Holzmann's story of the day he finally got a new kidney; Neil Young's protest music; and the old-fashioned -- and highly successful -- Anniston Star newspaper of Anniston, Ala.

Robert Siegel talks with Tom Friedman, "Foreign Affairs" columnist for The New York Times and the author of the newly-revised bestseller, The World is Flat. Friedman will discuss his piece in this month's issue of Foreign Policy, "The First Law of Petropolitics." In the article, Friedman posits that democratic institutions generally suffer when the price of oil rises, leading to petrol-producing countries that are simultaneously rich and corrupt.

Elvia Bautista was devastated when her younger brother was killed in a gang shooting. Now, she believes in remembering all the victims of gang violence even when doing so may endanger her own safety.

Fred Allen, head of the selection committee for the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, talks with Renee Montagne about this year's inductees. Their inventions range from fiberglass and the birth-control pill to Gore-Tex and the Internet.

The investigation targets online platforms including video-streaming site Twitch, messaging platform Discord and the anonymous message board 4chan.