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Entrepreneurs are eager to find substitutes for plastic that naturally degrade. One option is a "natural" plastic made by microbes and then eaten by them. But the process is still in the early days.

Giant gyres of plastic in the ocean grab headlines, but it's the tiny bits of plastic that scare scientists. And they've made their way everywhere, a new study finds — including in our seafood.

At least 16 people have been killed by Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit India's west coast in decades. Among those evacuated to higher ground were COVID-19 patients.

It's been a year since teachers were handed an unprecedented request: educate students in entirely new ways amid the backdrop of a pandemic. This week's story comes from a teacher in Nashville.

It's been four decades since the first U.S. AIDS cases were reported. Some people who experienced the early years of the crisis say the effects of denialism have carried into the COVID-19 pandemic.

English publisher and poet Sam Riviere's debut novel is a long monologue from a poet, disgraced for plagiarism, unburdening himself to a self-obsessed poetry magazine editor in a seedy hotel bar.

In 1989, five kids were falsely accused of the brutal rape of a Central Park jogger. Yusef Salaam writes about systemic racism — and how his family and faith got him through seven years in prison.

President Biden says he's open to diplomatic talks with North Korea. Former presidents have failed to make any significant progress toward North Korea giving up its nuclear weapons.

Lauren Beukes' new novel is set in a near future where a virus has killed off most of the men on Earth, and one woman is racing to free her young, immune son from the government and get him to safety.

A new study looks at the effects of government-funded preschool in Boston and finds big benefits for kids.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Ambassador Dennis Ross, an ex-Middle East envoy, about challenges the U.S. faces in taking a stand for or against the parties involved in the latest Israel-Hamas conflict.

Today's a day to pause, reflect and read up on the disease that remains a critical problem around the globe.

Sarah Moss's new novel takes place over a single, unrelentingly rainy day at a vacation site in Scotland, where families complain about each other and mounting dread builds to catastrophe at the end.

With their emphasis on interactive exhibits, children's museums must balance safety and survival in their decisions to reopen. Several have permanently closed since the onset of the pandemic.

Mary Harris found out she was pregnant the day before she had scheduled surgery for breast cancer. It turns out there is limited data on how chemotherapy during pregnancy affects a baby.

Medical schools say they are graduating more primary care doctors than ever, addressing a persistent shortage. But an analysis says they're overstating those numbers by about half.

NPR's Rachel Martin talks with Gayle Smith, the State Department's coordinator for global COVID-19 response, about the U.S. sending surplus vaccines abroad to nations in need.

He said he would prioritize pulling in more federal research money.

China is no longer taking the world's waste. The U.S. recycling industry is overwhelmed — it can't keep up with the plastic being churned out. This doesn't bode well for our plastic waste problem.

The U.S. Coast Guard has decided it no longer needs four of the nation's most picturesque lighthouses, and it's inviting certain types of organizations to take them over at no charge.

Last year, China drastically cut back its imports of plastic waste to recycle. Now the U.S. and other wealthy nations must figure out what to do with their discards.

Israeli warplanes carried out another round of airstrikes against Hamas targets in Gaza, leveling a six-story building, while militants fired dozens of rockets into Israel.

The president is facing calls from some in his party to exert more influence on Israel, but the former Mideast envoy says Hamas rocket fire is "what's guiding him probably more than anything else."

More than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the fight for equity in America's schools rages on.

Owner Cindy Berset believes the burger induces labor. Since creating it, 31 women have tried it and then gone into labor by the next day.