Arts

Scary movies had another big year. A horror scholar shares her favorites

4:07pm October 31, 2023

NPR's Ailsa Chang talks with horror scholar and filmmaker Rebekah McKendry about her favorite horror movies of the year and the ideas that tie them together.

How lack of independent play is impacting children's mental health

4:07pm October 31, 2023

NPR's Juana Summers speaks with research professor Peter Gray about the connection between the decline of children's mental health and the decline of independent play.

Globally, women are cooking twice as many meals as men

4:07pm October 31, 2023

by Allison Aubrey

Women are cooking more than men in many countries. The gender gap narrowed in the pandemic years, but now it's widening again with women cooking nearly nine meals and men just four meals per week.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger on investigating Jan. 6 and being a 'Renegade' in the GOP

2:10pm October 31, 2023

by Terry Gross

The former Illinois congressman reflects on confronting the "fanaticism of the hardcore" of his own party. Kinzinger served on the House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.

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Priests, played by Max von Sydow and Jason Miller, try to help a possessed child in The Exorcist, from 1973.

A priest explains what 'The Exorcist' tells us about evil

11:50am October 31, 2023

by Neda Ulaby

After half a century, The Exorcist is still considered one of the scariest movies ever made. But one priest says it's a movie deeply concerned with faith, and responding to evil.

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In 'White Holes,' Carlo Rovelli takes readers beyond the black hole horizon

11:35am October 31, 2023

by Adam Frank

Physicist Carlo Rovelli is unique among modern scientists who write for popular audiences in his ability to capture the purest essence of his science with both precision and lyricism.

Children go trick-or-treating on Oct. 31, 2022, in Houston.

Why the urban legend of contaminated Halloween candy won't disappear

5:11am October 31, 2023

by Kaity Kline

There is no evidence of any deaths or injuries from contaminated Halloween candy. Why are people still afraid of it?

A car is open at a trunk-or-treat in 2014. The events allow children to collect candy from trunks of cars gathered in parking lots.

What to know about trunk-or-treating, a trick-or-treating alternative

5:01am October 31, 2023

by Ayana Archie

Trunk-or-treating has been popular among churches, where people gather in parking lots and decorate their car trunks. Here's a rundown of how it started and how to find one nearby.

Explore a twisted reflection of New York City in Alan Wake 2.

'Alan Wake 2' and the year's best horror games, reviewed

5:00am October 31, 2023

by James Perkins Mastromarino

New horror game Alan Wake 2 is at once scary, cerebral and silly. But it's just the latest prestigious horror title to release in 2023. We round up our favorites.

Left to right: Norm Sundholm, Lynn Easton, Dick Peterson, Mike Mitchell, and Barry Curtis of the touring version of the rock and roll band "The Kingsmen" perform onstage in 1964.

'Louie Louie': The story behind the song everyone knows but no one understands

5:00am October 31, 2023

by Deena Prichep

The Kingsmen's enduring recording of the song turns 60 this year, and remains a classic, in part because of its dramatic history.

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