Slate

Studio 360, the public-radio show and Slate podcast, shares an oral history of the Muppets. The piece covers the endearing appeal of these personality-packed foam and felt creations and how creator Jim Henson struggled to find the right setting for his cast of characters in the early years before Sesame Street and The Muppet Show made them famous. Did you know they actually had a brief stint on Saturday Night Live?

In the context of some recent reads on psychedelic drugs, Laura Miller looks at Michael Pollan’s new book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. In it, Pollan says that drugs such as psilocybin and LSD got a bad rap after some flawed scientific experimentation and images of burned-out, ’60s counter-culture hippies soured Americans on exploring the medical benefits these drugs might offer, suggesting that their mind-altering abilities might help free us from cognitive patterns that are holding us back.

Long before Donald Trump even ran for President, in 1989, he was the subject of a protest by AIDS activists. Steven Vider recalls ACT UP’s descent on Trump Tower to protest a lack of housing for homeless people with AIDS while Trump received tax breaks.

An unflinching look at the grueling, dangerous work of the poultry workers who process millions of turkeys ahead of Thanksgiving.

“Robert ‘Bob’ Timberg’s funeral was Sunday in Annapolis. He was 76 and the bravest man I knew.”

A fascinating discussion with Rukmini Callimachi, The New York Times reporter on the al Qaeda and ISIS beat. The interview reveals the very human aspects of a reporter who is dedicated to revealing the very human aspects of terrorists.

Twenty-five years after its premiere, the behind-the-scenes story of Tony Kushner’s landmark play.

Galen Baughman was an active spokesman for sex offender rights, and then he lost his credibility.

Two decades ago, the median age of NPR’s audience was 45. Today it’s 54. Will it find a way to reach new, younger audiences?

A battle over triplets raises thorny questions about the ethics of the surrogacy industry. Goldberg provides a narrative account of the California case, contextualized with a history of surrogacy’s legal battles.