from NPR, October 31, 2013

No More Guns For Neighborhood Watch In Sanford, Fla.

It Just Isn't Halloween Without A Little 'Hocus Pocus'
Sometimes, kids' movies are more fun to watch as an adult. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Disney's Hocus Pocus boasts a heaping helping of adult humor and a bewitching Bette Midler in fake buck teeth.


For A New Kind Of Commute, Some Eye The Sky
If you commute to work, chances are you travel on roads or rails. Designers in Austin, Texas, wonder, "Why not up in the air?" In a nod to orangutans at the National Zoo who get around on wires 50 feet above the ground, the designers see the potential for aerial mass transit.


Burial Rights: Who Owns Dead Bodies, Anyway?
A question fit for Halloween: why has there been so much resistance to an Alabama man's efforts to bury his wife, at her request, in their front yard?


Violence, Chaos Let Polio Creep Back Into Syria And Horn Of Africa
The number of polio cases globally sank to an all-time low in 2012. But outbreaks in Syria and Somalia this year are jeopardizing efforts to eradicate the virus. A recent visit to the Somali-Ethiopian border highlights just how easily polio can regain a foothold in rural, insecure communities.


Soylent: An Offbeat Food Idea Investors Are Taking Seriously
Soylent inventor Rob Rhinehart has raised $1.5 million in seed funding for his powdered food alternative. He and his investors say there's a big market for his product: time- and cash-strapped people currently living on take-out.


The Long List Of Health Apps Features Few Clear Winners
Mobile health apps have gotten a lot of attention, but most are not being used. The top-selling apps are diet and fitness trackers. Most apps don't let people enter their own data, and very few are actually designed to help people manage an illness.


Putting On Einstein's Glasses

Whenever you look at the teeming, rich and oh-so-various world - if you have the right eyes, if you have the eyes of a mathematician - you will find patterns that are simple, elegant and hiding in everything you see. The patterns explain why sugar dissolves in a cup of coffee, why clouds release rain, why a heavy plane can climb into the sky.


How Much Water Actually Goes Into Making A Bottle Of Water?
The bottled water industry says it uses water far more efficiently than other beverages. But water activists say that few companies in the beverage industry are calculating their total water footprint.

Online Advice Can Hurt Teens At Risk For Suicide, Self-Harm
The Internet can offer support and encouragement to teens at risk. Public health authorities should enhance those resources while being on guard for negative information that can jeopardize the health of vulnerable young people.


At An Abandoned Philadelphia Prison, All Hell Breaks Loose
ICYMI: Eastern State Penitentiary is not only one of the nation's creepiest historical landmarks, it is also one of its top haunted attractions. This year's haunt stands apart because visitors can now choose how much terror they can take. "It could mean a small tap on the shoulder, or it could mean that you could be grabbed and pulled into a secret passageway and potentially separated from your group," says the show's creative director.


Astronaut Chris Hadfield Brings Lessons From Space Down To Earth
Former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield achieved Internet stardom with his in-space rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity." After three missions and a total of six months in space he shares what he's learned in a new book, 'An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth.'


(Don't) Pardon Me: One Man's Fight Against Distracted Walking
They're everywhere - smartphone users who wander the sidewalks, and sometimes into other people, tapping away at their cellphones. Is resistance futile?