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More than two million Muslims are making the hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. The trip is expected to be spiritually fulfilling, as well as hot, crowded, and exhausting. But some travelers make the four-day pilgrimage in high style. Guest host Celeste Headlee speaks with Jamal Elshayyal of Al Jazeera English about VIP hajj packages.

The National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest group representing American Indians and Alaska Natives, wraps up its annual convention Friday. The group tackled concerns over Voter ID laws and how to foster a responsible relationship with the government. Guest host Celeste Headlee talks with Jacqueline Pata, who heads the group.

BASE is an acronym for the objects the practitioners of the sport jump from: Buildings, Antenna, Span, Earth. Wingsuits are sometimes involved; parachutes, always. Avid BASE-jumper Luke Hively shares his experiences in the air and Science Friday investigates the physics and neuroscience of the sport.

The Science Friday Book Club meets this week to talk about our fall pick: "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" : Adventures of a Curious Character. Physicist Lawrence Krauss joins the club to discuss Feynman's contributions to physics and his unconventional life.

In the 1970s and '80s, Cables was the pianist of choice for saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Art Pepper; Pepper called him his favorite pianist. Critic Kevin Whitehead says Cables' new trio album, My Muse, is so unassumingly good, you could miss just how good it is.

From lasagna and chicken potpies to grilled cheese and mac n' cheese, American's favorite dishes are going mini — in a cupcake shape. Is this just an excuse to eat comfort food with our fingers, or does it speak more deeply about Americans' need to connect and control what we consume?

David Mitchell's exquisite novel Cloud Atlas has been adapted for the screen by the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer. The film is never dull, but critic David Edelstein found that unlike the book, the film fails in its attempt to tie six distinct stories together.

Over the past decades, officials have been quick to look for an al-Qaida link in terror attacks. But as Islamist groups spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, their relationships with — and differences from — al-Qaida are growing increasingly complex.

The "spaghetti maps" that forecast hurricane tracks, such as those being used to predict the track of Hurricane Sandy, have become increasingly accurate and sophisticated. That's in part because of the work performed by some of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

Barzun authored dozens of books and essays on everything from philosophy to music to baseball. He died Thursday, just one month shy of his 105th birthday. "I don't know anybody who had such a Renaissance mind," says his friend and colleague, Prof. Henry Graff.