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In 2008, NPR's Tom Cole was assigned to profile Elliott Carter for the composer's centennial. Cole was terrified. He needn't have been. To mark Carter's passing this past Monday at the age of 103, Cole has a remembrance of what it was like to meet the storied composer.

Four million people watched this video filmed beneath the surface of a frozen lake. What really happened on that cold day in Finland can now be revealed, although clever viewers may have already figured out the tricks.

The term "congressional gridlock" suggests that people in Congress at least run into each other. But I've begun to think a more critical problem might be that politicians of opposing parties are almost strangers to one another.

Stephen Spielberg's new movie Lincoln features the authentic sounds of 1865, from Lincoln's own pocket watch to the latch on the carriage door that carried him to Ford's Theatre. Sound designer Ben Burtt talks about making the objects of Lincoln's life heard.

The band's name has become shorthand for everything reviled about modern rock. But the band is among the most successful money-makers in the music industry — and they're laughing all the way to the bank.

Despite the danger, millions of people continue to text or email while driving. The desire to stay connected is often hard to resist, so here are a few tips to help keep your hands on the wheel.

A famous documentary maker has inspired more than a hundred young people to take part in an oral history project to collect peasants' stories of the Great Famine in the late 1950s and early 1960s. An estimated 36 million people died during the famine, which the Chinese government blamed on natural disasters.

As a stream of falsehoods and half-truths fell during the 2012 campaign, a swarm of fact checkers hustled to catch them. Fact checking hasn't stopped deception, but could it be more effective in interrupting politicians' narratives?

Among the difficult decisions facing President Obama in his second term is whether to give the go-ahead for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. Environmentalists want it blocked, while advocates of the project say it will create thousands of jobs and make the country more energy independent.

A second term means some new Cabinet appointments for President Obama, including at Treasury. After four pretty grueling years, Secretary Timothy Geithner has made it clear he will be leaving Washington, but who will replace him? Erskine Bowles and Jack Lew are two names that are mentioned.