Airs Wednesday, May 22 at 2 p.m. "Barbershop: Made in the USA" is a program that explores the roots of a truly American art form--barbershop harmony.  While we've all heard barbershop quartets like the Buffalo Bills or seen the Dapper Dans at Disney World, few of us know how it came to be or what gives it such a special place in American music history and it was almost lost as an art form but is experiencing a resurgence.   A cappella music is sweeping college campuses now across the country and indeed across the world and barbershop is sort of the "martial arts" of a cappella music.  It's truly like nothing else---fun to hear and a lot of fun to sing. I'm a relative new comer to barbershop music having sung it for only about eight years now, but it has really provided me with an opportunity to perform for many people in many places and watch faces light up when you ring a chord the way no other music seems to touch people.  I hope you'll enjoy the show.

Airs Sunday, May 19 at 6 p.m.  Does the internet poison politics? It's been argued that the rise of 'personalization,' the use of algorithms to filter what you see online, and easy access to the like-minded, have served to reinforce our pre-conceptions. Is the information bubble a myth, or is it undermining civic discourse? Is the rise of social media really broadening our world views, or narrowing them? The debaters are Eli Pariser, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Evgeny Morozov, and Jacob Weisberg.

Tesla Motors, the American maker of luxury electric cars, has been riding a wave of good publicity.

Its Model S sedan (base priced at $62,400, after federal tax credits) was just named Motor Trend Car of the Year. Reviewers at Consumer Reports gave the lithium-ion battery powered vehicle a rave.

And the company, headed by billionaire innovator Elon Musk, 41, posted a profit for the first time in its 10-year history — powered in part by zero-emission environmental credits.

Airs Monday, May 20 at 11 a.m. This week on the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra conductor  Manfred Honeck is joined by violinist Nikolaij Znaider for a performance of the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius. Also on the program Steven Stucky’s Silent Spring and the Symphony No. 6, “Pathetique” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Red River Radio held an open house and cookout for our volunteers today with Buddy Flett and Tim Brogan providing the music. We had great turnout and good time just relaxing and sharing each others company. What a great group of people we have helping us. This slide show features some of the best photos taken by Kermit Poling. Thanks to all of you for making Red River Radio such a great station.

The opening sequence of J.J. Abram's new entry in the Star Trek universe has all the ingredients of the classic franchise.

There's Kirk and his crew bellowing on the bridge, everyone worrying about the prime directive and our favorite Vulcan trapped in a volcano.

OK, I'm in. I may not be a fanboy anymore, but I sure was in my youth, and having these guys in their youths again is just as cool at the outset as it was last time.

More than 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, and the National Institute on Aging estimates that that number is going to triple by 2050 — in part due to aging baby boomers.

The cost of coping with the disease — currently estimated at $215 billion — is projected to rise to half a trillion dollars by 2050. That amount will likely tax our overburdened health care system, the economy and the families of those affected.

Amy Goyer realized her 84-year-old father Robert's health was deteriorating one night while watching a movie with him.

On the eve of a re-vote, a prominent Pakistani politician was shot and killed on Saturday.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports that Zahra Shahid Hussain, who was the senior vice president of Pakistan's Movement for Justice (PTI), was shot in the head during "an attempted robbery incident."

Climate change is a stark reality in America's northernmost state. Nearly 90 percent of native Alaskan villages are on the coast, where dramatic erosion and floods have become a part of daily life.

Perched on the Ninglick River on the west coast of the state, the tiny town of Newtok may be the state's most vulnerable village. About 350 people live there, nearly all of them Yupik Eskimos. But the Ninglick is rapidly rising due to ice melt, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the highest point in the town — a school — could be underwater by 2017.

NPR's Susan Stamberg reads an excerpt of one of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. She reads Plum Baby by Carmiel Banasky of Portland, Ore. You can read the full story below and find other stories on our Three-Minute Fiction page or on Facebook.