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When you hear the words bubonic plague, Black Death usually comes to mind. But the first plague pandemic happened 800 years earlier, when the Justinian plague wiped out nearly a quarter of the world's population. Scientists have decoded the bacteria responsible, which have roots in China.

The House on Wednesday approved a five-year compromise farm, signalling perhaps the final stretch for a two-year legislative battle. Because so much of the spending in the measure depends on enrollment in programs like food stamps, it's hard to know if it will save taxpayers money.

The former head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission continues to warn about the security of the nation's power grid. Last spring, shots fired at transformers in San Jose, Calif., and caused extensive damage.

Belgium already allows doctor-assisted death for adults, and a bill that looks set for approval this week would allow terminally ill kids under 18 to make the same choice. But some lawmakers and the Catholic Church are strongly opposed.

Four years after the controversial Supreme Court ruling, the meaning of campaign finance reform depends on whom you ask. But those advocating for stronger laws are organizing a long campaign of their own to reduce the political influence of big money.

The Returned posits a viral epidemic that, 20-odd years on, has proven treatable, allowing those who survive zombie attacks to remain human as long as they're on medication. But what to do when drug supplies run low — and "anti-returned" factions get nervous?

Zircon crystals found in sandstone on an Australian sheep ranch are so tiny that you'd need a magnifying glass to see them. But recent measurements confirm they offer our earliest glimpse of Earth.

Plans for man-made islands — designed by Rice University architecture students — have attracted the attention of one of the world's largest oil companies as a way to house way-offshore oil workers.

It won't be as powerful as the strike against SOPA and PIPA in 2012, when Wikipedia blocked its site, Google blacked out its logo and millions of people joined in. But "The Day We Fight Back" on Tuesday is intended to show lawmakers that there's ongoing public pressure to reform mass surveillance laws.

When the pint-sized actress and the tap-dancing legend performed their "stair dance" in The Little Colonel, it was considered the first interracial dance performance. NPR's Elizabeth Blair explores the offscreen friendship of "Little Miss Sunshine" and Bill Robinson — both icons in their fields.