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The elaborately tiled City Hall subway station in New York City — still extant but now closed to the public, alas — used the Guastavino touch to convince wary city dwellers to head underground for a train trip.

How One Family Built America's Public Palaces

The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., has a new exhibit about the soaring tile vaults built by a famous father-son team. The Guastavinos came to this country from Spain in the late 1800s, and left their mark on some of America's most important public spaces.

A woman in downtown Beijing walks past a building adorned with a patriotic mural by Chinese graffiti artists on April 22.

Chasing The Chinese Dream — If You Can Define It

Touted in the state-run media, "the Chinese dream" is Beijing's latest official slogan. The man who made the phrase famous says it means China becoming the world's No. 1 superpower. But as censors scrub unapproved versions of the concept from the Internet, people wonder: Just whose dream is it anyway?

A Peek At Basketball, How Head Trauma In The NFL

It's a role reversal in Los Angeles basketball: The Clippers are top dogs of the city. Meanwhile, the Lakers are trying to pick themselves back up after an abysmal start. They're hoping a new coach does the trick. Host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Tom Goldman about basketball and recent concussions in the NFL.

Chinese buyers are driving up the prices of racing pigeons to astronomical levels. One buyer paid $328,000 for a single bird earlier this year. Belgium, however, remains the center of pigeon-breeding. Here, Yi Minna, the chief operating officer at the Pipa pigeon auction house, is shown in Knesselare, Belgium, last year.

The Price Of A Swift Pigeon: Try $328,000

Growing Chinese wealth has driven up prices dramatically in a wide range of markets — including the market for racing pigeons. Chinese love the sport, and the wealthy have pushed up prices for the fastest birds to exorbitant levels.

<em>Earth's Skin </em>by El Anatsui, 2007.

Nigerian Bottle Cap Sculptor Taps Museum Staff's Inner Artists

El Anatsui's shimmering art is assembled by assistants who crush, crumple, twist and flatten bottle tops, then thread them together into metal sheets. The artist then gives museum staff license to bend, twist, drape and shape the sheets for display as they see fit.

Ruby and The Romantics' hit song "Our Day Will Come" wasn't necessarily political — but it resonated with listeners' feelings about the civil rights movement in 1963.

A Racial Divide, Diminished: What Was On The Radio In 1963

The pop charts were dominated by feel-good summer songs during the summer of '63. But there was an alternate reality on the R&B charts, and young white listeners were tuning in.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush had a tough week with his changing positions on the Iraq War and trying to explain whether he would have authorized it, knowing what we know now.

Politics Rewind: Between Iraq And A Hard Place

Jeb Bush's shifting positions on the Iraq War gave an opening to Republican rivals for the presidential nomination. And will Hillary Clinton answer questions directly on her trip to Iowa next week?

After Snowden, The NSA Faces Recruitment Challenge

To keep its code-breaking prowess, the National Security Agency must recruit scores of the brightest students in math and computer science each year. The Snowden revelations are hurting those efforts.

Afghan commandos move through a smokescreen during a training exercise at Camp Commando on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan.

With The U.S. In The Background, Afghan Commandos Step It Up

With fighting expected to pick up this spring, Afghanistan's security is heavily dependent on elite forces like the commandos. NPR's Tom Bowman profiles the top enlisted man.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a town hall at the University of South Carolina. Sanders promotes the idea of free college education for all.

Fact-Check: Bernie Sanders Promises Free College. Will It Work?

A top education analyst says the U.S. probably could get some more people through college by footing the bill, and it would probably pay for itself. But it isn't an open-and-shut case.

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