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The pop star has a flair for the extravagant, to say the least, but his albumThe Diving Board is stripped down. He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the "Elton John excess," his fear of sex as a young man, and how Liberace's example encouraged John to make the piano a star instrument.

Psychologists have found a simple way to improve academic performance and even health. When people sit down and write about a negative experience and they revise their story to see it in a more positive way, it changes their behavior and helps them succeed.

Brazil is the world's third largest market for Facebook and the fifth largest for Twitter, and it has quickly become the largest market for Lulu, the controversial man-rating app for women. That has highlighted the country's race to pass legislation to keep up with a quickly changing society.

A baby born today in Ethiopia is three times less likely to die before age 5 than one born in 1990. This reduction in child mortality isn't due to expensive international aid but rather to an investment in bare-bones health clinics run by minimally trained community workers.

New York City's first new mayor in a dozen years was sworn in by former president Bill Clinton Wednesday. Bill de Blasio's term running the largest city in the U.S. will be markedly different than that of outgoing billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg — if he follows through on campaign promises. De Blasio's populist platform offered remedies for the city's growing economic inequality, but he'll need approval from state legislators in Albany if he's to implement some of the policies.

For the past eight years, jazz critic Francis Davis polls his fellow critics on the best jazz records of the year. He shares this year's top jazz picks.

As the new year begins, most economists' annual forecasts are brimming with good cheer. What's the data behind the optimism?

Their congregations might be diverse and transient, but sometimes airport chaplains are busier than TSA agents.

The Trillium Community Health Plan in Oregon gave 50 schools money to integrate the Good Behavior Game. It keeps kids plugged in and learning, and hopefully less likely later to pick up a dangerous habit like smoking.

In many prisons and jails across the U.S., a bland, brownish lump is served to inmates who misbehave. Law enforcement officials say it's not that bad, and it's a very effective deterrent. But the practice is starting to fade as more prisoners argue that the loaf is cruel and unusual punishment.