We've all been there: You sit down for one episode of a reality TV show, and six hours later you're sitting guiltily on the couch, blinking the screen-induced crust off your eyeballs.
Okay. Maybe you haven't been there like our team has. But it's likely you have at least one guilty pleasure, whether it's playing video games, reading romance novels or getting swept into obscure corners of TikTok. It turns out that experiencing – and studying – pleasure is not as straightforward as it might seem. And yet, pleasure is quite literally key to the survival of humanity. So today on the show, we explore the pleasure cycle: What it is, where it lives in the brain and how to have a healthier relationship with the things that make us feel good.
Want more on the brain? Email us the neuroscience you want us to talk about at shortwave@npr.org! (Also please email us if you would like to gush about any of the books you've been loving — romantasy or otherwise!)
NPR's Books We Love is a roundup of favorite books of the year, sorted and tagged to help you find exactly what you're looking for. From the meet cutes to the happy endings and through all the ups and downs in between, we're recommending great books for people who love love and romance.
Iran launched an unprecedented barrage of over 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend. Israel and allies shot down nearly all of the weapons. Israel called for sanctions on Iran.
In the streaming era it can be hard to keep track of all the new docs and docuseries. We recommend checking out: What Jennifer Did, Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion and The Synanon Fix.
Eight people were shot including a young girl who was killed in what Chicago police believe was gang-related violence on the city's South Side on Saturday night.
Sirens sounded across Israel overnight as Israeli officials urged residents to take shelter. The attack follows a vow of retaliation from Iran after an earlier strike on an Iranian consulate in Syria.
Former President Donald Trump on Saturday lit into New York prosecutors and the criminal hush money case they brought against him during his last rally before his trial begins Monday.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the chamber will consider legislation to support Israel after Iran launched dozens of drones toward Israel late Saturday night.
The presumptive GOP nominee will stand trial Monday in the first criminal trial of a former president. At this point, Trump is used to trying to leverage his appearances as part of his campaign.
Once the toast of 1920s Paris, Tamara de Lempicka's story is now on Broadway. She was a modernist art deco artist who's better known in Europe than in the U.S.
NPR's Scott Simon talks with the Oscar-nominated actor about his new Apple TV+ series, Sugar. Like his character, Farrell says he used to play film clips in his head.
U.S. stamps are heading for their sixth price hike since 2021. In raw numbers, only four countries in a recent study of 31 developed nations had cheaper stamps than the U.S.
