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The NBA season opens Christmas Day, and every sports writer worth his tinseled tropes has made a reference to basketball fans being able to unwrap a slate of games under the tree. The theme for this year's season preview? The mythology of the Vainakh peoples of the North Caucasus. Seriously.

MacFarlane is best known for creating the animated TV shows Family Guy, American Dad! and The Cleveland Show. But he's also a singer whose new album features songs from the Great American Songbook.

Mariner 2's 1962 mission to Venus was the first time any spacecraft had gone to another planet. Before the mission, very little was known about the planets, and much of what was believed to be true turned out to be wrong.

A U.N. report says North Korea has more food than in previous years. But North Koreans who spoke to NPR say conditions are still dire. Food has become too expensive for many North Koreans, and people are dying of hunger, they say.

You may not know that the traffic signal, the firehouse pole, and instant coffee were all invented by people of color. The stories behind those inventions and many more are included in the new book, Mad Science. Editor Randy Alfred speaks with guest host Celeste Headlee.

The women of Hollywood took center stage at Sunday's Golden Globes. For more on who cleaned up and who might look to strike gold at the Oscars, host Michel Martin speaks with Sheila Marikar of ABC News.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, tapped by President Obama to serve as the next Secretary of Defense, is coming under fire from conservatives for his past positions on Israel, Iran and Iraq. Elliott Abrams is one of the critics. Abrams served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush and is now a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He speaks with Melissa Block about his concerns.

Diana Vreeland had a troubled childhood; her mother often told her she was ugly. But she later became editor-in-chief of American Vogue and one of the country's most revered fashion icons. Her life is captured in the new biography, Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland. Host Michel Martin talks with author Amanda Mackenzie Stuart.

If the government goes over the "fiscal cliff," millions of households could see tax increases because of an obscure part of the tax code, known as the alternative minimum tax. Host Michel Martin talks with NPR Business Editor Marilyn Geewax about exactly what could happen and who would be affected.

From the early '60s to late '80s, A&M was one of the most eclectic and powerful independent record labels in the world, putting out huge records by The Carpenters, Peter Frampton, The Police and Janet Jackson. This year marks the 50th anniversary of A&M's founding.