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February 8, 2013 By the end of this month, the federal government is expected to file briefs in a pair of same-sex marriage cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. One case poses questions so difficult that the president himself is expected to make the final decision on what arguments the Justice Department will make.

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February 8, 2013 Producer and songwriter Jeff Bhasker has worked with Kanye West and Beyonce, and is up for four Grammy Awards, including producer of the year for his work on the album Some Nights by the band fun. Now, he says he's looking for a solo career.

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February 8, 2013 Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, a rap group out of Seattle, say they rose to the top without a label. That's not entirely true.

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February 8, 2013 The individual ingredients that make up Identity Thief could add up to a great movie. But the digital-age mistaken-identity comedy wastes a talented leading actress and a passable plot; it's a predictable trudge of a road movie.

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February 8, 2013 In the '40s and '50s, Cristobal Balenciaga was an international fashion star — but a lot has changed since then. Fashion writer Robin Givhan says today's fashion world demands that designers "have the personality of a celebrity." That may not have gone over well with the secretive Spaniard.

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February 8, 2013 Pants-wearing Parisian women are finally fashionably legal: the law restricting women to dresses and skirts has been lifted. While the principle is exciting, Parisian women have been wearing pants for decades.

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February 7, 2013 Director Jonathan Levine joins NPR's Audie Cornish to explore the ins and outs of young (zombie) love — the subject of his new romantic comedy, which topped the box office in its first week.

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February 7, 2013 Obtaining the materials to make weapons-grade uranium or separated plutonium is harder than making a nuclear weapon, experts say. That's why the U.S. is engaged in a global effort to try to keep the specialized products out of hands it deems dangerous, like Iran.

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February 7, 2013 As Fashion Week opens in New York on Thursday, all eyes will be on the Lincoln Center catwalk. But the real business of fashion will be happening a short distance away in the city's Garment District, the resource-rich laboratory that has launched the careers of countless designers.

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February 7, 2013 Hollywood blockbusters usually do well in China. But last year, Lost in Thailand, a scrappy, slapstick comedy that cost less than $5 million to make, raked in $200 million in just seven weeks. It's now the highest-grossing Chinese film ever. It begins a limited run in the U.S. on Friday.

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February 7, 2013 The State of the Union address has always been a tough act to follow, no matter who delivers the opposing party's response. Since the first response was televised in 1966, it has often seemed doomed to be ignored and forgotten.

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February 7, 2013 What killed the dinosaurs? It's history's ultimate murder mystery, and for decades the prime suspect has been a giant asteroid. New data suggest that it struck right before the extinction. But scientists say it still may not tell the full story of what happened to the dinosaurs.

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February 7, 2013 The administration's proposal calls for insurance companies to provide contraceptive and sterilization coverage, rather than hospitals, universities and charities affiliated with religious groups. The approach failed to satisfy leaders of the Catholic Church.

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