Christmas trees might seem timeless today, but American decorating habits have shifted dramatically over the decades. Long before tinsel, flocking or LED lights, winter greenery carried deep symbolic meaning.

Who is Santa Claus and what's his origin story? Why do we decorate a pine tree with lights? What is Yule and why does it have a log? When did gift-giving become a thing for Christmas? They're the questions you probably have or get from your kids every holiday season. Dr. Katherine Walker wants to make sure you're armed with the answers.

Of the many nightlife options on the Las Vegas Strip, The Pinky Ring is unique. It’s not a concert venue per se, but once you’re inside, it’s impossible not to gravitate toward the stage, which floats at the edge of a cozy, rotunda-like room. A six-piece band supplies a steady stream of funk and R&B hits from the 1980s and ’90s, and the warm, pulsating sound has the exhilarating effect of a tabernacle choir. Everyone wears the dazed, relieved look of someone who’s stumbled into a party they actually want to be at.

In a chamber beneath the Petit Ermitage Hotel in West Hollywood, 11 seekers gather around a seance table. Deliberately left without a medium to channel the dead, they’re sequestered with their imaginations, what the event organizer calls “the liminal space between belief and disbelief in the paranormal.”

Halloween brings out familiar symbols like witches, jack-o’-lanterns and black cats. But the season also beckons a more macabre figure lurking inside homes, classrooms and front lawns—the skeleton.

The Metal Gear video game series is known for its innovations in game design, as well as stories that confront heavy philosophical themes — like the relationship between people and technology.

In the 1980s, David Morris was really struggling. He was growing up in an affluent suburb of San Diego, and went to a high school with a social hierarchy that felt tough to navigate. His parents were divorced, and he felt himself going off the rails

In this episode, Rock & Roll Nightmares welcomes author and Professor of Literature Jarret Keene, whose work first caught Staci’s attention with the release of his novel, Hammer of the Dogs. Now, Jarret returns with his newly released short story collection, Gateways to Annihilation—a book packed with wild, rock and roll-infused tales that are as twisted as they are entertaining. Tune in as he discusses his latest work as well as his takes on the future of writing with AI, and the nurturing of creative talent in the face of governmental budget cuts to national arts programs.

Author and English professor Jarret Keene discusses how horror has become a genre defined by experimentation and the exploration of complex themes centered on culture and identity.

"...Reading obscure stories by long-ago authors is my best advice for helping writers stand out in a crowd. Sci-fi writers should read W.E.B. DuBois’ “The Comet” (1920). Horror scribes should check out Charles W. Chestnutt’s The Conjure Woman (1899). Fantasists should study Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman (1951). There’s energy to be mined there. That way you can blend inspiration from the past and the present to generate something new and enthralling...."

For mothers questioning whether or not to vaccinate their children, the decision can be complicated by an overwhelming and, at times, conflicting information environment. In this episode: Health communication researcher Melissa Carrion explores how an onslaught of messaging is informing how mothers decide to vaccinate their kids and how public health experts can better communicate on these key decisions.

President Trump has repeatedly shared an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's finger tattoos in an effort to link the Maryland man, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador on March 15, to the notorious MS-13 gang.