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A husband and wife from Cornell University have come up with a crafty way to illustrate high-level geometry concepts -- by manipulating yarn into models that help explain the curvature of spaces. The mathemeticians talk with NPR's Jacki Lyden about "hyperbolic crocheting."

Jazz historian Frank Driggs has amassed a collection of some 100,000 photographs and mementoes over the years. The materials, worth an estimated $1.5 million, trace jazz from its beginnings with 1920s road bands to meccas of bop such as Birdland in the 1950s.

In Jeff Guinn's 'The Sixteenth Minute: Life in the Aftermath of Fame,' Guinn and co-author Douglas Perry explore what happens when your 15 minutes are up.

Just in time for Mardi Gras, NPR's Cheryl Devall chats with New Orleans jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins about his latest CD Putumayo Presents: Kermit Ruffins, on which he pays homage to the legend he's most often compared to, Louis Armstrong.

Ancient traditions and beliefs of the peoples of Mesoamerica influence Symphony No. 7 - A Toltec Symphony, composed by Philip Glass as a commissioned tribute to Leonard Slatkin, musical director of the National Symphony Orchestra.

Massachusetts-born poet Robert Creeley died Wednesday in Odessa, Texas. Creeley is associated with a group of writers often referred to collectively as "The Black Mountain Poets." He authored 60 books of poetry and criticism.

Music journalist Ashley Kahn talks about Smokin' at the Half Note, a reissued CD that spotlights the music of famed jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery in his prime.

Led by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble is the musical face of Ma's Silk Road Project, an artistic, cultural and educational organization he founded in 1998 to "study the ebb and flow of ideas along" the ancient trade route.

Martin Scorsese's latest film, The Aviator, earned 11 Oscar nominations and may be his best chance yet to win for best director. Scorsese talks about shooting the flight scenes of his latest epic about another filmmaker, Howard Hughes.

Dave King's debut novel, The Ha-Ha, features a man who loses his ability to speak after suffering a head injury in Vietnam. The book takes a look at the world inside Howie. King says thoughts of his late brother, born profoundly autistic, sparked the story.