While it’s hard to explain to kids how babies come into the world, it might be harder to explain that people leave the world too — especially to a kid whose mom or dad or brother or sister has died. There are grief counseling centers all over the U.S. that cater specifically to children.

Reporter Joe Richman visits a program in Richmond, CA that is trying a controversial method of reducing gun violence in their city: paying criminals to not commit crimes. Sounds crazy, but the even crazier part is…it works.

Sara Corbett's father-in-law Dick is 81. And he's become obsessed with a limbo most of us hate – the music he hears whenever he's on hold. (14 minutes)Sara is co-author of the book A House in the Sky.The hold music, Opus No. 1, was composed by Tim Carleton and Darrick Deel.

Chana Joffe-Walt talks to Kiana, who went to a school that was overwhelmingly black and Latino, but when some white students showed up one day on an exchange program, she went up to them eagerly. And since then, has embarked on a one-woman school integration program.

We bring you this very matter-of-fact article from 1853, about something profoundly troubling: a slave auction in Virginia.

Ira speaks with Mike Pesca, host of the sports podcast Hang Up and Listen and Slate's daily podcast The Gist about the whole concept of the game face in sports. What is it exactly? And who might be the best examples of athletes with incredible game faces? Then Ira speaks with writer David Dupuis about the athlete who may have the game face-iest game face in sports history – hockey goalie Terry Sawchuk.

Ben tries the good guy discount, to see if he can pull it off, as Ira tags along.

FBI Director James Comey gave a speech this week calling for law enforcement to redouble itsefforts to serve the black community, and calling for a conversation about race in policing. Producer Robyn Semien has noticed that local big city police chiefs do not think race is a factorin the newsmaking incidents where white officers kill unarmed black men.

Someone has moved into Kirk Washington’s friend’s house—the guy from the first stop, whose friend died during Katrina. Her name is Sarah.

Reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones, who has investigated integration in schools for years, joins ChanaJoffe-Walt to interview the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. The Obama Administration saysit’s in favor of integrating the schools, but doesn’t seem to do so much to promote it.

A story about a substance we've played "not it" with for generations, and why maybe we shouldn't anymore. Producer Zoe Chace explains.

It's not just that deciding to change your life completely can be momentous. Telling people about the decision can be a big deal too.

Producer Zoe Chace gets into the room that Ira has been wondering about. Specifically, the headquarters of fast food chain Hardee's.

Recently, This American Life has been getting a lot of hate mail about the young women on our staff — listeners complain about their "vocal fry." Ira investigates the phenomenon.

Leo Hornak's story about Abdi continues. Abdi encounters one obstacle after another on the streets of Nairobi.

A teenager reports what it is like to be inside an abusive relationship with an older man. (29 minutes)This piece was created by WNYC’s Radio Rookies program.

Lulu tells the story of Daniel Kish, who’s blind, but can navigate the world by clicking with his tongue. This gives him so much information about what’s around him, he does all sorts of things most blind people don’t.

Nikole Hannah-Jones' story on the Normandy school district from the first part of the show continues.

Ira continues to explain how these canvassers learned how to change people’s minds, and talks about the mistakes they made along the way.

Adriana's story continues, as she ventures deep into a mysterious world of heroin addiction treatment centers where no one seems to be taking responsibility for the people they're treating. Adriana is the editor of the bilingual newspaper The Gate.

Fort Bragg Army base was suffering a number of unnecessary deaths — so they decided to attempt to save soldiers’ lives through the art of musical theater. Jack Hitt investigates, and tells the story of how this strange phenomenon began.

Larry speaks English. His dad speaks Chinese.