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A new project places little kayaks filled with aquatic plants under latrines in floating homes on Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake. So how do the toilets clean the wastewater?

This year saw musicians, athletes and actors launching their own lines of beer, wine and mescal. The list includes the boy band Hanson, which premiered an India pale ale called MMMHop.

All I want for Christmas is some toffee and navel oranges. Dry-aged steaks wouldn't be bad, either. NPR's science desk denizens share the mail-order foods they'd be happy to see land on the doorstep this week, from traditional to outrageous.

The funeral of former North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is expected to begin Tuesday night, East Coast time. NPR's Anthony Kuhn is watching events from South Korea, and speaks to host Robert Siegel from the capital, Seoul.

Can inspiration hit too close to home? Author Alex Gilvarry chronicles the challenges of trying to emulate famed writer Norman Mailer — while staying in Mailer's old house.

Lawmakers have spent much of this year struggling to reach a deal that could get budget deficits under control. But the problem has been developing for at least a decade. In 2000, there was a $200 billion surplus.

Even as Congress' deficit-reduction supercommittee ran into a dead end this week, the resulting mandatory spending cuts were immediately targeted by interest groups and sympathetic lawmakers. No interest group stands to lose more than the defense industry.

As the natural gas industry booms in Pennsylvania, drillers are encountering a hodgepodge of local rules on hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." State lawmakers are considering changes that would limit the way a local community regulates what happens in its own backyard.

President Obama used a recess appointment to name Richard Cordray head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Unlike similar appointments, the Senate hadn't technically recessed.

Why would a cat crave mushrooms? A scientist says it's the umami. Though cats can't taste sweetness like people can, they are aces at sniffing out the amino acids that signal protein-rich foods.