Scott Simon

High school students in Moore, Okla., will graduate on schedule Saturday, 6 p.m. at the convention center. Even more than usual, high school graduates in Moore may feel that this is a week in which they have, as the phrase from Corinthians says it, "put away childish things."

A tornado ...

Chris Hadfield went from feeling truly sublime to faintly ridiculous this week.

He landed after spending 146 days in space, most as commander of the International Space Station. But, he says, as soon as his Soyuz plonked down on the soil of Kazakhstan, "I could feel the weight of my ...

Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads. They may not show up on X-rays, but they're there.

Like a lot of youngsters, I used to get my mother to turn her head so I could search through her hair for the eyeballs she claimed to have back there, ...

People in Boston can speak for themselves. And do. Loudly, bluntly and often with humor that bites.

It's a city that speaks with both its own broad, homebrew, local accent — although no one really pahks thea cah in Havahd Yahd — and dialects from around the world. It is ...

This week, the National Spelling Bee announced that spelling will no longer be enough.

Beginning this year, contestants in the early rounds will not only have to know how to spell, say, "flocculent," but also know whether it's:

A) an intestinal disorder among sheep

B) the stuffing inside a ...

You can call anyone but Einstein a genius and start an argument.

Well, maybe Einstein or Jonathan Winters. The comedian, who died Friday at the age of 87, was immediately hailed by Steve Martin, Robin Williams and others as a genius.

He made hit comedy albums, was a regular on ...

Roger Ebert was a critic, not a blowtorch. He could be sharp if he thought a movie insulted the audience, but had a champ's disdain for a cheap shot.

Many critics ridiculed the film Deep Throat when it came out in 1973. Who couldn't mock its absurdities? Roger just wrote, ...

Sometimes great change can be revealed in small gestures. This week Pope Francis knelt on the stone floor of a detention facility in Rome to wash and kiss the feet of 12 young inmates.

Other popes have carried out this rite on Holy Thursday. It is a ceremony to emulate ...