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In a recent study, people were three times more likely to favor the last chocolate when they were told no more were coming. Researchers say this built-in bias for endings might also have implications in the world of online dating.

Conference championship Sunday is almost as big as the Super Bowl, but without all those distracting halftime wardrobe malfunctions. Host Scott Simon is joined by NPR's sports correspondent Tom Goldman to discuss the upcoming games.

Iowans are preparing to participate in the state's first-in-nation presidential contest. NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson joins Robert Siegel to talk about Tuesday's Iowa caucuses — how they work and what they might mean.

What are the best movies to watch during the holidays? Depends on whom you ask. Host Scott Simon talks with director Cameron Crowe, whose films include Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire and the just-released We Bought a Zoo, about some of his personal favorites.

With fondness and a Southern twang, Penelope Simmons remembers her mother, who was not one to hover. Your foot "could be hanging by a piece of skin," she says, "and Sug would go, 'Oh, baby, go get a Band-Aid. You'll be all right.' "

If a candidate has written a book — like Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann — the campaign trail presents many opportunities to promote it. These candidate books are a time-honored tradition: The all-time sales champ is Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope.

"Smoot" is one of 10,000 new words featured in the fifth edition of The American Heritage Dictionary, out this month. In an era when every definition is just a click away, why publish an enormous book of words? For the answer, host Audie Cornish turns to the dictionary's executive editor, Steve Kleinedler.

Every answer is the name of a world capital. You'll be given a four-letter word. The first two letters are the first two letters of the city's name, and the last two are the last two letters of the country's name. For example, if you were given "loin," the answer would be London, Great Britain.

Proposals to increase Medicare's eligibility age to 67 from 65 have been gaining traction in Congress, and there's little doubt that the shift in health insurance coverage would reduce federal spending. But some experts say the costs could shift to employers and state governments, and actually cause an increase in overall health spending.