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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, are you invited to any parties for Kwanzaa, which is going on now? If the answer is yes, you're not alone. If the answer is no, you're not alone, either. We'll ask just how widely observed is this inspired-by-Africa, made-in-America celebration.

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, all kinds of folks made their debut on Twitter this year, including His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. We decided we wanted to talk about the best and worst of 2012 on Twitter. That's coming up later in the program.

At No. 6, Wild traces author Cheryl Strayed's crisis after her mother's death and a bitter divorce.

In A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change, John Glassie writes of 17th-century Jesuit priest and scientist Athanasius Kircher, a renaissance man who studied magnetism, Mount Vesuvius, even the blood of plague victims. The only problem? His theories were often wrong.

Did you know that the human overbite may have evolved after people began using forks and knives? In Consider the Fork, author Bee Wilson traces how kitchen tools--from knives to pots to gas stoves--have changed over time, and how they have influenced what, and how, we eat.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

In time for New Year's Eve, Science Friday examines the chemical reactions that transpire in fluted glassware. Ira Flatow and Richard Zare, a chemist at Stanford University, pore over the science of bubbles — from how to keep that open champagne fizzy (forget the cork) to why beer tastes better from a glass rather than a bottle.

Move over, CSI and NCIS, there's a new game in town. Authors Eric and Natalie Yoder share some of their 'One Minute Mysteries' that can be solved with logic and knowledge of science — and without the aid of a magically fast DNA lab or improbable photo enhancement software.

What's the secret to making a fluffy omelet or the perfect pie dough? Jack Bishop, chef and editorial director at America's Test Kitchen, stops by to debunk cooking myths and highlight some of the surprising finds from the show's new cookbook, The Science of Good Cooking.