death

Mexico City

When disaster hits home: The Mexico City quake one month on

When The World's Monica Campbell returned to her home in Mexico City, she arrived to chaos. People were trying their best to rebuild or they were leaving altogether. Her neighborhood in particular was among the hardest hit.

When disaster hits home: The Mexico City quake one month on
A Muslim woman cries near the coffin of her relative

Should we tweet about illness or, yes, even death?

Should we tweet about illness or, yes, even death?
Hong Kong casket

Cheaper Chinese caskets get a chilly reception in the US market

Cheaper Chinese caskets get a chilly reception in the US market
My memorials

Social media is transforming the way we view death and grieving

Social media is transforming the way we view death and grieving
Matthew Sullivan working on a prototype operating table | Suspended Animation, Boytan Beach, Florida, USA 2010

Here's what it looks like to be frozen

Here's what it looks like to be frozen
Hospice hands

A new husband's care for his father's dead body changed his wife's view of death and dying

After someone you love has died, the first of so many difficult tasks you face is deciding how to deal with what they’ve left behind: their body.

A new husband's care for his father's dead body changed his wife's view of death and dying
Social gathering and sharing a meal during Russian Easter honoring the dead, Spring Valley, New Jersey, 1997

Photographers look for 'the poetry of death and dying in America'

Rituals surrounding death vary from place to place, and even from community to community within the smallest of towns. Bastienne Schmidt and Philippe Cheng traveled across the US to photograph the wide range of those rituals and what they can show us about the people and places that created them.

Photographers look for 'the poetry of death and dying in America'
Dr. Robert Sappenfield with his son Bob, Dorchester, 1988

Why this photographer takes portraits of the dying

Nicholas Nixon has spent much of his career taking pictures of the dying, including a series of portraits of AIDS victims during the 1980s, when fear of the disease ran high and few people knew victims.

Why this photographer takes portraits of the dying
Cancer patient

Explore the final moments of a dying man who chose to end his own life

Ben Wald's death in 2013 did not make headlines, like the death of Brittany Maynard, the 29-year-old woman who took her own life due to a terminal illness. But like Maynard, Wald died on his own terms, thanks to Oregon's Death With Dignity Act. His wife, Pam, however, is now an advocate for the compassionate dying movement and is helping to keep the issue in the public eye.

Explore the final moments of a dying man who chose to end his own life
Phil Toledano hugs his father in a photo from his book, "Days With My Father."

How a photographer captured his father's final years

"Days With My Father" started out as a personal project from photographer Phil Toledano, who took images of his father as he became his primary caregiver. To Toledano's surprise, the photos struck a chord with the wider public.

How a photographer captured his father's final years
Andrea Soldo is consoled by family members after receiving a flag during the funeral services for her husband, Las Vegas police officer Igor Soldo, in Las Vegas, Nevada, on June 12, 2014.

Americans don't talk much about death, but that may be changing

Most Americans, even doctors and medical professionals, seem reluctant to talk about death and dying. But now some authors and filmmakers are trying make death an acceptable topic of conversation — and people aren't just open but even happy to talk.

Americans don't talk much about death, but that may be changing

Finding poetry in a pine box

The Scene: Kansas CityFrom KCUR's Arts & Culture desk, a service of Kansas City Public Media A doctor with stage IV prostate cancer decided he doesn't want a fancy store-bought coffi...

Finding poetry in a pine box
Neutron Star from NASA

We are all dead stars

The universe would be filled with nothing but hydrogen if not for the death of stars. Check out this video from PRI's The Really Big Questions.

We are all dead stars
Dr. Terrie Taylor examines a child in the malaria ward of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi.

An American doctor may have solved a deadly mystery about malaria

Despite decades of research on malaria, there's something that medical experts have never known: How exactly does the disease kill? Now, a researcher thinks she has found the answer.

An American doctor may have solved a deadly mystery about malaria
Sharon funeral

Where were all the mourners this weekend, as Ariel Sharon lay in state?

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon fought in the country's war of independence and was one of the dominant figures in Israel's history. So why did so few people show up to pay their respects when his coffin was on display this weekend? Reporter Daniel Estrin has some possible reasons.

Where were all the mourners this weekend, as Ariel Sharon lay in state?