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A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences finds that roughly 1 in 5 stars, like our own sun, have an Earth-like planet orbiting around it. That's about 40 billion planets that could support life in the Milky Way galaxy. Melissa Block talks to co-author Geoff Marcy, an astronomy professor at the University of California-Berkeley, about the latest numbers.

From the Eastern Seaboard to the Pacific Northwest, there's a colorful and compelling roster of political contests on Tuesday. Many of them have national implications, including a gubernatorial contest in New Jersey and a special congressional runoff in Alabama.

In softcover fiction, Jill McCorkle's cluster of retirees faces death with humor and sorrow. In nonfiction, Lawrence Wright peeks into the world of Scientology, Simon Garfield charts a history of maps, Jonathan Cott recalls his friendship with John and Yoko, Duncan Wall spins yarns about the circus and Mark Binelli welcomes us to his Detroit.

Roy Choi changed the food truck fad forever when he and his friend started selling Korean barbecue tacos outside clubs in Los Angeles. He talks about his life and his food truck foundations in his new book, L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food.

As Iran is set to hold nuclear talks with world powers, the Obama administration is working to convince senators to hold off on additional sanctions. And on Tuesday, voters across the country will go to the polls to elect mayors, governors and other officials.

Best American Poetry editor David Lehman has spent decades writing, reading, reviewing and anthologizing massive quantities of American poetry. But his latest project, compiling a retrospective collection of his own work, was new for him. He tells NPR that all his editorial experience wasn't terribly useful when it was time for self-curation.

Throughout his career, Needham did the kind of stunts that would either end with a spectacular shot ... or an ambulance. On Oct. 25, Needham died of cancer at age 82. We listen back to a 2011 interview, in which he tells the stories behind some of his most daring stunts.

Pop quiz: what do you get when you combine a talking penguin, a man with a bird beak for a face and an interrupting dragon? The answer, surprisingly, is a writing guide: Jeff VanderMeer's Wonderbook. VanderMeer tells NPR intern Colin Dwyer about his collaboration with illustrators and his imaginative, character-driven approach to teaching writing.

The last issue of Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics came out a decade ago. Now, the author returns to Dream's world with a prequel series, The Sandman: Overture. Gaiman speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the freedom of starting something new and why he, like all writers, is a Sandman himself.

In November, NPR's Backseat Book Club is reading Matilda by Roald Dahl. It's the story of an exceptionally gifted girl who outsmarts her cruel parents and the brutish school headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, with the help of her magical abilities and her kind teacher Miss Honey.