Caffeine-laden drinks and herbal pick-me-ups now keep many of us going through the day and well into the night. But what happens when it's time to relax, unwind and even go to sleep? Older insomniacs may reach for a glass of wine, warm milk or some chamomile tea. But the new relaxation rage is soda and brownies.

"Relaxation drinks are sort of the initial backlash to the energy drink craze. If I'm nervous or if I am having a bad day, I can just crack open a Mary Jane's instead," says Eric Shogren.

Caffeinated energy drinks are everywhere, and new products are being introduced all the time.

Caffeine has many well-known benefits. Even so, last week the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a report recommending that children and adolescents never use energy drinks.

This month, NPR is examining the many ways China is expanding its reach in the world — through investments, infrastructure, military power and more.

When the United States took over from Britain as the predominant world power 100 years ago, the transition was like one between brothers — or cousins, at least. And the two countries remain close allies to this day. The rise of China in relation to U.S. predominance presents a somewhat different challenge — with decades of sometimes outright hostility and an ongoing fractious relationship.

As the government copes with this spring's plague of tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest and South, it is still responding to disasters of previous years.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency continues to fund rebuilding projects related to Hurricane Katrina and other major storms in the past. This has caused some cash flow problems at FEMA.

Quiet but not ambient, the music of BOBBY provides relief from rock and dance records built around insistent, thumping beats. The band's songs often feel like many songs in one, with multiple rhythms playing out simultaneously, and I like the result more and more.

The history of jazz cello is full of strings attached. Upright bass players — among them Oscar Pettiford, Percy Heath, Harry Babasin, Ray Brown and Ron Carter — have occasionally strayed. But their contributions to the diminutive violoncello are often overshadowed by their work on its bigger, heavier cousin.

Since her 2004 debut, Boston's Marissa Nadler has drawn a big response from a small crowd. Her dreamy, fragile folk songs are revered among an assortment of tastemakers, but they haven't yet broken through to a larger audience. Her new self-titled album, recorded at the same Philadelphia studio where Sharon Van Etten made last year's Epic, should help change all that.

Why does the 2012 presidential race look more like a film festival? Plus a Pentagon official trying to make Afghanistan rich, a sociologist who says you can only have 150 friends, culture and trends of the 70s and 80s, and musician Moby's newest release.

The new documentary Rejoice and Shout, which opens in select theaters this weekend, celebrates the history of gospel music in America as told through some of its most famous and influential icons.

Director Don McGlynn, a veteran of the music documentary genre, wanted to trace gospel from its earliest roots to its current incarnation in the music world. The film even plays the first known recording of gospel music, a record made in 1902 by the Dinwiddie Colored Quartet.

The alliance says it is targeting military compounds and forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, whom they accuse of taking cover among the civilian population. Some of the strikes, which are now being launched from helicopters, are striking targets very near civilian areas.