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What scares you the most? Is it something creepy and crawly? Something that slithers?

Maybe it's the dark, or the end of the world, or, even worse, a bad report card.

We all have things that scare us. And movies are good at making us experiencing those things in a safe way. But why do we even want to do it in the first place? We discuss what we like about being scared.

And later...

Vampires have been a pop culture staple for decades — as movie monsters and as metaphors for our deepest desires. And whether your favorite vampires are Nosferatu and Dracula, or Louis and Lestat, they all have a few bloody things in common.

We get into why the vampire myth prevails and how the vampire genre is changing, during our Spooky Roundup.

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If you've ever travelled to a different time zone, you probably felt groggy and tired after your flight. Or you've likely missed that extra hour when the clock jumps forward for Daylight Savings time in the spring.

You may work a 9-to-5 job or go to school from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. But these aren't the only clocks that dictate how we live.

In fact, our bodies have trillions of internal clocks that tell us when to eat, sleep, and perform other biological tasks throughout the day. One of those clocks is our circadian rhythm.

In a society where staring at our phones before falling asleep or getting up with an alarm clock is the norm, most of us are out of sync with our circadian rhythm. But there are serious health consequences to this disconnect.

In this installment of "The Scientific Method," we talk about how our circadian rhythm works, how we can live in sync with it, and what happens when we're not.

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Less than one week from election day, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her final address to a crowd of more than 75,000 in Washington D.C.

That number is according to the Harris campaign. Last night's rally was held at the Ellipse, the park south of the White House. It's also the site where former President Donald Trump held his rally on Jan. 6 of 2021.

It was an event alluded to by the vice president, who focused her address on the differences between herself and Trump.

The race between Harris and Trump remains tight less than a week from Election Day, and at least 50 million Americans have already voted.

We discuss the significance of Vice President Harris' address.

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We're one week away from the election. Millions of Americans have already cast their votes, but Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are not done campaigning.

Over the weekend, Harris garnered support from several major Latino artists, including Bad Bunny, J-Lo and Ricky Martin.

Their endorsements followed racist remarks about Latinos and Puerto Ricans made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday. The Trump campaign has said these remarks do not reflect its views.

We talk about the role Latino voters are playing in the election.

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It was early on Wednesday morning some four years ago, hours after the polls had closed when then President Donald Trump falsely claimed victory in the election of 2020.

Never mind the fact that millions of legitimate votes had yet to be counted. And a half-dozen states hadn't yet been called for either Trump or President Joe Biden.

POLITICO has spoken to dozens of people familiar or involved with the election process this year. And according to their reporting, a consensus has emerged.

Not only could Donald Trump make a second attempt to overturn an election if he loses. But the groundwork for doing so has already been laid.

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Early voting is underway in the 2024 election.

Donald Trump's former chief of staff revealed some upsetting details of the former president times in office this week. John Kelly, the former Marine general who worked for the Trump administration, said that the 45th president once remarked he needed "Hitler's generals" during a conversation about Germany.

Meanwhile, overseas, a top Hezbollah leader was killed this week in an Israeli air attack. Hashem Safieddine was expected to assume control of the armed group following the death of his cousin Hassan Nasrallah, their former leader.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a visit to Israel that the death of a top Hamas leader last week could lead to an opening for peace and more aid to flow into Gaza.

We cover all this and more during this week's Roundup.

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The ideology of Christian nationalism holds that the United States should be closer to and informed by Christian principles. It's been more present in American politics lately, being referenced openly by elected officials and candidates alike.

But what is Christian nationalism? Who follows it and what is its purpose? Why is it different from Christian faiths, including evangelical Christianity?

We talk to three Christians who are making it their job to push back against this movement from a religious point of view.

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U.S. health care has a reputation for costing a pretty penny – and making one, too.

So, when the country's largest for-profit health care system – Steward Health Care in Dallas, Texas – filed for bankruptcy in May, alarm bells sounded.

In September, CEO Ralph de la Torre was subpoenaed to testify about it in front of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.

For the latest installment of our Local Spotlight series, we highlight the work of The Boston Globe's Spotlight team reporting on Steward Health Care.

We discuss how a for-profit health care system goes from the largest in its field to left with nothing how that affected the communities it served.

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When most people think of the a midlife crisis, they picture a man in his 50s dating a younger woman and buying a sports car.

But what does this depiction of midlife get wrong and who gets left behind by this narrative? What changes actually take place during our midlives and why is this period of life so under-researched despite everyone alive having decent odds of living through it?

We gather a panel of experts and sit down to break down our midlives.

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2024 is the first presidential election with AI in play, and currently, there are few regulations about the use of AI in politics. Last month, the Federal Election Commission decided not to impose new rules on the tech ahead of the election. That means it's fair game and it's being used as such.

In August, former president Donald Trump posted a picture of an AI generated image of Taylor Swift endorsing him. It led to a response from the pop mega star. In July, Elon Musk shared a video on X that cloned Vice President Kamala Harris' voice saying things she never said.

Beyond the memes, U.S. intelligence officials say Russia and Iran are using the technology to influence our election. OpenAI, the company behind tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E, noticed these efforts as well.

We discuss how AI will affect this election, and elections going forward.

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