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Shots - Health Blog
2:25 am
Mon August 20, 2012

Search For Parkinson's Genes Turns To Online Social Networking

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

There's a growing interest in what our genes say about our health. And in recent years, quite a few companies have sprung up to help us listen with the help of personalized DNA tests.

For a few hundred dollars and a vial of spit, these companies will search your DNA for sequences that predict your physical traits, your response to certain drugs and your risk for any number of diseases.

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Art & Design
2:25 am
Mon August 20, 2012

Hopper's Pensive Lady In Pink Travels The World

Credit Columbus Museum of Art/Howald Fund
Edward Hopper's wife, Josephine N. Hopper, served as his model for 1952's Morning Sun.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

It's one of the ultimate images of summer: a woman in a short, pink slip sits on a bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, gazing out a window. Her hair is tucked back into a bun. Her bare arms rest lightly on her bare legs.

Edward Hopper painted her in 1952 for a work called Morning Sun. The picture has been widely reproduced for decades. But on a recent visit to its home at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, it was nowhere to be found.

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Shots - Health Blog
2:23 am
Mon August 20, 2012

Why Can Some People Recall Every Day Of Their Lives? Brain Scans Offer Clues

Credit iStockphoto.com
Researchers are using MRI scans to learn more about the brains of people with extraordinary memory.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

Six years ago, we told you about a woman, identified as A.J., who could remember the details of nearly every day of her life. At the time, researchers thought she was unique. But since then, a handful of such individuals have been identified. And now, researchers are trying to understand how their extraordinary memories work.

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Around the Nation
11:46 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Study Reveals The Geography of Charitable Giving

Credit Pam Fessler / NPR
Attorneys Cheryl Curtis and her husband, Dana Foster, live in Washington, D.C., and donate generously to a nearby nonprofit that helps low-income residents. "Now that I have more, I want to give to organizations that provide just basic food for people," Curtis says.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

Ever wonder how charitable the people are who live in your state or community? It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich.

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Around the Nation
5:20 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Teen Pregnancy Declines, But U.S. Still Lags

Roxana Castro sits in an orange chair in the waiting room at Mary's Center in Washington, D.C. She's 17, and expecting a baby boy next month. The pregnancy was a surprise, she says, mostly for her parents, but also for the baby's father.

Even with her mother's help, Castro admits she's nervous. The father of the baby says he'll be there, but she knows this is a big responsibility, and says she's not ready to start a family just yet.

"A baby is so fragile," she says. "I don't know how to take care of it or anything."

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Why Music Matters
3:49 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Dark Side Of The Operating Room

Credit Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Divya Singh in the operating room.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

Weekends on All Things Considered continues its "Why Music Matters" series with a story from the operating room.

"The O.R. is a naturally rhythmic place, in that you have the beating of the anesthesia machines and the autoclave comes on," says Divya Singh, an orthopedic and hand surgeon. "So music just becomes another sound."

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Europe
3:39 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

For Romania's Orphans, Adoption Is Still A Rarity

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 4:14 pm

First of two stories

The 1989 overthrow and execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu provided the first glimpse of a country that had been mostly closed to the outside world — and many of the scenes were appalling.

Among the most disturbing were images of tens of thousands of abandoned children suffering abuse and neglect in Romania's orphanages. Many were confined to cribs, wallowing in their own filth and facing mental health issues.

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Around the Nation
3:37 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Living Above The Past: Museum Opens Up To Tenants

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

All it takes to enter a time warp in New Hampshire is $15 and a summer afternoon. Spanning more than 250 years of American history, Strawbery Banke is the oldest neighborhood in the state's oldest city, Portsmouth.

It's kind of like Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg — lite. Stationed inside many of the 37 homes are re-enactors in different period garb. Inside a hulking white house, it's 1872.

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Author Interviews
3:32 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Long After Katrina, New Orleans Fights For 'Home'

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

In just a few weeks, we will mark the seventh anniversary of one of the country's deadliest hurricanes. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still recovering from the devastating damage and loss of life caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — the storm that would follow.

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Music News
2:19 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Arizona Dranes, Forgotten Mother Of The Gospel Beat

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

In the 1920s, the sound of music in the black church underwent a revolution. Standing at 40th and State Street in Chicago, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ was a witness to what occurred.

The high-energy gospel beat of the music that can still be heard in this Pentecostal church is the creation, music critics say, of Arizona Dranes, a blind piano player, a woman who introduced secular styles like barrelhouse and ragtime to the church's music.

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Health
1:01 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Dallas Deploys Old Weapon In New Mosquito Fight

Credit LM Otero / AP
Mike Stuart of Dynamic Aviation speaks to the media this week about the type of plane used for aerial spraying in Dallas. The city and county are conducting aerial spraying to combat the nation's worst outbreak of West Nile virus, which has killed at least 10 people and sickened about 200.

The recent outbreak of West Nile virus in the Dallas area has led to a new round of large-scale spraying for mosquitoes — a method of treating outbreaks that has generations of success, and even nostalgia, behind it.

Although the overall mosquito-killing strategy has changed little since the days when it was pioneered during construction of the Panama Canal a century ago, the chemicals used have become much safer for everything and everyone involved, save the mosquitoes, experts say.

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It's All Politics
12:05 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Ryan's Taxes Show Gap Between Romney And The Not-So-Rich

Originally published on Fri September 21, 2012 3:35 pm

With running mate Paul Ryan's tax returns released on a Friday night — a good week and a half ahead of the Republican convention — the presidential campaign can finally move off the subject of tax returns.

Or so Mitt Romney can hope.

In reality, the numbers in the Wisconsin congressman's filings provide new data points, for those inclined to see things this way, about how far Romney's financial situation is from that of ordinary voters.

Depends On The Income

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The Two-Way
8:54 am
Sun August 19, 2012

WikiLeaks' Assange Demands U.S. Cease "Witch Hunt"

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 12:44 pm

Julian Assange stepped onto a balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London Sunday to demand that the U.S. end its persecution of WikiLeaks. It was his first public appearance since taking refuge inside the embassy in June.

"I ask President Obama to do the right thing," he said. "The United States must renounce its witch hunt against WikiLeaks."

Update @ 9:47 a.m. ET: 'War On Whistleblowers'

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Participation Nation
6:12 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Caring For Canines In Seguin, Texas

Credit Courtesy of Robin Bisha
Carol Hirschi and her dogs.

Mama Bella is sudsy, and we're soaked. I'm holding the leash while Carol Hirschi scrubs the black dog's tummy.

"When people bring me a dog, I'm sure they don't picture me washing her crotch," she laughs.

Hirschi rescues dogs. Her Moshiem Mansion Bed & Breakfast houses a changing cast of 10 to 15 dogs that have escaped death in the shelter.

"I leave the happy-go-lucky ones and pull the ones who are terrified," Hirschi says, "The ones who understand what's happening."

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Business
5:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Fishing For Lobsters Not Just A Man's Game

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 4:46 pm

In New England, more women are breaking through the glass gangway. That's the ramp you use to walk down onto a dock to hop onboard your own fishing boat. For generations lobstermen in Maine have been predominantly, well, men — but that's starting to change.

At a small gas dock in a rock-lined cove on Deer Isle, Maine, there's a new captain fueling up. Genevieve Kurilec, 29, wears a tank-top, orange fishing overalls and lobster buoy earrings.

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Presidential Race
5:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Riddled With Crime, N.J. City Turns To County Police

Credit Mel Evans / AP
The city of Camden, N.J., is considering getting rid of its own police force and turning to the county to try and combat record crime.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 6:08 pm

Although considered one of the most dangerous places in the country, past budget cuts in Camden, N.J., have forced police layoffs. Now the city is considering even more dramatic steps: replacing the city's police force with one operated by the county.

Camden is on pace to break a record for homicides and shootings this year, and many in the crime-ravaged city say something has to change.

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Your Money
5:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Stores Banking On Personalized Loyalty Programs

Credit Ashley Gross / KPLU
A customer using Safeway's personalized deals gets this loaf of bread for 99 cents instead of the original $4.29.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:56 pm

Loyalty cards have long given discounts to shoppers who sign up, but stores are increasingly offering personalized discounts tailored to each customer's shopping patterns.

Those tailored discounts mean someone standing in front of you at the supermarket checkout line might get a lower price on the exact same gallon of milk that you're buying.

A 'Secret Deal'

Heather Kulper is one of those people who really wants to get a good deal. She's a mom in a suburb north of Seattle who writes a blog about coupon clipping and saving money.

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The Salt
5:21 am
Sun August 19, 2012

Shop Owners Hope Yogurt Smooths A Path Out Of Greek Recession

Credit Joanna Kakissis / NPR
Dimitris Plassas and Georgia Ladopoulou work the yogurt bar at Fresko, which specializes in several varieties of Greek-style yogurt.

Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 10:23 am

Greeks used to take their yogurt for granted. This year, at anti-austerity protests, they even threw it at their politicians. But Greeks are finally realizing yogurt might actually help the country during its worst recession in half a century.

In Athens, dozens of entrepreneurs have opened yogurt bars. The first one, called Fresko, opened last year on a pedestrian street near the Acropolis. It features four types of rich, strained yogurt kept cool in traditional ceramic pots.

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Law
6:07 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

Illinois Seeks New Approach To Juvenile Justice

Credit Cheryl Corley / NPR
Elias Roman, 17, has been through Illinois' juvenile justice system twice. But the second time around, he was paired with a mentor, and he's looking at things differently.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:36 pm

In an alley in Little Village on Chicago's West Side, the faint sound of music from a Spanish-speaking radio station wafts in the air and garbage cans are sprayed with gang graffiti. They look like the tattoos on 17-year-old Elias Roman's arms.

"This [alleyway] right here is where I caught my first gun case," says Elias, who was born and raised in the neighborhood, home to a large Mexican-American community.

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Economy
4:01 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

In Weak Economy, College Grads 'Surge' Into Military

Credit Michael Tomsic / NPR
When his parents Tuy (center) and Mydung (right) Lam lost their jobs, electrical engineering major Louis Lam enlisted in the Navy.

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 6:14 pm

The weak economy is helping to drive thousands more college graduates into the U.S. military.

Since the recession began in 2007, there's been a steady increase in the number of college graduates joining the armed forces. The Navy and Army have seen the biggest jumps. About 60 percent more college grads joined the Navy last year than in 2007.

For some of them, it's a job some would never have imagined for themselves just a few years ago.

Not 'What I Thought I'd Be Doing'

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Politics
4:01 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

Political Spotlight Heats Up In Wisconsin

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 6:14 pm

Transcript

CHERYL CORLEY, HOST:

It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Cheryl Corley. Guy Raz is away.

Over the last two years, Wisconsin seems to have suddenly become an epicenter of national politics and, even more so, conservative politics. Governor Scott Walker survived a hotly contested recall effort following a big battle with the unions.

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Author Interviews
4:01 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

Soccer Star Hope Solo On Loving Lost Parents

Credit Drew Hallowell / Getty Images
Goalkeeper Hope Solo competes against China in Chester, Penn., on May 27. Solo took a gold medal home from this summer's London Games.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:46 pm

Hope Solo is generally regarded as the best women's goalkeeper in the world. Fresh off winning her third-straight Olympic gold medal with the U.S. national team, Solo has been as busy off the field as on it, releasing an autobiography titled Solo: A Memoir of Hope.

The memoir details her rise as an international celebrity, but it also focuses on the complicated relationship she had with her father, who taught her to play soccer.

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Music Interviews
2:23 pm
Sat August 18, 2012

Rhiannon: An Improviser Resists The Urge To Reuse

Credit Courtesy of the artist
"There was this sensation of going on a journey together, without seat belts," says Rhiannon of her band's first totally improvised performance. Her newest album is called Spontaneous.

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 6:14 pm

If you ever listened to jazz vocalists and wondered if you could ever in your life scat like them, there's someone who's willing to teach you. The vocalist Rhiannon has long held the importance of improvisation as a personal credo, and in her career has blended that art form with jazz, world music and storytelling.

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Participation Nation
11:07 am
Sat August 18, 2012

Bookish Babysitting In Oklahoma City, Okla.

Credit Courtesy of Jennifer Jones
Jennifer Jones, children's librarian.

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 11:18 am

Some Oklahoma City parents use the Capitol Hill public library as a babysitting center. They drop children off when the library opens; they pick them up when it closes.

Certain librarians might see this as a nuisance. My girlfriend, Jennifer Jones — the children's librarian — sees it as an opportunity. And she is developing the Safari After-School Project, a program for the kids that includes mentoring and tutoring.

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The Picture Show
10:59 am
Sat August 18, 2012

A Photo Homage To The Working Class ... Of Animals

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 10:01 am

There are roughly 21 funerals a day at Arlington National Cemetery. The majority are simple graveside burials. But for those soldiers who have earned "full honors," the casket is brought to the grave by a team of horses pulling a caisson.

These horses are the subject of a new series of portraits by 35-year-old Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas now on view at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The horses seem sad, and Dumas says that's what drives her work.

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Asia
5:53 am
Sat August 18, 2012

Pakistani Televangelist Is Back On Air, Raising Fears

Originally published on Thu August 23, 2012 3:32 pm

As Pakistan's media has expanded in recent years, there's been a rise in Islamic preachers with popular TV call-in talk shows. And they've had their share of scandal. One famous TV host fled the country after embezzlement allegations. Others are accused of spewing hate speech.

That's the case for Pakistan's most popular televangelist, Aamir Liaquat, who's just been rehired by the country's top TV channel despite accusations that he provoked deadly attacks in 2008.

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Americandy: Sweet Land Of Liberty
5:31 am
Sat August 18, 2012

Valomilks: A Sweet Treat That Runs Down Your Chin

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 4:23 pm

The Valomilk was once advertised as "the 5-cent candy bar with the 50-cent taste." And while the price has changed, the product has not.

For more than 80 years, the family-owned Russell Sifers Candy Company has been using the same recipe to churn out a rich concoction of chocolate and creamy marshmallow goo.

The candy-making machines are busy on the factory floor in Merriam, Kan., just southwest of Kansas City. This is the headquarters of the century-old company, where Russell Sifers himself is a fourth-generation candy maker.

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Business
5:31 am
Sat August 18, 2012

Settlement Shines Light On N.Y. Regulator, Agency

Credit Bloomberg via Getty Images
Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of New York state's Department of Financial Services, got British bank Standard Chartered to pay a $340 million settlement over allegations that it schemed with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars.

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 4:03 pm

Banking industry officials say it's unheard of: A state regulator, flying solo, threatens to take away the state license of a global bank — and then secures a very public settlement.

That's exactly what happened in New York this past week, when the state's Department of Financial Services reached a settlement with Britain's Standard Chartered Bank over allegations that it schemed with the Iranian government to launder billions of dollars.

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Around the Nation
5:31 am
Sat August 18, 2012

Near Wounded Knee, Years Of Alleged Injustice

Originally published on Fri August 31, 2012 1:49 pm

In the late 1960s, Native Americans fed up with what they saw as years of mistreatment by the federal government formed an organization known as the American Indian Movement.

Founded in Minnesota, the group followed in the footsteps of the civil rights movement and took up protests across the country. One of those protests took place in 1973, when some AIM members occupied the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

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Simon Says
5:31 am
Sat August 18, 2012

If Politicians Went On Vacation, We'd All Get A Break

Credit Steve Pope / Getty Images
Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan holds up a Green Bay Packers jersey during a campaign stop at the Iowa State Fair.

Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 8:58 am

If you toss a corn dog at a state or county fair this summer, you may bonk a politician.

Congress is in recess, but for politicians, it's not recess of the kind they have in grade school. Many pols, especially in a close election year, spend the summer shaking hands at meet-and-greets. They cock their heads to pay rapt attention during listening tours and community meetings, raise money, make speeches, hurl charges, countercharges and ask for votes.

Does that sound refreshing?

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