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4:39pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

How Do Land Birds End Up In A Tiger Shark's Belly?

Scientists are facing a riddle. For two years, researchers at Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama have been studying the diets of Tiger Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and they found that the sharks not only eat sea creatures, but also make a habit of eating land birds. Yep that's right woodpeckers, catbirds, kingbirds and swallows have all been found in their bellies.

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4:26pm

Thu January 12, 2012
World Cafe

Latin Roots: Salsa With A Twist

Credit Chris Smith
Bio Ritmo.

Today, World Cafe kicks off the new series Latin Roots, with Latin music expert Aaron Luis Levinson. Levinson visits host David Dye in WXPN's studios to share his take on all things salsa: the music, the beat and the culture. Levinson, a member of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, is a Grammy-winning producer, musician, composer and owner of Range Recording Studios in Ardmore, Penn.

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4:11pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Biggest Bucks In Health Care Are Spent On A Very Few

Credit Ricardo Reitmeyer / iStockphoto.com
A relatively small number of patients account for some of the biggest spending on health care.

So you know how on Monday the federal government reported that the $2.6 trillion the nation spent on health care in 2010 translated into just over $8,400 per person?

Well, a different study just released by a separate federal agency shows that second number doesn't actually mean very much.

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3:31pm

Thu January 12, 2012
It's All Politics

Bill Janklow's Death Gives South Dakota Tribal Leader Chance To Vent

When someone dies, the eulogies roll in, the higher the stature of the departed, the more stately the praise.

And that's certainly somewhat true for Bill Janklow, South Dakota's former congressman and governor who died Thursday from his brain cancer.

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3:31pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

Judge Declares Natalee Holloway Legally Dead

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 3:34 pm

An Alabama judge signed an order that declares Natalee Holloway, the teenager who went missing in Aruba while on a high school graduation trip, legally dead. Holloway was last seen in 2005.

The AP reports:

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3:19pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Latin America

Ordinary Life Resurrected, Slowly, In Haiti

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:28 pm

In Port-au-Prince, a radio blares from speakers in front of a guy selling pirated CDs on Delmas, a main street in the Haitian capital. Women sitting along the side of the road hawk everything from vegetables to cigarettes to pharmaceuticals. Overloaded tap-taps, the pickup trucks that serve as the main form of public transportation here, chug up the hill.

The scene is one that's remarkable for being unremarkable: Though it occurred this week, it could just as easily have been Port-au-Prince two years ago, before a massive earthquake destroyed much of the capital.

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3:13pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

Foxxconn Resolves Dispute With Workers Who Threatened Suicide

Earlier this month, a group Chinese workers at Foxxconn spent two days on the roof of one of the companies factories in central China. As The Telegraph reported, the workers were threatening to commit suicide to protest their working conditions.

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3:08pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Salt

Why X-Rayed Food Isn't Radioactive, And Other Puzzles

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 4:23 pm

Credit Lui Kit Wong / MCT /Landov
Irradiation is most often used to kill insects, parasites, or bacteria in or on spices, which are typically dried outdoors in before being shipped.

Earlier this week, we were surprised to learn that food manufacturers increasingly X-ray foods to screen for foreign objects that can break a tooth. That sounds like a good idea.

But the notion of X-rayed food also sparked a lively debate in The Salt's comments section on whether this poses a health threat. After all, we do know that some X-rays can damage DNA in the human body. So what does radiation mean for food?

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3:04pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

Court Martial Recommended For Bradley Manning In WikiLeaks Case

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 3:28 pm

Credit Patrick Semansky / AP
Army Pvt. Bradley Manning last month.

An investigating officer has recommended that Army private Bradley Manning face court-martial on multiple criminal charges related to the downloading of nearly 1 million war logs and secret diplomatic cables. Manning is accused of taking the files and them passing them on to WikiLeaks.

If he does face a court martial and is convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.

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3:02pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Movie Reviews

An 'Iron Lady' Fully Inhabited By Meryl Streep

I admit I was biased against the Margaret Thatcher biopic The Iron Lady. Not, you understand, against Thatcher and her Tory politics. Against Meryl Streep and her accents. Which are great, no doubt. But I went in resolved not to fall for her pyrotechnics yet again. I wanted realism.

Well, it didn't take long to realize that I was watching not only one of the greatest impersonations I'd ever seen — but one that was also emotionally real.

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3:00pm

Thu January 12, 2012
NPR Story

A Look At Haiti, Two Years After The Quake

More than half a million people are still living in tent camps in Haiti, and tons of quake rubble has yet to be cleared away. But two years after a massive earthquake leveled Haiti's capital and killed hundreds of thousands of people, optimism is beginning to bloom. The nation remains fragile, but reconstruction is picking up and the new government of President Michel Martelly has created a sense of relative stability.

3:00pm

Thu January 12, 2012
World

Walton Discusses Aftermath Of Haiti Quake

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:12 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Now a snapshot of public health in Haiti two years after the earthquake.

I'm joined by Dr. David Walton of the non-profit group Partners in Health. He's directing the construction of a new hospital about 30 miles north of Port-au-Prince in Mirebalais.

Dr. Walton, welcome to the program.

DR. DAVID WALTON: Thank so much for having me.

BLOCK: Sounds like a big hospital that you're in the process of building; 320 beds, 180,000 square feet. What are your hopes for that hospital?

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3:00pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Technology

Who Should Control The Internet? Some Say The U.N.

Credit mipan / iStockphoto.com
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, is forging ahead with plans to sell new domain categories despite vocal opposition. The decision raises questions about who should govern the Internet.

For the first time, organizations can apply for an Internet address all their own, marking the start of a new era in the growth of the Internet.

For example, ".com" and ".org" could be replaced by ".starbucks" or ".newyork."

The expansion was planned by the one organization empowered to regulate the global Internet — the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

Debate over the new policy has highlighted the key issue of who, if anyone, should control the Internet.

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3:00pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Around the Nation

Old South Rings Again In Boston

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:12 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

And I'm Audie Cornish. Today at noon, America's oldest working clock tower rang out for the first time since the 1800s.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL RINGING)

CORNISH: Old South Meeting House in Boston was a Puritan gathering place. Ben Franklin was baptized there and the Boston Tea Party was planned there, but the belfry has been silent since 1876, after the brick building was nearly destroyed in the great Boston fire.

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2:40pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

In Alaska: Nome Still Waits For Fuel, Big Shovels Headed To Cordova

Originally published on Mon January 16, 2012 8:55 am

Credit Spc. Balinda O'Neal, Alaska National Guard / AP
A member of the Alaska National Guard clearing a walkway in Cordova earlier this week.
  • Tony Gorman, reporting from Valdez

2:32pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Environment

Scientists Turn Focus To Ozone, Soot, To Fix Climate

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 10:12 pm

Credit Deshakalyan Chowdhury / AFP/Getty Images
An Indian street dweller prepares food on the streets of Kolkata. A growing number of scientists say that reducing black carbon — mostly soot from burning wood, charcoal and dung — would have an immediate and powerful impact on climate.

Politically, climate change is off this year's campaign agenda. Jobs, the economy and social issues are front and center.

But scientists are working as hard as ever to figure out how much the Earth is warming and what to do about it. Some now say it's time for a new strategy, one that gets faster results.

Talk to Durwood Zaelke, for example. Zaelke is a grizzled veteran of the climate wars: He was in Kyoto in 1997 when the world's nations drafted a treaty promising to curb warming, and he has watched that promise fizzle while the planet's temperature continues to rise.

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2:08pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

Bill Janklow, Former U.S. Rep and S.D. Gov., Is Dead

Bill Janklow, an institution in South Dakota politics who was known for his brashness and pushing things to completion, has died at age 72.

The AP has the basics:

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1:05pm

Thu January 12, 2012
The Two-Way

After Monitor Quits, Arab League Defends Its Syrian Peace-Keeping Mission

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 1:09 pm

Credit YouTube
In this frame grab from an amatuer video posted on YouTube, members of the Arab League monitor the recent violence in Syria.

1:00pm

Thu January 12, 2012
It's All Politics

U.S. Chamber President Criticizes GOP's 'Intramural' Battle Over Bain

Originally published on Thu January 12, 2012 2:57 pm

Credit Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue at a press conference Thursday in Washington.

The "Battle Over Bain" has become a hot topic at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a key player in politics.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue says he is "disappointed" that some GOP presidential candidates are attacking front-runner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for his work at Bain Capital in the 1990s.

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12:48pm

Thu January 12, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Researchers Say 3 Embryos Is Too Many For IVF

Credit iStockphoto.com
Less may be more when it comes to the number of embryos for in vitro fertilization.

Only last week we reported on the explosion in the number of twins in this country, largely a result of women turning to fertility treatments.

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