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NPR's Larry Abramson takes a look at the new technology of self-healing plastics. The technique involves filling plastic with microscopic liquid bubbles that break open to fill in the tiny cracks that occur in plastic under impact or stress. The "healed plastic" retains most of the strength found in the original. Soon, this new type of plastic may be used in products ranging from aircraft wings to the doors of your car.

The Philadelphia Orchestra today performed a work composed by a 10-year-old. Jasmine Hernandez, a fifth-grader at Potter Thomas Elementary School in north Philadelphia, wrote Nature Brings as part of a competition. She talks to Linda Wertheimer about the piece.

NPR's Debbie Elliott examines how one of Alabama's largest school districts is coping with statewide budget cuts in education. Low property taxes and falling sales tax revenues have left students and parents struggling to preserve funding for extracurricular activities.

Host Bob Edwards speaks with Republican political consultant Greg Mueller about the mood of the Republican party now that President George Bush has served almost a full month in office.

NPR's Steve Inskeep reports on the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, being held this week near Washington, D.C.

Robin Urevich reports on a thorny historic issue that may come up when Presidents Fox and Bush meet today. The matter is about money owed to Mexican workers who traveled to the U.S. in the 1940s. Many of those workers were never fully compensated and now they are filing a class action lawsuit.

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports on the efforts of an anti-fox hunting group in England. Fox hunting is losing popularity in that country, and a number of measures are currently under consideration to end the sport, but protest groups say they'll continue to disrupt fox hunts until they are banned.

NPR's Margot Adler explores the International Toy Fair in New York with Judy Ellis. Ellis heads the nation's only university degree program in toy design.

Host Bob Edwards speaks with NPR's Tom Gjelten about the U.S. Navy's investigation into the recent submarine collision off the coast of Hawaii. Yesterday, the Navy and Coast Guard called off rescue operations for the nine missing passengers from the Japanese fishing trawler that sunk following the accident.

There's new momentum in the struggle to get AIDS drugs to the developing world. Drug companies are offering discounts on AIDS drugs to poor countries. Foreign generic drug makers are copying U.S.-patented AIDS drugs and selling them in the Third World. And studies are showing that even in the poor countries like Haiti, the triple-drug combination of AIDS drugs can slow disease and death.

Linda Wertheimer and Noah Adams read letter from listeners. (4:00) Send mail to: Letters, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, 635 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington D.C., 2001. Send e-mail to atc@npr.org. Visit Bernard Greenberg's Web site for frequently asked questions about J.S. Bach

NPR's Renee Montagne talks with Vicki Huddleston, the chief U.S. diplomat in Cuba. Huddleston and her prize-winning Afghan hound, Havana, were recently expelled from the Afghan Hound Club of Cuba -- because the Cuban government was unhappy that Huddleston met with Cuban dissidents.

NPR Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg takes a look back at the life and career of painter Alice Neel. A new retrospective of Neel's work opens this weekend in Philadelphia.

At least seven people were killed in northern Kosovo today, and dozens injured, when a bomb went off aboard a bus. NATO is denouncing the attack as "disgraceful and cowardly," an ethnically-motivated attack on civilians. The bus was being escorted by U.N. troops. Noah Adams talks with reporter Jeff Bieley, who has been to the scene.

The change comes as Facebook looks to recast its public image from battered social network to tech innovator focused on building the next generation of online interaction, known as the "metaverse."

American and British war planes struck at Iraqi air defense stations outside Baghdad today. The Pentagon says the move continued routine enforcement of the "no-fly" zones by hitting targets that threatened the safety of allied patrols. Linda Wertheimer talks to NPR's Tom Gjelten about the news.

Brook Gladstone, co-host of NPR's On The Media, reports on the Internet game, Everquest, owned by Sony. Hundreds of thousands of people pay for the CD-ROM and a monthly fee to play. The game borrows heavily from Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, featuring gods, strange lands and monsters. (8:30) See www.everquest.com.

Critics say California created its own power crisis with a deregulation plan that let wholesale prices rise and fall without letting retail prices follow. Proponents of deregulation say it works when all players take part in the give and take of market supply and demand. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on whether police need a warrant before pointing a thermal imaging device at someone's home. Thermal imaging measures the amount of heat emanating from a building. In this case, it was used to find marijuana being grown indoors with strong lights.

Beth Accomando of member station KPBS reports on Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar Wai's new project, In the Mood for Love. Wong has won acclaim for his unorthodox and stylish movies -- he calls them "jam sessions," since the actors are improvising without a script.

Tonya Ott reports that a controversial new theme park called the Holy Land Experience has opened in Orlando. It doesn't have rides. Rather, it's billed as living Biblical museum, which features among its attractions, enactments of Bible stories, and a model of first century Jerusalem.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that Secretary of State Colin Powell is likely to discuss missile defense when he meets his Russian counterpart, Igor Ivanov tomorrow in Cairo.

Ken Tucker, a critic for Entertainment Weekly, offers a review of Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. The four-hour miniseries is scheduled to air on Sunday and Monday on ABC Television.

Commentator Kim Lane, in Austin, Texas, offers a cynics critique of the bull riding scene in Texas.

NPR's Eric Westervelt reports on the closing of Steal This Show at a gallery in Philadelphia's Old City neighborhood -- where patrons were encouraged to steal the art off the walls.