Search results for

Dreamworks' latest film Madagascar opens this weekend. The digitally animated comedy is about a bunch of pampered New York City zoo animals that wind up in the wilds of Madagascar.

Recent outbreaks of avian influenza have many medical experts fearing an epidemic. Alex Chadwick speaks with Ira Flatow, host of NPR's Talk of the Nation Science Friday, about the similarities between avian flu and the Spanish influenza that killed some 50 million people in 1918.

A 12,400-mile journey by a great white shark puts a snag in the theory that the animals stick close to established feeding grounds. The trip is bolstering claims that the sharks need worldwide protection.

New Orleans' Ninth Ward has been stricken by bad luck, poverty and most recently, five weeks of dangerous flooding. Despite its devastation, for many, it's not a target for demolition, it's home.

Mayor Ray Nagin announces that New Orleans must lay off up to 3,000 of its city employees -- or about half the work force. The cuts would amount to a savings of $8 million. He said the city will be unable to pay those workers after Oct. 14, because of the financial impact of Hurricane Katrina.

Frenchman Yves Chauvin and Americans Robert Grubbs and Richard Schrock win the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their research shows how to custom-make molecules for cheaper, cleaner chemicals and drugs to combat major diseases.

Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers' 30-year career as a corporate lawyer and some-time public servant in Texas earned her a reputation not unlike her state's motto: "Don't Mess with Harriet Miers."

Historian Edward Larson has written extensively on the intersection of science, politics and religion. In 2004, Larson's Evolution: The Remarkable History of A Scientific Theory traced the contentious path the theory of evolution has followed.

Economist and Slate contributor Austan Goolsbee shares his thoughts with Alex Chadwick about whether high gas prices in the wake of the Gulf Coast hurricanes will change American driving habits. His conclusion? Americans will only change their driving habits if they are forced to pay $5 or more per gallon, for at least five years.

When the Intelligence Identities Protection Act was written, its authors were hardly picturing its use to prosecute top officials in the White House. But the current grand jury has been considering that possibility in the case of CIA operative Valerie Plame. To understand how this came about, a look back to the events of 2002, when the administration was building its case for invading Iraq.

Read and hear statements about President Bush's nomination of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge John Roberts to the Supreme Court.

Philip Reeves has been reporting in and out of Iraq over the past two years. Steve Inskeep talks to Reeves about his experience there, about the pre- and post-election atmosphere and about how the people of Iraq are slowly adjust to living in a war zone.

Pizza, tacos and onion rings -- just another balanced lunch in many school cafeterias across the Unites States. If given a choice, most kids won't opt for the broccoli. And financial constraints are keeping many school districts from doing away with more popular -- but more fattening -- choices.

About half of the nation's chemical manufacturing capacity resides in the Texas Gulf Coast, now threatened by Hurricane Rita. More than 160 chemical plants are potentially in Rita's path. Environmental groups are concerned, but industry officials say the plants are designed to withstand hurricane winds.

Katrina's destructive power reached beyond New Orleans into small towns on Louisiana's southern shores. Damage to oyster beds has sunk the regional economy, but not the spirit of the locals.

David Cronenberg's films consistently confound viewer expectations. Naked Lunch, The Fly and Crash subverted the line between reality and fantasy. Now comes A History of Violence.

Author Scott Hershovitz sets out to prove that philosophy, like inquisitive, rowdy children, can offer illuminating insights — even when addressing complex subjects related to misbehavior.

Amythyst Kiah's debut solo album, Wary + Strange, with its unusual combination of roots influences and alternative sounds, features the Grammy-nominated song, "Black Myself."

Internationally renowned playwright August Wilson died Sunday at the age of 60 after a battle with liver cancer. Wilson achieved success with his plays Piano Lessons, Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

Novelist Louise Erdrich returns to the Ojibwe world in her latest work, but The Painted Drum also explores human relationships. The central character steals the title object in order to give it back to its rightful owners.

At a facility in Virginia, Customs handlers train dogs to detect explosives, narcotics and potential terrorists. Search-dog advocates say it's a low-tech approach that may be more reliable than costly detection equipment.

Opponents to embryonic stem cell research point out its moral cost: the destruction of human embryos. Two couples discuss the different choices they made about the embryos they left at a fertility clinic.

Buffy Sainte-Marie has always been a wandering soul with a fierce sense of direction. Watch her and her touring band perform four songs from across her long, innovative career.

Alex Chadwick talks with Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger, about their recent "nuclear family vacation." The two journalists wrote for Slate about their experiences traveling to some of the sites most closely associated with America's nuclear history.

Journalist Karl Fleming's new book is Son of the Rough South: An Uncivil Memoir. As a civil rights reporter for Newsweek in the 1960s, he wrote about major events such as the Birmingham church bombing, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the murders of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Miss. While at the 1966 riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Fleming was severely beaten.