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Beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, help us digest food, make vitamins, and even help protect us from harmful pathogens. But it's not clear which probiotics are helpful.

Strict regulations to combat baby-selling and fraud have meant the process of adopting a child can take much longer. Many nations also now feel stigmatized for sending babies abroad. As a result, some advocates say, many children are languishing in orphanages.

Jared Loughner pleaded guilty on Tuesday to all counts related to last year's shooting spree in Tucson. Audie Cornish talks with Ted Robbins about the court proceedings, where the judge in the case found that psychiatric care and medication had rendered Loughner fit for trial. His plea was part of a deal with prosecutors that spared Loughner the death penalty.

Robert Siegel talks with Aaron David Miller, a Middle East Policy expert and a distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. They discuss President Obama and possible problems with Israeli relations.

For decades, coal represented half of the nation's electricity generation, but it dropped to only 34 percent for the month of March. While the decline is partially due to a warmer winter and stricter environmental regulations, the real culprit may be natural gas. Technological breakthroughs in fracking have led to a gas boom that's caused prices to plummet. As a result, power plants are switching from coal to natural gas and mines in Appalachia are shutting down.

Apple is rejoining a widely used registry of environmentally friendly electronic devices. The surprise move comes after the company received harsh public criticism for turning its back on its green environmental image.

An Oakland, Calif., nonprofit group encourages low-income families to figure out for themselves what they need to get ahead, and then helps them achieve their goals. Its pilot program for low-income families is proving to be a promising new approach to an old problem.

For the first time since President Obama took office, the White House has invoked executive privilege in a dispute with Congress. Obama sided with his Justice Department and refused to turn over documents to House Republicans in their probe of the botched gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious. But the aggressive move by the president was not enough to stop a Republican committee from voting to hold his attorney general in contempt.

The inventory of homes for sale in California is low, even in areas with high foreclosure rates. That's made any available home enticing to buyers. But with so few houses for sale, bidding wars have returned. In many cases, investors are squeezing out the families trying to buy.

The 54-year-old artist says officials have lifted the strict bail conditions imposed after his release from detention last year. But he says he is not allowed to leave China and that he was prevented from attending a hearing this week on his tax evasion case.

With local prosecutor Rachel Mitchell and Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake playing big parts in the Kavanaugh nomination, Arizonans are watching the national Supreme Court drama closely.

A loophole in Pennsylvania law lets companies drill oil and gas wells in farms and fields where Native American and Colonial artifacts are buried.

The delay in the Supreme Court confirmation process reflects how deeply affected Americans have been by this week's testimony.

With tensions easing between North and South Korea, the two sides are reviving cross-border reunions that began in 1985. On Monday, 93 South Koreans will board buses to visit relatives in the North.

Republican Rep. Francis Rooney of Florida talks with NPR's Steve Inskeep about the idea of the Iran deal as a template for any agreement to denuclearize North Korea.

Steve Inskeep talks to Angelo Guisado, of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who represents migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., about the latest court ruling and implications for asylum-seekers.

A local journalist in small town New York and an aspiring writer in Eastern Ukraine discovered they had a lot more to learn from each other than either expected.

NPR's Scott Simon talks with former Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Zeidenberg about the FBI investigation into Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

The World Cup begins on Friday. We have a preview of the month-long tournament, which the United States failed to qualify for.

They are expected to head to Iraq in the coming weeks to build up an Iraqi Army that has all but fallen apart. The additional American soldiers and Marines will work out of an ever-expanding number of training sites around the country. U.S. officials expect ground operations sometime in the spring to take back territory seized by the so-called Islamic State.

Voters across the country will weigh in on more than 70 ballot measures this fall — the most in a decade. NPR takes a look at how ballot measures can become political chess pieces for outside interests from the view of Maine and Colorado.

Over the weekend, hundreds of children traveling solo across the U.S. border were transferred to a detention center in Nogales, Arizona. David Greene talks to Los Angeles Times reporter Cindy Carcamo.

As more states restrict abortion, the obstacles for minors who need the procedure are growing. Abortion-rights advocates warn the legal upheaval is leaving young people confused and without options.

More than half of the nation's pipelines were built before 1970. In fact, ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline, which burst Friday in Mayflower, Ark., is 65 years old. According to federal statistics, pipelines have on average 280 significant spills a year. Most aren't big enough to make headlines.

Robert Mueller has been the U.S. government's indispensable man when it comes to national security. When his 10-year term as FBI director expired, the Obama administration asked Congress for an unprecedented two-year extension. But now, the clock is ticking on finding his successor.