Research News
4:01 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Study: Depression, Autism And Schizophrenia Share Genetic Links

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Scientists have known for some time that genes play a role in disorders like major depression, bipolar disorder, autism, schizophrenia and ADHD. But a major new study published in the journal Lancet suggests that those five disorders may actually share some of the same genetic links. The study analyzed the DNA of more than 60,000 people around the world. Jordan Smoller is a professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. And he helped lead the study. I asked him what the study set out to find.

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Sports
4:01 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Major League Soccer Finally On Solid Footing, But Hasn't Reached Big Time

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The Major League Soccer season starts tomorrow. Superstar David Beckham is gone and there aren't any new teams to get excited about this year. But the MLS is on solid footing, and as NPR's Mike Pesca reports, the league has big ambitions.

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Sports
4:01 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Gay Athletes Face Discrimination In Professional Sports

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It's no secret that the atmosphere in pro sports for gay athletes, especially men, isn't always a comfortable one. This week came another story on that topic: a report that an NFL team asked college players about their sexual orientation when they were auditioning for the league. The NFL says it's investigating. And for more on this, sportswriter Stefan Fatsis joins us, as he does most Fridays. Hi there, Stefan.

STEFAN FATSIS: Hey, Audie.

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Energy
4:01 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

State Department Finds No Major Objections To Keystone XL Pipeline Proposal

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. We've reported a lot on the fight over the Keystone XL pipeline. It would carry oil from the tar sands of Canada all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. And today, there's a development in this story. The State Department has released a new analysis of environmental impacts of the pipeline.

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Politics
4:01 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Obama Says He Can't Force A Budget Deal: 'I'm Not A Dictator'

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

Congress failed to reach an agreement on the spending cuts known as the sequester — and now they are out of time. On Friday morning, Congressional leaders from both parties met at the White House. Afterward, House Speaker John Boehner made it clear that Republicans won't budge on taxes.

Politics
3:56 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Media Circus: Ah, The President's Mean

Credit Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images
The Washington Post's Bob Woodward, shown in June 2012, has been in the spotlight this week because of a tussle with the White House.

The week's developments include a pope emeritus for the first time in six centuries, federal budget cuts seemingly designed by Sweeney Todd, and the visit by one of the NBA's all-time rebounders (Dennis Rodman) to the son of one of the world's greatest sportsmen (that would be North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, whose late father claimed to have shot five holes-in-one on his very first golf outing).

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Around the Nation
3:42 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Drought-Stricken Plains Farmers 'Giddy' Over Heavy Snow

Originally published on Mon March 4, 2013 4:34 pm

Two rapid-fire snowstorms belted Kansas with more than 2 feet of snow this week. They caused thousands of accidents and all kinds of hardships — but they also produced very broad smiles from some quarters.

That's because in a place as dry as Kansas has been lately, a blizzard can be a blessing for farmers and ranchers.

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The Salt
3:39 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

How Did Our Brains Evolve To Equate Food With Love?

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 11:12 am

If food is love, Americans must love their kids a lot. About one-third of children and adolescents in the U.S. are overweight or obese.

And our emotional response to food may be one of the reasons so many kids eat so much, according to a poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The poll found that in more than a quarter of families, food is considered an important way to show affection.

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Energy
3:32 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Natural Gas Dethrones King Coal As Power Companies Look To Future

Credit Michael Williamson / The Washington Post/Getty Images
American Electric Power's natural gas-burning plant in Dresden, Ohio, is one of the energy company's new investments in alternatives to coal-burning plants.

Originally published on Fri March 1, 2013 7:01 pm

The way Americans get their electricity is changing. Coal is in decline. Natural gas is bursting out of the ground in record amounts. And the use of wind and solar energy is growing fast. All this is happening as power companies are trying to choose which kind of energy to bet on for the next several decades.

Until recently, half of these plants burned coal to make electricity. Now, that's down to about one-third. Since 2010, about 150 coal plants either have been retired or it's been announced they will be retired soon.

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The Two-Way
2:53 pm
Fri March 1, 2013

Add 'North Korea Expert' To Dennis Rodman's Resume

Credit Jason Mojica / Associated Press
Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman watch North Korean and U.S. players in an exhibition basketball game at an arena in Pyongyang on Thursday.

Originally published on Sat March 2, 2013 1:55 pm

Strange as it may seem, a pierced, tattooed and occasionally cross-dressing former basketball star is now one of the West's leading experts on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman, following his improbable visit to Pyongyang this week, has become the only Westerner to have had a one-on-one with the reclusive Kim, who by all accounts enjoys basketball at least as much as testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

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