Shots - Health Blog
9:46 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Stem Cells Show Promise As Blindness Treatment In Early Study

Two women losing their sight to progressive forms of blindness may have regained some vision while participating in an experiment testing a treatment made from human embryonic stem cells, researchers reported today.

The report marks the first time that scientists have produced direct evidence that human embryonic stem cells may have helped a patient. The cells had only previously been tested in the laboratory or in animals.

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The Two-Way
9:39 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrant For GPS Tracking

Credit Yasir Afifi / AP
The Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about whether GPS monitoring devices like this one may be affixed to suspects' cars without a warrant from a judge.

Originally published on Mon January 23, 2012 12:26 pm

The Supreme Court has just ruled that police need a warrant if they want to place a tracking device on a suspect's vehicle. The court's decision was unanimous.

NPR's Nina Totenberg says that this debate has been a contentious issue in the digital age. Here's how she explained it to newscaster Paul Brown:

At issue here is the case of Antoine Jones, a Washington, D.C. night club owner. Police put a GPS tracking device on his car for 30 days. That helped authorities find a stash of money and drugs.

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The Salt
9:09 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Geoengineered Food? Climate Fix Could Boost Crop Yields, But With Risks

Credit iStockphoto
Altering the upper atmosphere could block enough sunlight to offset the warming effects of climate change and protect food crops. But what are the risks?

For a few years now, a handful of scientists have been proposing grandiose technological fixes for the world's climate to combat the effects of global warming — schemes called geoengineering.

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Shots - Health Blog
9:08 am
Mon January 23, 2012

A Permanent Home That Allows Drinking Helps Homeless Drink Less

Most housing set up to help the homeless comes with a strict no-booze policy.

But a study on a controversial complex in Seattle that allows chronic alcoholics to keep drinking suggests the lenient approach can work too.

Homeless people with alcohol problems decreased their consumption over two years at the facility, called 1811 Eastlake. The average amount of alcohol consumed on a typical drinking day by the 95 study participants had decreased by about 25 percent at the end of the two-year study.

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The Two-Way
9:02 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Syria Rejects Arab League's Plan

Saying it was a "blatant interference in its internal affairs," Syria rejected an Arab League plan that the organization hoped would bring an end to the violence.

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the official state news agency, the government condemed the plan and accused the Arab League of arming terrorist groups, which they say are responsible for killing civilians and attacking state facilities.

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Books News & Features
9:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Publishers And Booksellers See A 'Predatory' Amazon

Credit iStockphoto.com

Booksellers and publishers are worried that Amazon is going to devour their industry. The giant online retailer seems to have its hands in all aspects of the business, from publishing books to selling them — and that has some in the book world wondering if there is any end to Amazon's influence.

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It's All Politics
8:02 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Rollicking Republican Battle On For 'Swing Part Of The Swing State' Of Florida

Mitt Romney is reeling. Newt Gingrich is surging. Rick Santorum is hanging on. And Ron Paul continues to zig while others zag.

So goes the rollicking but inconclusive – so far – Republican presidential contest, as it moves from small-ball to big time in Florida for a Jan. 31 primary in which some 4 million state Republicans are eligible to vote.

Perspective? More Florida Republicans have already cast early ballots than all New Hampshire votes tallied for the top three finishers in that state's Jan. 10 GOP primary, about 197,000.

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The Two-Way
7:26 am
Mon January 23, 2012

Pakistan Officially Rejects U.S. Report On NATO Strike

Using strong words, Pakistan's military officially rejected a U.S. report, which concluded a NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani troops was undertaken in self defense. Pakistan's military said parts of the report were "factually not correct."

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World Cafe
7:00 am
Mon January 23, 2012

World Cafe Looks Back: '90s Singer-Songwriters

Credit Frank Micelotta / ImageDirect/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

Left to right: Aimee Mann, Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega.

Throughout the month of October, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of World Cafe by revisiting some of the best and most memorable interviews of the past 20 years.

On today's jam-packed session, host David Dye takes us on a journey through the singer-songwriter movement of the 1990s, with artists who were at the forefront of the World Cafe program in its infancy.

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The Two-Way
6:41 am
Mon January 23, 2012

2 Dead As Storms Roll Through South, Midwest

Two people were killed in the Birmingham, Ala. area after severe storms rolled through the South and Midwest. The storms, reports the AP, triggered tornado warnings in five states.

Currently, the National Weather Service said it expects tornadoes, hail, thunderstorms and winds up to 75 mph to move through Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. These kinds of storms, reports the NWS, are uncommon in the middle winter.

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