Talk of the Nation on KUER 1

There's a lot to be anxious about — an upcoming job interview, a first date or perhaps a big presentation at work. For some, anxiety can be much more than just sweaty palms and quivering hands. It can be a debilitating condition with severe physical and mental effects.

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that nearly 40 million American adults suffer from a wide range of anxiety disorders — from acute nervousness and increased heart rate to full-on panic attacks.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is perhaps best known for his research tracing the family and genetic history of famous African Americans. A selection of his writings on race, politics and culture appear in The Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Reader. Originally broadcast May 8, 2012.

In his new book, How to Cook Everything: The Basics, Mark Bittman explains with careful instructions and 1,000 colorful photos how to stock your pantry, how to dice vegetables, which knives you should buy �" and to really get back to basics �" how to boil water. Originally broadcast March 19, 2012.

A new constitution is an essential step toward democracy for Egypt. During a recent visit to the country, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she "would not look to the U.S. Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012." Originally broadcast on February 13, 2012.

Mike Nichols has won every major entertainment award over a long career in theater, comedy, TV and film. He returned to Broadway directing a revival of Death of a Salesman, which picked up seven Tony nominations. Nichols warns the production may be his last. Originally broadcast May 23, 2012.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. And topic A in this city remains the Supreme Court decision on health care handed down on Thursday. President Obama claims validation of his signature legislative achievement. Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, vow to repeal it.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan.

Twelve years after it was voted out of office, the PRI, Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, reclaimed the presidency in yesterday's election. PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto won 38 percent of the vote. He promised new style and new substance for a party long accused of corruption, deals with drug lords, and authoritarian rule. In a pre-election op-ed for the Dallas Morning News, Jesus Velasco asked whether the U.S. can trust Mexico's new administration.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. This weekend, three members of the crew onboard the International Space Station will be returning to Earth after over six months in orbit. Flora Lichtman had a chance to chat with some of them, and she's here with us. Hi, Flora.

FLORA LICHTMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Ira. That's right, just another day at SCIENCE FRIDAY, calling space.

(LAUGHTER)

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. It's not often that people pay tribute, even eulogize, an animal, unless it's a famous film star like Lassie or maybe Trigger. But this week, they are remembering Lonesome George, the famous giant Galapagos tortoise thought to be over 100 years old and the last known member of his subspecies.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

When it comes to climate change, you've heard of melting icecaps and rising sea levels, but just how high will the sea levels rise in 20, 30 or 100 years? Will it be enough to notice the difference? New research now says the oceans will swallow up more and more of our coastline, rising not just inches but feet according to two new reports released by the National Research Council and the U.S. Geological Survey.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY; I'm Ira Flatow. Imagine walking through Times Square, and every step you take it converted into a tiny electric current by the special pavement underfoot. Now multiply by the third of a million people who walk through Times Square on any given day. Wow, it could be a pretty awesome source of renewable energy, right, perhaps enough to power all those neon lights and flashing billboards.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy hit the big screen again next week. The new movie "The Amazing Spider-Man" opens on July 3rd. And once you accept the premise that a man can get super spidey skills from a radioactive - sorry to laugh - spider bite, well, you know, just like Johnny Carson used to say, you buy the premise, you buy the bit.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. Your telephone is a computer, really. Your microwave, it's got a computer in it. Your television, it's got a computer there. Even, of course, your computer has a computer. Your iPhone, your cellphone. Everything - just about everything in electronics these days has a computer, and they all work the same way like a Turing machine. Decades before your PC, your Mac or your Commodore, Alan Turing was designing a machine which could calculate almost anything: a universal computer.

While he's best known for his aural pursuits, musician and DJ Moby has been taking photographs for years. He released his 2011 photo book, Destroyed, to accompany an album of the same name.

The book offers a visual journey of a touring musician's insomnia. Isolated and disoriented by jet lag and strange hotels, Moby shows readers what it's like to roam the world at hours when most of us are sleeping.

Conventional wisdom holds that happier workers are also more productive. But precisely how to boost staff morale has eluded many employers. But some researchers say there are specific ways companies can build a better workplace, from moving coffee stations to increasing diversity.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan at the Aspen Ideas Festival, but the big news today comes from Washington, where the Supreme Court upheld President Obama's health care law in a series of five-to-four votes. In a surprise, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the four liberal members of the court.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Nora Ephron provided some of the most memorable moments in the movies: "When Harry Met Sally," "Sleepless in Seattle," many other films and, of course, essays and stories. She suffered from leukemia and died last night in New York at the age of 71. Six years ago, she joined us to talk about her book, "I Feel Bad About My Neck," and we concluded that conversation by talking about her last chapter, "Consider the Alternative," where she wrote about regrets, and she cited Edith Piaf's celebrated song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien."

With the Republican primary season completed, the presidential campaigns are buckling down for the months ahead. NPR's Ron Elving and political strategists Vin Weber and Anna Greenberg discuss the presidential race, key battleground states and what it will take for candidates Romney or Obama to win in November.

The Pentagon and FBI have conducted more than 100 investigations into possible Islamist extremists inside the U.S. military in the wake of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston shares the latest developments and what the military is doing to prevent radicalization within its ranks.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Over the past couple of weeks we've seen some important changes on immigration - the president announced a new plan to defer deportation for some young undocumented immigrants, and yesterday the Supreme Court decision on Arizona's controversial immigration law. Much of writer Luis Alberto Urrea's career has focused on life along the U.S.-Mexican border and on the lives of the people who cross it. Now those stories are beginning to change a bit.

When Colum McCann came to the U.S. from Ireland in the early 1980s, he set out on a cross-country bicycle trip to get to know his new country and its stories. He's spent the years since telling those tales through prose. With his project, Story Swap, he's helping diverse communities better understand each other by sharing their own stories.

The Colorado River touches the lives of Americans coast to coast. The river begins in the Rocky Mountains and flows into Mexico's Sea of Cortez. Along the way, it feeds over a dozen tributaries across the American Southwest.

Many in the West rely on the Colorado for drinking water, and farmers depend on it to irrigate millions of acres of farmland. And if you've ever felt the cool relief of air conditioning in Las Vegas, there's a good chance the electricity was provided by the "mighty Colorado."

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan at the Aspen Institute. News from the Middle East often focuses on problems: violence in Syria; political infighting in Egypt; bombs in the new Iraq; nuclear facilities in Iran; ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan.

Wander through one of this country's fine museums of natural history and you'll see animals you'll never see in a zoo: the wooly mammoth, the dodo bird, animals extinct for centuries. But for Stewart Brand extinct doesn't mean gone forever. He's working on a new project, "Revive and Restore," to de-extinct animals we never thought we'd see alive.

As the climate changes, scientists are documenting measurable shifts in the natural world — from a tremendous loss in Arctic sea ice and an increase in extreme weather like drought, floods and heatwaves, to the migration of plants and animals to new latitudes.

The Supreme Court has delivered a split ruling on Arizona's immigration law, striking down several key elements but upholding the "show me your papers" provision. The controversial provision allows local police to check the immigration status of people they stop in the normal course of their duties.

E.O Wilson and Sylvia Earle see the through very different lenses. Wilson started with his eyes to the ground, following ants as they lead him to the study of biodiversity and human nature. Earle dove into the Gulf of Mexico to focus on aquatic plants. That underwater view ultimately led her to study the relationship between degrading seas and life everywhere.