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Health
10:05 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Silk Stretches Drugs' Shelf Life To New Lengths

Researchers have found a fridge-free way to store vaccines and antibiotics. Biomedical engineer David Kaplan, senior author of the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, discusses how heat-sensitive drugs wrapped in silk stay effective for months at high temperatures.

The Two-Way
9:56 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Norman Sas, The Genius Behind Electric Football, Dies

Credit Beth A. Keiser / AP
Setting up the players. Where would they go after the switch is thrown?

Some of us are old enough to remember when electric football first became one of the coolest toys.

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The Two-Way
9:48 am
Fri July 13, 2012

ACLU Files 'Groundbreaking' Lawsuit Claiming Right To Learn To Read

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 9:59 am

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed suit against the state on Thursday on behalf of about 1,000 grade-school kids from Highland Park, Mich. who are not reading at grade level.

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Movies
9:48 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Looking For The Megabucks? Think Megapixels

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 7:30 pm

Imagine you're a movie producer, and you've got a couple of hundred million dollars to gamble on a single massive blockbuster. Which genre do you suppose will be your safest bet — superhero? Action-adventure? Sci-fi? All of those have had huge successes, but they've also all had hugely expensive failures.

There's one genre, though, that's hardly a gamble at all. It's been almost foolproof since it first came into being in 1995: computer animation.

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The Two-Way
8:55 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Cheney: If There's Another Sept. 11, I Want Romney In The Oval Office

Credit Tom Pennington / Getty Images
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, on November 2010 in Dallas.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney at a Wyoming fundraiser he hosted Thursday for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (via MSNBC's First Read):

"Sooner or later there is going to be a big surprise. Usually a very unpleasant one. Whether it's 9-11 or the other kinds of difficulties or crises that arrive, they always do. ...

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Shots - Health Blog
8:39 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Generic Drugs Make Dent In Global AIDS Pandemic

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 9:02 am

In the absence of a cure or vaccine for HIV/AIDS, drug treatment has at least helped lower the pandemic's toll.

Since 2003, much of the treatment dispensed in hard-hit countries has come in the form of generic versions of previously expensive drugs. The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, has paid for quite a bit of the medicine.

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'It's All Politics': NPR's Weekly News Roundup
8:31 am
Fri July 13, 2012

It's All Politics, July 12, 2012

Credit Evan Vucci / AP

Mitt Romney, hearing boos at the NAACP convention, now knows what we go through each week on the podcast. President Obama, facing poor economic news, changes the subject with an assault on Romney and the GOP on taxes. Plus updates on Reps Charlie Rangel (victory), Jesse Jackson Jr. (health), Shelley Berkley (ethics) and Thad McCotter (skadoodle).

Join NPR's Ken Rudin and guest host Brian Naylor for this week's political roundup.

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Television
8:19 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Aaron Paul: Playing A Meth Dealer On 'Breaking Bad'

Credit Ursula Coyote / AMC
Aaron Paul plays a meth-making drug dealer on the AMC drama Breaking Bad. He also played a recurring character on the HBO series Big Love.

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 9:56 am

This interview was originally broadcast on September 19, 2011. Breaking Bad begins its fifth season on Sunday, July 15th at 10 PM EST.

Vince Gilligan's AMC drama Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston as a high school chemistry teacher named Walter White who turns to dealing drugs after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. White's partner-in-crime throughout the series is his former student Jesse Pinkman, played by actor Aaron Paul.

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The Two-Way
8:00 am
Fri July 13, 2012

Heir To Billions Arrested In Wife's Death

Credit Alan Davidson / AP
Eva Rausing, right, and her husband Hans Kristian Rausing in 1996.

An update on our post from Wednesday headlined "Heir To Billions May Have Lived With Wife's Body For Days In Britain":

Today in a London court, the BBC says, a police detective testified that Hans Kristian Rausing "has been arrested on suspicion of [Eva Rausing's] murder."

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The Two-Way
7:29 am
Fri July 13, 2012

English Soccer's John Terry Found Not Guilty Of Racial Abuse

Credit Bethany Clarke / Getty Images
John Terry as he left court today in London.

A "not guilty" verdict has been handed down in a case that has been front-page news for months in Great Britain:

John Terry, former captain of England's national soccer team and captain of the English Premier League's Chelsea Football Club, "has been cleared of racially abusing fellow footballer Anton Ferdinand," the BBC writes.

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