Talk of the Nation

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Thirty-five years ago, NASA launched a pair of spacecraft called Voyager 1 and 2 in hopes of learning more about the outer planets of solar system, those big gas giants. The Voyagers beamed back dazzling close-ups of the big red spot on Jupiter and the rings of Saturn, but scientists wanted to see even more of what's out there, see how far the Voyagers could go before running out of fuel.

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. Last week, China launched its Shenzhou spacecraft into orbit, carrying three taikonauts, one of whom was a woman, China's first female astronaut. A few days later, the spaceship crept up on the Tiangong space lab in orbit and docked with it, making China one of only three countries to have pulled off such a feat after the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

Philadelphia's Mütter Museum has a lot of heart, and other organs too. Items in this collection of medical specimens include a gangrenous hand, a wallet made of human flesh, and a colon the size of a medium suitcase. And that's just the stuff on display, imagine what's in the basement.

What if you needed a new toothbrush and all you had to do was hit print? What if doctors could print out transplantable organs and pastry chefs turned to a printer, not a kitchen, for their next creation? Ira Flatow and a panel of guests discuss 3D printing technology, how far it's come and what a 3D-printed-future could look like.

The operation was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2009-10. NPR's Ted Robbins and Michel Marizco of the Fronteras Desk talk about the intent of Fast and Furious, why the operation failed, and solutions to curb gun-running on the U.S.-Mexican border.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Over the past 25 years, the number and percentage of prisoners held in isolation has exploded at both state and federal penitentiaries. At a Senate subcommittee hearing this, Senator Richard Durbin argued that the dramatic expansion of the use of solitary confinement is a human rights issue we can't ignore.

In 1989, Reginald Daniel began teaching a university course on multiracial identity called Betwixt and Between. It remains the longest-running college course addressing the multiracial experience. For his continuing studies and research on multiraciality, Daniel received the Loving Prize.

When Ugandan lawmakers introduced an anti-homosexuality bill in 2009, it called for the death penalty for "serial offenders." That legislation failed, but a new version was reintroduced in 2012 in an effort to further criminalize same-sex relations in a country where homosexuality is already illegal. The bills have drawn loud and widespread condemnation from much of the international community, particularly after the brutal death of openly gay activist Davdi Kato.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Forty years after Watergate, President Obama cites executive privilege. Rubio's out that he's in again, and after baseball phenom Bryce Harper leads off, Harry Reid hits second. It's Wednesday and time for a...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: That's a clown question, bro...

CONAN: Edition of the Political Junkie.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

VICE PRESIDENT WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad: Where's the beef?