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When Iran's foreign minister confirmed a landmark nuclear deal, he made the announcement via Twitter. Most Iranians have a hard time accessing Twitter freely. David Greene talks to Babak Rahimi, associate professor of communication, culture and religious studies at the University of California, San Diego.

With waters rising and their hospital on the verge of losing power, Memorial Medical Center staff were faced with an ethical question: Who to save first? Sheri Fink reconstructs their decisions — from hastening patients' deaths to evacuating the sickest last — in Five Days at Memorial.

Washington State has finalized rules for recreational marijuana sales, joining Colorado in beginning to create a legal framework for the pot industry. Randy Simmons, deputy director of the Washington Liquor Control Board, says other states and even other countries are watching Washington's developing system very closely.

Director Steve McQueen tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he wanted to help fill a "huge hole in the canon of cinema." And actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose parents are from Nigeria, says he grew up feeling "a sense of unity amongst African people and people of African heritage."

Wilma Stordahl is tall, blond and Norwegian. Two of her sons have a black father, but they both share their mother's Norwegian last name. Strangers have frequently told Stordahl that her sons are black, not mixed-race, but Stordahl and her boys say the term captures only part of who they are.

The Modzitzer sect of Chasidic Judaism, which originated in the Polish town of Modzitz, is known for its beautiful melodies. Among the most emblematic and prolific composers in this tradition is Brooklynite Ben Zion Shenker — who, at 88, continues to create new works.

Salinas, Calif., is just an hour from Silicon Valley, but production at many local lettuce farms is decidedly low-tech. City officials here decided it's time for an upgrade — and have hired a venture capital firm to help Salinas transition into a high-tech agricultural hub.

They look like fettuccine come to life — little flatworms that glide along riverbeds and perform miracles. Chop off their tails, they grow them back. Split them in half, they grow whole again. But chop off their heads, and not only do they grow new heads, but those new heads contain old memories! Whoa!

It's easy to get discouraged by a constant stream of bad news about unemployment, crime, war and political dysfunction. You might think we humans can't do anything right. But good news: We can. Here are a few areas of real progress in the U.S. and around the world.

Many Midwest farmers are behind in planting corn and soybeans, thanks to a cool spring and heavy rain. Now, they're getting a chill from Congress, too, as the House voted down a new farm bill last week. In Iowa, some farmers say they're disappointed and frustrated that farm policy is on hold, largely because of arguments over nutrition programs they think shouldn't even be in the farm bill.