Participation Nation
3:03 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Fixing A Broken World In Chicago, Ill.

This month we are collecting your stories about the good things Americans are doing to make their community a better place. Some of your contributions will become blog posts and the project will end with a story that weaves together submissions to make a story of Americans by Americans for Americans.

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New In Paperback
2:35 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

New In Paperback Aug. 6-12

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Adam Johnson, Ronald Kessler and Peter D. Ward.

Copyright 2012 National Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

The Torch
2:23 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Shut Out Of London Games, Video Artists Get Inventive

Credit Flikli
A video pays homage to the Olympic Games — and to the video games of the 1980s. It's one of many inventive videos around the web, inspired by the London Games.

It's not easy to find video of the London 2012 Olympics on the Internet — even on YouTube. And that's inspiring people to "interpret" the Summer Games for themselves. For instance, you can see puppet shows, 8-bit video, and Taiwanese animation, all related to the Olympics... or, at least sort of related.

Here are some of my favorites — feel free to put yours into the comment section below:

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The Two-Way
2:21 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Sweet Story: Bear Breaks Into Candy Shop, Feasts; Camera Captures It All

So, a bear walks into a candy shop.

No, we're not starting a bad joke.

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The Torch
1:44 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

How Do You Stack Up Against An Olympic Athlete?

Credit Lars Baron / Getty Images
Weightlifter Kazuomi Ota of Japan takes a moment after failing to lift the required weight in the men's +105kg final in London. At 6 feet and 324 pounds, Ota is one of the largest Olympians.

Sure, you might spend a lot of time on your couch, as you watch the Summer Olympics. And hey, maybe you've drifted a couple pounds above your fighting weight. But there's all kinds of athletes competing in London — one of them has to be around the same size as you, right?

Now you can find that out, thanks to the BBC, whose site has an interactive chart that lets you enter your height and weight — and then tells you which two Olympic athletes you most resemble.

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All Tech Considered
1:36 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

As Starbucks Adopts 'Square' Payments, Will Other Merchants Follow?

Credit Square screen grab
Square allows merchants to accept payments automatically from recognized registered customers.

You could soon pay for a latte at Starbucks simply by walking into the store with a smartphone in your pocket and giving the cashier your name.

Square, a San Francisco-based payments startup unveiled a deal Wednesday with the world's largest coffee chain that will move its mobile payments products into Starbucks stores around the U.S. starting this fall.

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The Salt
1:09 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Here's Where Farms Are Sucking The Planet Dry

Credit Nature
Check out some of the world's most important - and threatened - aquifers. Click to see a high-resolution version of this map.

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 4:49 pm

This map is disturbing, once you understand it. It's a new attempt to visualize an old problem — the shrinking of underground water reserves, in most cases because farmers are pumping out water to irrigate their crops.

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The Two-Way
1:03 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Amazingly Earth-like: Curiosity Beams First Full-Frame Photo Of Mars

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 3:20 pm

We can't help but tune into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's daily news conference about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission.

For the most part, it's very much inside baseball. The scientists talk about the nitty gritty details of getting the Curiosity Rover going and onto doing some science. They talk about reorienting antennas and about how a higher-than-predicted temperature won't have a significant effect on the mission.

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Music
12:59 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Medicine Ball Caravan, August 8

Wednesday's MEDICINE BALL CARAVAN (11am-noon Central Standard on 88.7FM or www.krvs.org) brings on the newest releases by Citizen Cope, Slightly Stoopid, Jimmy Cliff, Grady Champion, Anders Osborne, Bas Clas, Corey Ledet and Lost Bayou Ramblers. Also: classics by Smith, Traffic and Guitar Gable 

Shots - Health Blog
12:43 pm
Wed August 8, 2012

Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs Have A Dark Side When It Comes To Health

Credit PRNewsFoto/OSRAM SYLVANIA
Scientists say energy-saving compact fluorescent (left) or light-emitting diode (right) light bulbs can have unsavory health effects.

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 9:34 pm

Everybody knows that one good way to prevent a sunburn is to stay inside, where you're safe from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Right?

Well, that may not be true anymore if your house is lit with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Last month, researchers from the State University of New York at Stony Brook showed in a paper that tiny defects in the bulbs can let through UV light that can damage skin cells and lead to cancer.

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