NPR News

Catherine Russell, Virginia Mayhew On JazzSet

Credit Margot Schulman / Courtesy of the Kennedy Center

Catherine Russell performs at the Mary Lou Williams Festival.

By editor

Originally published on Wed December 12, 2012 1:41 pm

Catherine Russell is a lady born to music. Her father, Luis Russell (1902-63), was Louis Armstrong's orchestra leader beginning in the mid-1930s. Her mother, Carline Ray, is a bassist, singer, great all-around musician and a member of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, the 1940s all-woman band that swung as hard as the men. "This Daughter of Jazz Is One Cool Cat," reads the headline of Nat Hentoff's profile for The Wall Street Journal.

2:49 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Yasek Manzano: Jazz From Havana's Streets

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Yasek Manzano.

By editor

All month, World Cafe invites listeners to discover the music of Havana, Cuba, with the series Sense of Place.

2:33 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Mumford & Sons Preaches To Masses

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Mumford & Sons is led by singer Marcus Mumford (second from left). The band's second album, Babel, was released on Sept. 25 and is on pace to be the highest-selling debut of 2012.

By Ann Powers

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 6:24 pm

Marcus Mumford may not seem like the kind of guy who'd start a bar fight.

2:32 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

The dB's On Mountain Stage

Credit Brian Blauser / Mountain Stage

The dB's.

By editor

Originally published on Sun March 10, 2013 7:45 am

The newly reunited power-pop pioneers in The dB's make their first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.V. Often described as the band that filled the gap between Big Star and R.E.M. in the early '80s, The dB's helped change the course of guitar-driven power-pop for years to come.

2:11 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Streams Of Water Once Flowed On Mars; NASA Says Photos Prove It

Next image Previous image

Credit NASA

NASA says it has found proof that water shaped the rocks on the left, in a photograph taken by the Mars rover Curiosity (left). For comparison, the agency released an image of rocks from the Earth (right).

Credit NASA

Pathfinder, 1997: The first mission to land a rover on Mars, Pathfinder touched down in Ares Vallis, an ancient flood plain in the planet's northern hemisphere. Among the 2.3 billion bits of data sent back by the lander and its rover, Sojourner, were 15 chemical analyses of rocks and soil, which suggested Mars had once had liquid water and a thicker atmosphere.

Credit NASA

Spirit, 2010: When NASA's Spirit rover got stuck in Martian sand, it proved to be a lucky break: The spinning wheel churned up soil that provided evidence of rocks formed in the presence of water.

Credit NASA

Opportunity, 2004: Opportunity discovered tiny mineral spheres — nicknamed blueberries — poking out of rocks that were likely formed by water. Researchers using Opportunity's science instruments identified them as concretions rich in the mineral hematite, deposited by water saturating the bedrock.

Credit NASA

Curiosity 2012: A wider view of the outcrop of a former streambed shows bedrock that scientists believe was likely exposed by meteorites striking the surface of Mars.

Credit NASA

Curiosity, 2012: NASA says that water shaped the rocks on the left, in a photograph taken by the Mars rover Curiosity. For comparison, the agency released an image of rocks from the Earth (right).

By Bill Chappell

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 8:31 pm

Listen

NASA's Curiosity rover has found definitive proof that water once ran across the surface of Mars, the agency announced today. NASA scientists say new photos from the rover show rocks that were smoothed and rounded by water. The rocks are in a large canyon and nearby channels that were cut by flowing water, making up an alluvial fan.

"You had water transporting these gravels to the downslope of the fan," NASA researchers say. The gravel then formed into a conglomerate rock, which was in turn likely covered before being exposed again.

All Content	closeNews podcasts Use iTunes Use a different player	RSS
View all podcasts & RSS feeds

Now Playing

Podcasts & RSS Feeds

NPR News

Pages

JazzSet

2:54 pm

Thu September 27, 2012