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Middle East
2:31 am
Tue July 3, 2012

Can Sanctions Force Iran To Change Its Policies?

Credit Vahid Salemi / AP
Iranian workers make repairs to a unit at Tehran's oil refinery in November 2007. It's estimated that a Western oil embargo is costing Iran about $4.5 billion each month in lost revenue.
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Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 7:17 am

Whether economic sanctions can force a government to change course is far from clear, but Iran should be a good test case.

A European Union embargo on Iranian oil took full effect this week, complementing U.S. measures that have grown much more severe in recent weeks. Other Western sanctions now in place target Iranian banks, foreign companies that provide shipping insurance for Iranian oil tankers, and foreign firms that invest in the Iranian oil industry.

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Science
2:30 am
Tue July 3, 2012

When Ice Cream Attacks: The Mystery of Brain Freeze

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Credit Benjamin Morris / NPR
NPR interns (from left) Angela Wong and Kevin Uhrmacher participate in an experiment to induce brain freeze.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Joe Palca explains how to induce a brain freeze.
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Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 1:12 pm

If it hasn't happened to you, count yourself as lucky. For many people, eating ice cream or drinking an icy drink too fast can produce a really painful headache. It usually hits in the front of the brain, behind the forehead.

The technical name for this phenomenon is cold-stimulus headache, but people also refer to it as "ice cream headache" or "brain freeze."

The good news is that brain freeze is easy to prevent — just eat more slowly. The other bit of good news is these headaches don't last very long — a minute at the outside.

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Money & Politics
2:29 am
Tue July 3, 2012

Gay Donors Open Wallets On Both Sides Of The Aisle

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Credit Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Obama is introduced by singer Ricky Martin at a fundraiser hosted by Martin and the LGBT Leadership Council at the Rubin Museum of Art on May 14 in New York.
Credit Steve Marcus / Reuters /Landov
Paul Singer, shown at a conference in Las Vegas on May 9, is a top supporter of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and has also started a superPAC to back Republican candidates who favor same-sex marriage.
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Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 7:26 am

In politics, money talks. And money from gay and lesbian donors is talking louder than ever in this election cycle.

That's partly a result of President Obama endorsing same-sex marriage, and it's partly because Republicans are starting to see contributions as well.

That's a huge change from just a few decades ago.

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Books
2:28 am
Tue July 3, 2012

Dog Memoirs Will Fetch, Sit And Stay On Your Shelf

Credit Julie Rovner
Gromit is the purebred Pembroke Welsh corgi belonging to NPR's Julie Rovner — who says she's hoping to eventually adopt a companion pooch named Wallace.
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Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 1:13 pm

The Morning Edition mailboxes are always overflowing with books sent by publishers. And recently, a fair number have fallen into a category you might call "dog memoirs" — books about how dogs transform their owners' lives.

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Space
2:28 am
Tue July 3, 2012

Fledgling NASA Nonprofit Starts To Liftoff

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Originally published on Tue July 3, 2012 9:24 am

A new nonprofit organization that's supposed to take charge of expanding scientific research on the International Space Station has had a rocky first year but now is starting to show what it can do.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space just signed one agreement with a company not traditionally linked to research in space: the sporting goods company Cobra Puma Golf.

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