Morning Edition on KRVS

Rheumatoid arthritis is a disease that causes painful joint inflammation and can be debilitating for many people who suffer from it. New research shows that the female hormone estrogen, along with proteins produced by the body's fat cells, may play an important role in the development of the disease.

When 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords were stolen earlier this month, the revelation made Internet users think again about their ubiquitous words and phrases, and what they can do to make their online accounts a bit safer.

Shoppers in a suburban Seattle mall were asked recently about their password habits. Aaron Brown and Erin Gilmer have very different approaches.

"I try to keep as few as possible," Brown said.

And Gilmer said she has too many.

The battering Mitt Romney took from Republican rivals during the primary made big news. What seemed less noteworthy at the time — the knocks he took from Republicans in Congress — is now much more significant if there is to be a President Romney.

"He's the least of the candidates running right now that would be considered a Tea Party candidate," Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., told CNN.

After Romney won Florida, GOP Rep. Allen West told CBS that Romney has to do a far better job in "making the appeal as far as being a strong constitutional conservative."

You won't catch John Durant in a tie. Shoes are optional, too. He has traded cubicle life for something a little wild: Promoting the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors from the paleolithic era. He's blogging and writing a book about his approach.

Anchorage is one of the few North American cities that depend on a glacier for most of their drinking water. The Eklutna glacier also provides some of the city's electricity, through hydro power. So a team of researchers is working to answer a very important question: How long will the glacier's water supply last?

To get that answer, those researchers have to shovel a lot of snow. "It gets to be the consistency of really strong Styrofoam once you get down, maybe six or eight feet," glaciologist Louis Sass says as he flings pristine snow out of a growing hole in the glacier.