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Senate debate begins this week on ways to add a prescription drug benefit to Medicare. Fifteen years ago, Congress passed such a measure, only to repeal it a year later under a storm of criticism. NPR's Julie Rovner reports for Morning Edition.

Fifty years ago, Folkways Records released a six-album set of recordings that had a profound influence on the folk music revival and later on rock music. Morning Edition has the story of Harry Smith's The Anthology of American Folk Music. NPR Online offers a selection of songs from the collection.

Researchers and activists are in Barcelona this week to talk about the global AIDS epidemic. But another epidemic of similar size is sweeping the globe: tuberculosis. A major push is on to expand TB treatment, and as NPR's Richard Harris reports from Kenya, the treatment is working, even under some of the most challenging conditions.

Brazilian physicist Marcelo Gleiser is the author of the new book, The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time (WW Norton). In it he explores our relationship to the sky and how it has influenced religion and then in turn - science. He writes, 'one of my goals. . is to humanize science, to argue that our scientific ideas are very much a product of the cultural and emotional environment where they originate'. Gleiser is Professor of Natural Philosophy and professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College.

Pianist and singer Michael Feinstein. His repertoire is American popular song and he is a collector of vintage recordings and musical memorabilia. In the fall he plans to release a collection of radio duets by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, on his new record label Feinery. Feinstein released a new CD with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Michael Feinstein and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Concord).

Journalist Jon Cohen writes for Science Magazine. He just got back from the 14th International AIDS conference where he reported on the AIDS vaccine and anti-HIV drug therapies. His article "Designer Bugs" in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly is about how scientists have the ability to create synthetic viruses in the lab, like mousepox and polio, and the controversies and dangers this presents.

Old computer monitors and TV picture tubes dumped in landfills can leach hazardous amounts of lead into groundwater, according to a scientific study. The research is playing a key role in the fight to keep electronics out of landfills and has intensified a controversy over who should pay to recycle them. NPR's Emily Harris reports for Morning Edition.

A group of scientists reported finding a six or seven million-year-old skull in Chad, Central Africa. The specimen, the oldest hominid skull ever found, will shed new light on a mysterious period in human history. The new species has been nicknamed Toumao, a name for children born before the dry season in the African desert.

The HBO hit series Sex and the City, begins a new season July 21. We'll hear from two people involved with the show: Actress Sarah Jessica Parker was just nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She's been acting for most of her life, including playing Annie on Broadway, the young bimbo in L.A. Story, and a fed-up fiancee in Honeymoon in Vegas. This is her fifth season starring in Sex and the City, as Carrie, a columnist who writes about the sexual mores of New Yorkers. Terry recorded this interview with Parker live before an audience at Martha's Vineyard in July 2001.

Thirty years ago, the Flatlanders released their first record to almost universal indifference. Now, with the release of their second album, Now Again (New West Records), they're one of the nation's most talked about country bands, thanks to nationally syndicated radio host Don Imus. From member station KUHF in Houston, Ed Mayberry reports.