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For many, the best analogy for the way DNA works is that it's like a computer program at the heart of every cell. Some of its programming tricks bear an uncanny resemblance to ones the human brain has dreamed up. But DNA also works in ways human programmers find entirely alien. David Kestenbaum takes the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first scientific description of DNA to speak with researchers trying to understand this odd and extraordinary piece of "software," which is the product of billions of years of evolution.

Chinese health officials report seven more deaths from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, raising China's SARS-related deaths to 122. In Beijing, a second hospital is sealed off and 4,000 residents are under quarantine. Disease experts urge people to heed travel advisories. Hear NPR's Rob Gifford and NPR's Linda Wertheimer.

Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Damascus, Syria. He's expected to press Syrian leaders to drop support for for Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups that the Bush administration views as terrorist organizations. NPR's Kate Seelye reports.

New Hampshire's famous landmark, the Old Man of the Mountain, collapses in a landslide. The series of granite ledges resembled a human face in profile. The image was used on state road signs and even the back of the New Hampshire quarter. Hear NPR's Lynn Neary and museum volunteer Cathy Nelson.

President Bush says he is confident weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq, and suggests ordinary Iraqi citizens may provide key information. Meanwhile, about 1,000 weapons and intelligence experts, including former U.N. weapons inspectors, prepare to head to Iraq. Hear Terrence Taylor, a former U.N. weapons inspector.

The U.S. administrator for Iraq, Jay Garner, says he believes an interim governing council to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein will be in place by mid-May. Garner said the council will be comprised of returned exiles and local Iraqi leaders. In Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, U.S. forces stage raids against armed groups that still support the former Iraqi leader. Hear NPR's Scott Simon.

Once one of the most advanced mental institutions in the region, Baghdad's Al-Rashad Mental Hospital is now struggling to care for its rapidly deteriorating patients. Looters have left the facility without beds, food, anti-psychotic drugs and other critical supplies. NPR's Guy Raz reports.

The State Department confirms reports that Saddam Hussein and his family seized about $1 billion from the Iraqi central bank hours before the start of the U.S.-led invasion. U.S. officials say they are trying to trace the missing cash, which may have helped fund an escape by the Hussein family. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

Actor John Malkovich is making his directorial debut with the new film The Dancer Upstairs. Malkovich has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for his work in the films In the Line of Fire and Places in the Heart. His other films include Heart of Darkness, Being John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire, Woody Allen's Shadows and Fog and Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. Malkovich is also a founding member of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Egyptian Sayyid Qutb's writings were the foundation for al Qaeda and other radical Islamic movements. But the America he visited in 1949 -- the conservative town of Greeley, Colo. -- doesn't really seem like the soulless, materialistic place that would inspire such hatred of the West. NPR's Robert Siegel visits Greeley to talk about the town as it was and as it is today. Read excerpts from Qutb's book about Greeley, and view photos of the town.