Talk of the Nation on WLRN

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

And now Syria and Iraq on the Opinion Page this week. As we reconsider the 10 years since the invasion of Iraq, Washington Post editor Jackson Diehl says we should learn from that costly experience as we consider the civil war in Syria. About absent U.S. intervention, he argues, Syria could produce a much worse humanitarian disaster than Iraq. The tragedy of the post-Iraq logic embraced by President Obama, writes Diehl, is that it has ruled out not just George W. Bush-style invasions, but also more modest interventions.

In Sunday night's NCAA men's basketball tournament, Louisville guard Kevin Ware suffered a gruesome injury. Coach Rick Pitino rallied the team and led them to a victory over Duke. When accidents like this happen, coaches are tasked with rallying team members and keeping them focused.

With samples from over 1,800 separate meteorite falls around the world, ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies claims the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. Meenakshi Wadhwa explains how meteorites can teach researchers about the history of the solar system.

From the rocky fragments in Saturn's rings to Earth's own moon, our solar system bears signs of an ancient demolition derby. Planetary scientist Erik Asphaug describes the role of impacts in our planetary neighborhood, and looks ahead to a possible comet collision on Mars.

When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.

The Sonoran Desert, which spans some 100,000 square miles in southwestern North America, is one of the most diverse desert ecosystems in the world. Host Ira Flatow and guests discuss some lesser known desert creatures, and explore the secret life of that American southwest icon, the saguaro cactus.

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CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Celeste Headlee in Washington. Yesterday the Supreme Court heard the last of two cases involving the issue of same-sex marriage, one case on the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8. That proposition banned same-sex marriage in the state of California. The other case is on the Defense of Marriage Act.

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CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Repeated American attempts to work with Russia on Syria have foundered on a fundamental difference. Vladimir Putin insists on a deal that includes Bashar al-Assad as part of Syria's future. So the civil war grinds on and the situation of civilians there grows ever more dire. So why? Arms exports? Access to the port of Tartus? Standing up for old allies?

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan, in Washington. Another Democrat steps away from the Senate, the price of previous presidents, and the present president calls out Congress on immigration. It's Wednesday and time for a...

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Political courage...

CONAN: Edition of the Political Junkie.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDINGS)

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

VICE PRESIDENT WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad: Where's the beef?

The Italian Supreme Court ordered that Amanda Knox be retried for the 2007 murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. This decision overturned her acquittal from 2011. If she's found guilty this time around, she could face extradition.

A Washington Post analysis of statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds a correlation between gun deaths, and race and geographic location. African Americans are much more likely to be victims of gun-related homicide, whereas whites are more likely to commit suicide.

The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on California's ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8. David Savage, Supreme Court correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, provides analysis of extensive excerpts from the courtroom proceedings.

Anthony Lewis, former reporter and columnist for The New York Times, died Monday at the age of 85. NPR's Neal Conan remembers the Pulitzer Prize winner, and listens back to a conversation with Lewis about his career and the stories he covered, just after his retirement in 2002.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. More than 1 million people have fled to safety across Syria's borders. Many live in camps in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, which too often struggle to meet basic needs such as shelter, food and clean water. Some arrive wounded, and need medical care. Many suffer from the invisible wounds of trauma - everything from shelling or crossfire to the loss of a loved one, even torture. All of them have lost their homes.

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More than a century before Steven Spielberg's film Lincoln offered an intimate portrait of the 16th president and his family, a memoir from the first lady's dressmaker offered a glimpse into the Lincoln White House.

Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Todd Lincoln's seamstress and maybe her closest friend, told her story of slavery and self-emancipation, and her relationship with the Lincolns in a tell-all memoir called Behind The Scenes.

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JOHN DANKOSKY, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm John Dankosky. It sounds like something from a science fiction movie, researchers using cutting-edge biotech methods to bring an extinct species back to life. As a matter of fact, I think I saw that one. It was called "Jurassic Park."

Babies as young as nine months appear to approve of people who like what they like — and approve of being mean to those who don't share their tastes. Kiley Hamlin, lead author of a study in the journal Psychological Science, discusses the importance of similarity to young children.

According to the Institute of Medicine as many as 250,000 of 700,000 veterans of the first Gulf War suffer from an array of unexplained medical ailments. Guests discuss the latest research on Gulf War illness and its treatment and why it's been hard to pinpoint a cause.

In his book Grand Central: How A Train Station Transformed America, New York Times urban affairs correspondent Sam Roberts writes of the scientific innovations pioneered at New York City's Grand Central Terminal, such as electric commuter trains and standardized time.

How much can you change a school in one academic year? That question threads through the PBS special 180 Days: A Year Inside An American High School. The documentary, which premieres March 25, follows the day-to-day struggles facing the administrators, teachers and students at Washington Metropolitan High School, an alternative school in Washington, D.C.

When a Florida man vanished into a massive sinkhole that opened underneath his bedroom in February, the case garnered national attention. Every so often, tragedies like this put sinkholes in the spotlight.

Researchers say that minor sinkholes occur all the time around the world without much notice.

Disturbing images of the dead and dying have long been used as tools to provoke change. After the tragedy in Newtown, Ct., some are urging the release of the crime photos, hoping that images of the massacre might lead to stronger gun control.

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NEAL CONAN, HOST:

The red line is a form of ultimatum in diplomacy, one that's been used by kings, presidents, prime ministers to say do this and we will be forced to respond. Syria, as we mentioned, may have crossed one this week when chemical weapons reportedly killed dozens of people outside of Aleppo. Iran may cross another so-called red line this year over growing concerns the government is developing nuclear weaponry. A presidential threat carries grave weight. It also carries grave risk.

NPR's Neal Conan talks with Iraq veterans about how the media coverage and the national conversation around the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq resonates with their personal experiences.

After two football players were convicted in the Steubenville rape trial, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says he will convene a grand jury in April to consider bringing charges against partygoers, school officials and parents who may share responsibility in the rape of a 16-year-old girl.

Cyprus lawmakers rejected a $13 billion bailout package that included controversial taxes on bank deposits. The proposed tax would have helped to pay for the bailout of crumbling banks. NPR's Marilyn Geewax explains how the events in Cyprus could affect the global economy and what may happen next.

On Mar. 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that state courts are required to provide counsel in criminal cases to those unable to afford it. Just before the 50th anniversary of the decision, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the nation's public defense systems "exist in a state of crisis."