"World's Most Powerful Laser Beams To Zap Nuclear Waste."

That Bloomberg Businessweek headline got our attention. We were imagining the explosion that might result.

But as it turns out, the zapping "could destroy nuclear waste and provide new cancer treatments," according to the story.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. There it was in big, bold type on the Fox News website, how Twitter may have tipped the election for Romney. A column written by Juan Williams, who points out that Twitter reported there were, quote, a whopping 10.3 million tweets during the first debate, unquote.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Up next, time for our Video Pick of the Week. Flora Lichtman, our multimedia editor is here.

Hi, Flora.

FLORA LICHTMAN, BYLINE: Hi, Ira.

FLATOW: You have a super-duper, super-duper this week.

LICHTMAN: Yes, and we have one of our listeners to thank. It is about - this week's video is about humans who fly.

FLATOW: Humans who - well, you get in the plane and you fly.

Earthquakes, terrorist attacks and muggings have all scared people to death. Sporting events, too, sometimes cause frenzied fans to drop dead. Neurologist Martin Samuels of Brigham and Women's Hospital explains how positive or negative excitement can lead to a heart-stopping surge of adrenaline.

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Next up, the science of monsters. Like most myths, there are some real-world phenomena behind the stories. Take vampires, for example. Let me read you a passage from Bram Stoker's "Dracula," where Professor Van Helsing describes the monster.

6th District Congressman Bill Cassidy, who's running for re-election on Nov. 6, visits.

Tiger Rag Magazine editor Cody Worsham reports the arrest of four former LSU players on drug charges.

Dr. Darlyne Nemeth shares from her book, "Living In An Environmentally Traumatized World."

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IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Time for our monthly meeting of the SCIENCE FRIDAY Book Club. Here with me are SCIENCE FRIDAY's multimedia editor, Flora Lichtman, and our senior producer, Annette Heist. And this month we have the physics - physics on our to-do list, right? A classic book by Richard Feynman, Annette?

ANNETTE HEIST, BYLINE: That's right. It is called "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!: Adventures of a Curious Character."

FLATOW: How did we pick that one?

Sprouts have taken one step closer to culinary oblivion, with the big grocery chain Kroger saying that as of this week, it's banishing sprouts from its 2,425 stores because they pose too big a food safety risk.

The crunchy green microplants have long been touted as raw food chock full of nutrients. But that very freshness is also why they've caused more than 54 disease outbreaks since 1990, including a mega-outbreak of E. coli in Germany in 2011 that killed 53 people.

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CELESTE HEADLEE, HOST:

Now, we turn from a story about privilege to one about poverty. Forty-six million Americans now live with poverty. That's according to the latest figures available from the Census Bureau and, while the poor have been talked about on the campaign trail, how often have they been talked with?