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Music Interviews
12:53 pm
Wed February 27, 2013

Richard Thompson: The Acoustics Behind 'Electric'

Credit Claire O'Neill / NPR
Richard Thompson performs live at the All Things Considered studio.

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 5:03 pm

Guitar players will hear the pure, ringing tones conjured by 10 fingers that seem to be doing the work of 20 and say, "Oh, for sure — that's Richard Thompson."

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The Two-Way
12:08 pm
Wed February 27, 2013

Van Cliburn, Renowned American Concert Pianist, Dies

Credit Evening Standard / Getty Images
U.S. pianist Van Cliburn in 1963.

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 12:22 pm

The American concert pianist Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn has died, according to the Associated Press, who is quoting a representative.

Cliburn achieved worldwide recognition when he won the first International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow as a 23-year-old. What's more he did so in 1958, at the height of the Cold War.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Cliburn died in his mansion in Fort Worth, Texas. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer.

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The Salt
11:33 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Germans Are Drinking Less Beer These Days, But Why?

Credit Johannes Simon / Getty Images
A waiter carries beer mugs during the 2012 Oktoberfest in Munich.

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 4:57 pm

For centuries, Germany has been synonymous with beer. Tourists flock from around the world to take part in the country's many beer festivals, including the famous Oktoberfest.

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Economy
11:15 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Economists See Budget Cuts Putting The Recovery At Risk

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Shipyard workers wait for President Obama to speak about looming automatic federal budget cuts Tuesday in Newport News, Va.

Originally published on Thu February 28, 2013 3:52 pm

Getting economists to agree with each other isn't easy. But Congress and the White House have managed to unite them.

More than 95 percent of top U.S. economists believe growth is "likely to be negatively affected" by the automatic federal spending cuts that are scheduled to kick in Friday, according to the latest survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

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The Two-Way
11:14 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Highest Bidder Will Get DNA Pioneer's Nobel Medal

Credit Denis Poroy / AP
Francis Crick in 2003, the year before his death, at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego.

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 5:43 pm

This is no ordinary family heirloom.

The granddaughter of English scientist Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who passed away in 2004, is putting his Nobel Prize medal up on the auction block.

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Shots - Health News
11:07 am
Wed February 27, 2013

When Sizing Up Childhood Obesity Risks, It Helps To Ask About Random Kids

Credit David Gilkey / NPR
A poll needs to ask about randomly selected children in households across the country to bring context to what's happening with kids like 7-year-old Henry Condes in Los Angeles.

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 11:17 am

To understand the challenges around childhood obesity in the U.S., you need to take a close look at the lives of children and the households in which their habits are formed.

NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, where I'm a researcher, created a unique poll to do that.

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Arts & Life
10:56 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Fashion For Pregnancy Bumps

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now we want to talk about fashion, but a very specific type of fashion that's taken a big step forward in recent years. We're talking about maternity fashion. Pregnancy is a special time in most women's lives. But even the happiest moms used to dread those Peter Pan collars, those giant bows, and do I even need to mention, the T-shirts with the, you know, arrow pointing to the belly.

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It's All Politics
10:46 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Why The Budget May Be Easier Criticized Than Cut

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 11:28 am

If it seems odd that so many members of Congress have such trouble coming up with specific things to cut from the budget (apart from the usual favorites, "waste" and "fraud), perhaps they're simply taking their cues from their bosses, their constituents.

The Pew Research Center studied this in a recent poll, and found that of 19 different budget categories, there is majority support for cutting spending in exactly none of them.

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NPR Story
10:40 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Students Vote To Drop 'Redskins' From Sports Teams

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 11:03 am

Students at Cooperstown Central School recently voted to stop calling their sport teams the Redskins. In turn, an Indian tribe offered to pay for new team uniforms. Host Michel Martin talks about the gesture with Ray Halbritter, of the Oneida Nation.

Beauty Shop
10:40 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Do We Still Need A Women's Movement?

Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 11:03 am

100 years ago, thousands of women marched on Washington D.C. to demand the right to vote. Host Michel Martin asks the Beauty Shop ladies about that moment in history, and where the women's rights movement stands today.

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