Search results for

The brain's center of reasoning and problem-solving is among the last to mature, according to a new study. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging and time-lapse technology to study brain development, compressing 15 years of human brain maturation into seconds. Scientists say the sequence of maturation also roughly parallels the evolution of the mammalian brain. NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports.

With five months to go in the election season, a barrage of presidential campaign ads has begun -- on the World Wide Web. Political ad content isn't restricted by law when it's delivered online, and the assaults are markedly vicious.

The New Yorker reports that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized a secret program that allowed interrogation practices that may have led to the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison. The Pentagon calls the story "outlandish, conspiratorial, and filled with error and anonymous conjecture." Lawmakers say they will pursue the growing scandal as high as it goes. Hear NPR's Jackie Northam.

Secretary of State Colin Powell criticizes Israel's plan to demolish buildings housing Palestinian refugees in Gaza, calling for a return to peace negotiations. Powell, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Jordan, also urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to promote violence against Israelis. Hear NPR's Craig Windham.

At a Maryland middle school, 25 children hone their comedy skills for a spring show. The comedy club might provide a blueprint for similar programs at other schools. NPR's Neda Ulaby reports.

The film Saved! is a high school comedy along the lines of Pretty in Pink and Clueless. But according to NPR's Bob Mondello, Saved! marches to the beat of a slightly different drummer, because it's set in a Christian high school.

U.S. forces move closer to one of Shiite Islam's most sacred sites, the Imam Ali shrine in the city of Najaf. Militiamen loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr engage in fierce firefights in the vast cemetery surrounding the shrine with U.S. troops backed by tanks. There are reports the shrine may be damaged by the fighting. NPR's Eric Westervelt reports from Baghdad.

This year has been marked by a series of confrontations around the Eucharist in Catholic churches. In January, the archbishop of St. Louis announced he would deny communion to John Kerry, because of Kerry's support of abortion rights. Earlier this month, a bishop in Colorado said that any Catholic politician who supports abortion rights, stem cell research, euthanasia or same-sex marriage is not eligible to receive communion. And in several U.S. cities this coming Sunday, a group of gay Roman Catholics are planning to stage a protest during Mass. The protesters intend to wear rainbow sashes, opening declaring their sexual orientation. In Chicago, Cardinal Francis George has told priests to deny communion to anyone wearing one of the sashes. Commentator James Martin, a Jesuit priest, says that even the threat of denying communion goes against the meaning of the ritual.

Independent groups producing political advertisements hoping to influence the 2004 presidential election are now more prolific than ever. By one count, there have been more than 50 such ads so far, mostly from groups allied to the Democrats including MoveOn.org and The Media Fund. Now GOP-leaning groups are also joining the fray. NPR's John McChesney reports.

In the first of several speeches attacking President Bush's national security policies, Sen. John Kerry accused the president of failing to create an adequate multinational coalition to support efforts in Iraq. But Kerry's criticisms seemed constrained to many, a fact that analysts attribute to Kerry's effort to win swing voters by avoiding a hard-line stance. Hear NPR's David Welna.