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After two major studies link hormone replacement therapy to serious health risks like heart disease and breast cancer, millions of menopausal women -- and their doctors -- are reconsidering their options. Millions of those women are now reconsidering their use of hormone replacement pills. And doctors around the country are trying to figure out what to tell them. NPR's Joe Palca reports for Morning Edition.

Host Brian Naylor talks with Timothy Docking of the Institute of Peace about the Bush Administration's Africa policy. The president has said he will not attend the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development that kicks off in Johannesburg tomorrow. But Secretary of State Colin Powell is to attend. He is expected to announce $4 billion in development aid for Africa.

The confusion of the 2000 presidential election led to calls for more reliable ways to vote -- but federal election reform remains stalled. With the 2002 elections only weeks away, Maryland isn't waiting for the feds to take the lead. NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the state's new high-tech voting machines -- see the machines in use, and view an online simulation.

Puzzle master Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home. (This week's winner is David Yoskowitz from Lexington, Massachusetts. He listens to Weekend Edition on member station WBUR in Boston.)

Last week, more than 4,000 fire bosses mobilized 15,000 firefighters in the Western United States. So far, there have been enough managers to cover all major fires. But there is increasing concern about the dwindling supply of trained and experienced supervisors to direct and assist teams of firefighters. NPR's Howard Berkes reports for Morning Edition.

Some 30 years ago, a public health investigator overheard a story about a doctor being reprimanded for treating an elderly black man with syphilis. The investigator had stumbled upon one of the most notorious medical experiments in U.S. history: 399 black men with syphilis went untreated so scientists could study how the disease ravages the body. NPR's Alex Chadwick reports for Morning Edition.

In 1991, a group of scientists entered Biosphere 2 for a two-year experiment that would test whether humans could survive in a closed environment. The experiment wasn't exactly a success. As NPR's Joe Palca reports, researchers are now trying to show that Biosphere 2 can serve another purpose -- as a laboratory to study Earth systems.

A new album pays tribute to The Kinks with renditions of the band's songs by contemporary artists. Kinks frontman Ray Davies, along with album producer Jim Pitt, talks with host Lynn Neary about the album and about The Kinks' legacy on Weekend Edition Sunday.

Actor, director and screenwriter Billy Bob Thornton. The 1996 film Sling Blade which he wrote, directed and starred in put him on the map and earned him an Academy Award for Best Adapted screenplay. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1998 film A Simple Plan. Last year he directed the film All the Pretty Horses. This past year, he starred in the Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There, Bandits with Bruce Willis and Monster's Ball. Before he got into acting, he was interested in a music career. Last fall he released Private Radio, a new CD on which he sings his own songs. This interview was originally broadcast Jan. 9, 2002.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he thinks a military conflict between India and Pakistan can be averted. "There's nothing inevitable about war," he tells NPR's Juan Williams in an interview for Morning Edition. When it comes to Iraq, Powell is less adamant about the hopes for a political solution.