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Throughout casual conversation many of us might make the mistake of referencing a black hole as a segment of empty space. In fact, it is a great amount of…

NPR's Cheryl Corley reports from Chicago on the status of Illinois' public mental health system. Despite the dismal rating given to state mental health facilities, state officials maintain that their hospitals offer a clean and healthy environment for patients. There is a debate now materializing between mental health providers as to whether the state should administer care through state hospitals or smaller, community based facilities.

Corporations return profits to shareholders. That's a "given" in the U-S economic system, but should it be? Frank talks with Marjorie Kelly, editor of the Business Ethics Newsletter, who argues that by focusing solely on satisfying shareholders, corporations end up hurting others in the equation, including workers, communities and the environment. Kelly says the so-called Divine Right of Capital is an old, outdated model that needs to be reconsidered.

are trying to re-invent the car. They are designing and turning out prototypes that are lighter, more fuel efficient and pollute the environment less. The goal is a full-size, affordable car that will get 80 miles to the gallon... that's proving to be impossible with conventional materials and designs.

Linda talks with Dr. Ed Kilborn, a Research Professor of Microbiology at New York Medical College, about why influenza seems to strike and spread more during the winter than in any other season. Kilborn says it's a combination of factors...including the dryness of the air and the fact that the flu viruses tend to incubate better when people stay close together indoors in overheated environments.

Noah Adams talks with Sheriff Larry Sherertz of the Rappahannock County Police Department about their annual American Chestnut seedling give-a-way. American Chestnuts have been virtually extinct since a fungus was introduced to the country almost a century ago. The American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation have been working hard to breed seedlings from the few surviving trees. Now they hope to reintroduce the species to its native environment.

Brazilian physicist Marcelo Gleiser is the author of the new book, The Prophet and the Astronomer: A Scientific Journey to the End of Time (WW Norton). In it he explores our relationship to the sky and how it has influenced religion and then in turn - science. He writes, 'one of my goals. . is to humanize science, to argue that our scientific ideas are very much a product of the cultural and emotional environment where they originate'. Gleiser is Professor of Natural Philosophy and professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth College.

No one would argue that a starfish or a goldfish represents a pictue of superiority, but when it comes to the regenerative process, they have us beat. A…

In the first of a three-part series, NPR's Howard Berkes looks at people who make a living in some of the most inhospitable places in the world. These people work at the margin of what's physically endurable and profitable. Today we visit brine shrimp fishermen on the Great Salt Lake, a forbidding environment where the competition to harvest the elusive shrimp eggs requires spotter planes and sometimes leads to confrontations on the water.

Robert Siegel speaks with Brock Meeks, Washington correspondent for WIRED Magazine and HotWired, about the computer service America Online. At first a very successful on-line service, AOL is finding the Internet itself a source of competition. AOL offers members an environment of online services including access to the Internet but the Internet and its panoply of service providers is overshadowing AOL.