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A Kansas family barely noticed the spiders sharing their home, until their daughter discovered they were living with the infamous brown recluse. A nightly six-month hunt turned up some 2,000 recluses in their house. Yet no one in the family was ever bitten. Researchers say the shy spider has been wronged by its fearsome reputation.

Trial lawyers in Texas are fighting a different kind of legal battle, opposing legislative efforts to cap awards in medical malpractice cases. Though some research indicates otherwise, doctors insists limits on awards keep health insurance rates down. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports.

The 108th Congress goes to work with a number of fresh faces in the crowd. In an occasional series charting the course of Congressional "freshmen," NPR's Andrea Seabrook visits with Republican Thaddeus McCotter, representing Michigan's 11th District. McCotter's conservative pedigree goes hand-in-hand with his love of rock 'n' roll music -- see photos of family, staff and new Capitol office.

The bacterium D. radiodurans can survive thousands of times more radiation than any other living creature -- because it has a unique ability to repair genetic damage extremely efficiently. Scientists have been trying to discover how the bug pulls of this nifty trick for 40 years. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.

In the middle of a flat stretch of Ohio farmland resides one of the largest collections of holy relics in the United States -- at the convent of the Sisters of the Precious Blood in Maria Stein, Ohio. Independent producer Aileen LeBlanc reports on this unlikely gathering of religious items. View photos of items from the collection, and learn more about the convent and its history.

In her 40 years of public service she worked for civil rights, helped write the guidelines that are now established in the Sexual Harrassment Act, worked for reform in South Africa and has argued before the Supreme Court. She has been the Commissioner on Human Rights in New York, the first woman appointed to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a law professor. Holmes Norton is the subject of the new biography Fire in My Soul, written by a long-time friend, Joan Steinau Lester.

Scientists have been watching with alarm as the world's glaciers and arctic regions are showing more and more signs of melting. They suspect that global climate change -- fueled by industrial and vehicle emissions -- are to blame. But as NPR's Eric Niiler reports, this arctic thaw is also revealing a trove of ancient artifacts from people who dropped them thousands of years ago.

Kathleen Edwards is a Canadian singer-songwriter who pairs stark lyrics with instrumentals that are sometimes surprisingly upbeat. Meredith Ochs reviews her debut album Failer.

Last week we asked listeners to phone in their questions concerning the standoff between the U-S and North Korea. Today we answer some of those question with the help of Ambassador Wendy Sherman who is the former special advisor on North Korea during the Clinton administration. She's now a partner at the international consulting firm -- the Albright Group. Also joining the conversation: Donald Oberdorfer, a professor at Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He's also the author of "Two Koreas: A Contemporary History." (12:30) Oberdorfer's book is published by Basic Books, 1999.

NPR's Michele Norris talks with Kathryn Blume, co-founder of The Lysistrata Project, a coordinated schedule of world-wide readings of the play Lysistrata on March 3, 2003. The ancient Greek play tells the story of a woman who organizes a stand against war, getting women on both sides of a conflict to withhold sex from their husbands until the men agree to sign a peace treaty. She hopes the readings will mobilize an international theatrical voice against the Bush administration's war on Iraq.