Search results for

NASA engineers and safety experts have continuously modified and upgraded the shuttle fleet over the years. The fleet has known weaknesses, and investigators will be looking very closely at these as they try to figure out what happened to Columbia as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere Feb. 1. NPR's Chris Joyce reports.

In the second part of our series on debt in America we'll hear about the boom in cash-out mortgage financing and about the history of debt in our society. The book mentioned is Credit Card Nation: The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit, published by Basic Books; Dec., 2001.

Investigators continue to gather clues that might help explain what went wrong when the space shuttle Columbia broke up Saturday morning, killing all seven crewmembers. Today's memorial service with President Bush will offer NASA officials rare pause in an otherwise tedious examination of flight videos, computer data, and debris. NPR's Richard Harris reports that while NASA is making strides in piecing the accident together, officials say they're far from any conclusions about what caused the disaster.

The Bush administration proposes two new types of savings accounts with higher contribution limits than current IRAs. The White House says the plan will help Americans save more, but critics say the plan is just a tax shelter for the rich. NPR's Elaine Korry reports.

Host Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Richard Harris about today's news conferences on the space shuttle Columbia recovery and investigation.

NPR's Michael Sullivan has the second of a five-part series on terrorism in Southeast Asia. Al Qaeda's Southeast Asian operations may have begun in the Philippines, but neighboring Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world and it has provided the most fertile ground for militant Islam. Several alleged terrorist groups have been active in Indonesia for years. One of them is the group called Jemaah Islamiyah. Jemaah Islamiyah is believed responsible for dozens of attacks in Indonesia in the past several years including the bombings on the resort island of Bali in October. And investigators say it's clear the group has close ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

A scientist at the University of the West of England inserted electrodes into four species of fungi, and discovered that the mushrooms seem to use electrical impulses to communicate internally.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that the NASA investigation into Saturday's disintegration of the space shuttle Columbia is concentrating more closely on the landing gear compartment in the aircraft's left wing. There's increasing evidence that the problem started there. Before the spacecraft came apart, the left side of the shuttle, adjoining the wing, heated up by an alarming 60 degrees over a few minutes. The wheel well where the landing gear is stored during flight is especially vulnerable to heat.

The growing U.S. military force assembling in Kuwait is busy honing its war-fighting skills. Elements of the army's 3rd Infantry Division are also practicing what some military planners say they most fear if war comes: urban, house-to-house fighting in Iraq's cities. NPR's Eric Westervelt followed along as soliders attacked a mock city in the desert. See some of his photos of the action.

A pair of towns along the Polish-German border, separated after World War II, will be reunited next year when Poland enters the European Union. But residents of Görlitz and Zgorzelec have mixed feelings -- some because of history, others because of the merger's economic impact. NPR's Emily Harris reports.