Talk of the Nation

NPR's Political Junkie Ken Rudin recaps the week in politics. Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, shares the Democratic strategy to retake the House of Representatives in 2014. Political consultant Don Rose discusses the future of Chicago politics.

Many employees lost their jobs in recent years after posting negative comments about work on social media sites. A recent decision by the National Labor Relations Board may give workers more freedom to talk and complain about work on social media.

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the military will award a new medal to recognize exceptional accomplishments in areas including drone and cyber warfare. Brookings Institution senior fellow Peter Singer argues that this is an important step in recognizing the changing nature of war.

More than 500 homicides were reported in Chicago in 2012, 16 percent more than in 2011. After the murder of Hadiya Pendleton, the Chicago teen shot a week after attending the inauguration, more attention has been focused on urban violence.

The discovery of horse meat in European beef products created an international uproar. James A. Serpell, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society, explains why some foods that are forbidden in some cultures are considered delicacies in others.

It was one of the most revolutionary tools of biomedical research: the immortal HeLa cell line. But few people know the cells belonged to a poor Southern tobacco farmer named Henrietta Lacks. Rebecca Skloot spent years researching Lacks and tells her story in The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks.

The uproar over what critics call "pink slime" in some ground beef refocused attention on what's in the food we eat. Most packaged foods contain at least one item you wouldn't recognize. But many food experts caution that just because you don't know an ingredient doesn't mean you shouldn't eat it. This segment was originally broadcast on April 11, 2012.

Dan Buettner visited some of the happiest populations on Earth to figure out what makes them tick. After five years of study, he argues the real keys to happiness lie not in wealth or beauty, but in fundamental changes to the way we live. Buettner lays out his findings in his book Thrive.

More than 200,000 bikes were reported stolen in 2010, according to FBI statistics. By some estimates, more than 1 million bike thefts go unreported annually. When thieves stole writer Patrick Symmes' bike in 2006, he set out on a vigilante crusade in "the dangerous underworld of vanished bicycles."

What would Isaac Newton be like if he had been born a few centuries later? A new play "Isaac's Eye" reimagines Newton and his scientific rival Robert Hooke. Playwright Lucas Hnath and actors Haskell King and Michael Louis Serafin-Wells join Ira Flatow to talk about the play.

"This is geek central," says artist Toni Dove of her New York City studio. Dove employs an infrared motion-sensing interface, voice recognition software, 3-D mechanical projection screens, video puppets and lots of other tech to bring her mixed media productions to life. Science Friday stopped by for a sneak peak of her newest piece, "Lucid Possession."

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is half the size of a football field, and whizzing towards the Earth at over 17,000 miles per hour. Don't worry, it won't hit us. But on Friday, February 15th it makes its closest approach, scraping by the Earth's surface closer than many satellites. Join Ira Flatow and Flora Lichtman for special live coverage of this near encounter, with first-hand reports from astronomers around the world.

After going deaf at the age of 30, writer Katherine Bouton's entire life changed. In her new book, "Shouting Won't Help," Bouton shares how she came to terms with hearing loss, and why more attention needs to be paid to a condition that affects nearly 50 million Americans.

This Valentine's Day, people in more than 200 countries are participating in One Billion Rising, a call to rise up and dance to bring awareness to violence against women worldwide. Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of the V-Day antiviolence campaign, talks about her work to fund crisis centers and shelters for victims around the globe.

The announcement of a merger between American Airlines and US Airways on Thursday represents the culmination of a decades-long shake-up in the commercial airline industry. What does the merger mean for employees, consumers and a changing industry?