Shots - Health Blog
1:36 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Scientists See Progress In Alzheimer's Despite Growing List of Drug Failures

Credit U.S. National Institute on Aging / via Wikimedia Commons
A PET scan of the brain of a person with Alzheimer's disease.

Another once-promising Alzheimer's drug has just been tossed on the pharmaceutical scrap heap.

This time it's a drug called bapineuzumab. Like several previous experimental drugs, it was designed to attack the plaques that build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.

And like those earlier drugs, it failed.

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Around the Nation
1:27 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Would-Be Parents Wait As Foreign Adoptions Plunge

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:15 pm

When Barb and Mike Cannata adopted their first daughter from China almost a decade ago, the process was smooth and relatively quick — just 17 months from start to finish.

Now a chatty and confident 9-year-old, Emma is an accomplished equestrian with her show horse, Ajax. But the family had trouble explaining to Emma why it took so long to get her a little sister.

When the Cannatas decided to adopt again in 2007, Barb Cannata says, everything had changed. They ruled out China early on.

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The Torch
1:11 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

U.S. Women's Water Polo Team Wins In Overtime To Reach Gold Medal Game

Credit Adam Pretty / Getty Images
U.S. water polo players on the bench react during their semifinal match between Australia and the United States at the Water Polo Arena in London. The Americans will play for gold on Thursday.

The American women's water polo team will again chase an elusive gold medal, this time at the London Olympics. The team qualified for the gold medal match by defeating longtime Olympic rival Australia.

Tied after regular time expired, the Americans scored two goals in overtime to beat the Australian water polo women, 11-9. Now the U.S. team moves on to the gold medal match Thursday.

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Destination Art
1:09 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Stratford's Big Stars, From The Bard To The Bieb

Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 3:00 pm

Most theaters let audiences know the show is about to start by blinking the lights. Stratford's Festival Theater in Stratford, Ontario, is a bit more festive. Four burgundy-uniformed buglers and a drummer quicken the pace of hundreds of theatergoers who've been ambling up the hill from the banks of the Avon River. When curtain time arrives, a cannon will boom.

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The Salt
1:04 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Outsourced Croissants Outrage Traditional French Bakers

Credit Eleanor Beardsley / NPR
A woman walks into Boulangerie Cauvet in Paris, where they still make croissants from scratch.

Originally published on Mon October 15, 2012 8:07 am

There's always a line at the Boulangerie Cauvet on the corner of rue St. Charles in Paris's 15th district. In their family owned bakery, Esmeralda Cauvet and her husband Cyril sell around 800 croissants and 3,500 baguettes a day.

In the kitchen, head pastry maker Pierre Gibert still rolls his croissants from triangular strips of dough. "The key to a good croissant is good ingredients and a high quality dough. You have to knead it, let it rise and roll it a second time in butter. That's what gives a croissant its flaky quality," Gibert says.

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Participation Nation
1:03 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Making Free Music In Camarillo, Calif.

Credit Courtesy of the Camarillo Community Band.
Horn players in the Camarillo Community Band.

This month we are collecting your stories about the good things Americans are doing to make their community a better place. Some of your contributions will become blog posts and the project will end with a story that weaves together submissions to make a story of Americans by Americans for Americans.

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Mom And Dad's Record Collection
12:55 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Leonard Pitts On Memories Of Laundry And Nat King Cole

Credit Ron Case / Getty Images
Nat King Cole (center) rehearses with his trio at the London Palladium in 1950.

Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 12:04 pm

The Mom and Dad's Record Collection series on All Things Considered continues with a memory of music and family from the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Leonard Pitts.

Pitts says his childhood mischief was set to the music of Nat King Cole, often courtesy of his mother's own voice. One afternoon, he remembers, she was singing "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" while he played out back.

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It's All Politics
12:49 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Romney Attacks President On Welfare; Obama Team Alleges Hypocrisy

Credit J. Scott Applewhite / AP
President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform legislation into law on Aug. 22, 1996.

Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 3:02 pm

(Revised and updated @ 5:55 pm ET)

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The Two-Way
12:34 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Jared Loughner, Arizona Shooting Suspect, Pleads Guilty To Killing 6

Credit Handout / Getty Images
This handout provided by the Pima County Sheriff's Forensic Unit shows Jared Lee Loghner.

Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 1:42 pm

Jared Loughner, the man accused of going on a shooting spree during a meet-and-greet held by former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Ariz., pleaded guilty today. The shooting spree left six people dead and 13 others wounded.

The AP adds:

"Loughner's plea Tuesday allows him to avoid the death penalty in a mass shooting that gained worldwide attention in January 2011 because his intended target was the congresswoman. Among the dead were Arizona's chief federal judge and a Giffords aide.

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Shots - Health Blog
12:31 pm
Tue August 7, 2012

Kinesio Tape Plasters Olympians, But Not All The Science Sticks

Credit Daniel Garcia/AFP / Getty Images
Germany's Laura Ludwing wears Kinesio tape during a women's beach volleyball match on July 31, 2012, during the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 2:21 pm

Sports injuries are as much a part of the Olympic Games as gold medals and doping allegations.

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