Art & Design
2:25 am
Mon August 20, 2012

Hopper's Pensive Lady In Pink Travels The World

Credit Columbus Museum of Art/Howald Fund
Edward Hopper's wife, Josephine N. Hopper, served as his model for 1952's Morning Sun.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

It's one of the ultimate images of summer: a woman in a short, pink slip sits on a bed, her knees pulled up to her chest, gazing out a window. Her hair is tucked back into a bun. Her bare arms rest lightly on her bare legs.

Edward Hopper painted her in 1952 for a work called Morning Sun. The picture has been widely reproduced for decades. But on a recent visit to its home at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio, it was nowhere to be found.

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Shots - Health Blog
2:23 am
Mon August 20, 2012

Why Can Some People Recall Every Day Of Their Lives? Brain Scans Offer Clues

Credit iStockphoto.com
Researchers are using MRI scans to learn more about the brains of people with extraordinary memory.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

Six years ago, we told you about a woman, identified as A.J., who could remember the details of nearly every day of her life. At the time, researchers thought she was unique. But since then, a handful of such individuals have been identified. And now, researchers are trying to understand how their extraordinary memories work.

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Around the Nation
11:46 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Study Reveals The Geography of Charitable Giving

Credit Pam Fessler / NPR
Attorneys Cheryl Curtis and her husband, Dana Foster, live in Washington, D.C., and donate generously to a nearby nonprofit that helps low-income residents. "Now that I have more, I want to give to organizations that provide just basic food for people," Curtis says.

Originally published on Mon August 20, 2012 12:50 pm

Ever wonder how charitable the people are who live in your state or community? It turns out that lower-income people tend to donate a much bigger share of their discretionary incomes than wealthier people do. And rich people are more generous when they live among those who aren't so rich.

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Around the Nation
5:20 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Teen Pregnancy Declines, But U.S. Still Lags

Roxana Castro sits in an orange chair in the waiting room at Mary's Center in Washington, D.C. She's 17, and expecting a baby boy next month. The pregnancy was a surprise, she says, mostly for her parents, but also for the baby's father.

Even with her mother's help, Castro admits she's nervous. The father of the baby says he'll be there, but she knows this is a big responsibility, and says she's not ready to start a family just yet.

"A baby is so fragile," she says. "I don't know how to take care of it or anything."

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Why Music Matters
3:49 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Dark Side Of The Operating Room

Credit Anna Boiko-Weyrauch
Divya Singh in the operating room.

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

Weekends on All Things Considered continues its "Why Music Matters" series with a story from the operating room.

"The O.R. is a naturally rhythmic place, in that you have the beating of the anesthesia machines and the autoclave comes on," says Divya Singh, an orthopedic and hand surgeon. "So music just becomes another sound."

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Europe
3:39 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

For Romania's Orphans, Adoption Is Still A Rarity

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 4:14 pm

First of two stories

The 1989 overthrow and execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu provided the first glimpse of a country that had been mostly closed to the outside world — and many of the scenes were appalling.

Among the most disturbing were images of tens of thousands of abandoned children suffering abuse and neglect in Romania's orphanages. Many were confined to cribs, wallowing in their own filth and facing mental health issues.

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Around the Nation
3:37 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Living Above The Past: Museum Opens Up To Tenants

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

All it takes to enter a time warp in New Hampshire is $15 and a summer afternoon. Spanning more than 250 years of American history, Strawbery Banke is the oldest neighborhood in the state's oldest city, Portsmouth.

It's kind of like Virginia's Colonial Williamsburg — lite. Stationed inside many of the 37 homes are re-enactors in different period garb. Inside a hulking white house, it's 1872.

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Author Interviews
3:32 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Long After Katrina, New Orleans Fights For 'Home'

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

In just a few weeks, we will mark the seventh anniversary of one of the country's deadliest hurricanes. New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still recovering from the devastating damage and loss of life caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita — the storm that would follow.

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Music News
2:19 pm
Sun August 19, 2012

Arizona Dranes, Forgotten Mother Of The Gospel Beat

Originally published on Sun August 19, 2012 5:20 pm

In the 1920s, the sound of music in the black church underwent a revolution. Standing at 40th and State Street in Chicago, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ was a witness to what occurred.

The high-energy gospel beat of the music that can still be heard in this Pentecostal church is the creation, music critics say, of Arizona Dranes, a blind piano player, a woman who introduced secular styles like barrelhouse and ragtime to the church's music.

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