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2012: The Federal Government's Year That Wasn't | Is the House Broken? | Looking Back on President Lyndon Johnson's Legacy | Brutal Rape in India Prompts Protests and Reflection | San... (episode)
Takeaway Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich takes a look at the latest news on the fiscal cliff negotiations, and updates us on the condition of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...
The fiscal cliff remains unresolved, and on the cusp of the new year, it appears that dysfunctional government has trumped any self-imposed deadline. Former Connecticut Congressman Re...
Robert Caro is the author of the multi-volume Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.” The most recent installment is entitled "The Passage of Power." He sat ...
Starbucks recently rolled out a new marketing campaign in which they're urging Washington to "Come Together" a la the Beatles on the fiscal cliff business and everything else that div...
There are tragedies that sometimes are so brutal in nature that they cause societies to look inward and re-evaluate their values. India is going through its a period of self-reflect...
In January 2012, as she imagined the year ahead, Sandra Fluke, then a third year law student at Georgetown, assumed her role in the 2012 campaign would be similar to that of most Amer...
Two years ago, on a long car trip, Michael and Elizabeth Singer decided to make resolutions for each other. Mike told Liz to be more bold in her career; Liz told Mike to finally star...
Remembering General Norman Schwarzkopf | Linking Violence and Biology Through DNA | Ten: The Magic Number of Budget Planning Cycles | New Movie Releases: Django Unchained, Les Miserab... (episode)
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of American-led forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf war, died of complications from pneumonia on Thursday. Peter Petre, co-author of Schwarzko...
What happens in the brain of a mass killer that permits such violence to occur? In an attempt to answer this question, researchers at the University of Connecticut are preparing to ca...
The notion of the ten year budget and fiscal cycle is actually a rather common one -- but why? It takes ten years, apparently, to shoot for big overhauls in the budget. Tax structu...
Friday is the day when we talk about new movie releases here on the Takeaway. Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday weighs in on "Les Miserables" and "Django Unchained."
In the 15 years since Seinfeld signed off, actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus has found a niche of comedic gold in Elaine-style roles, portraying intelligent American women who want – or wan...
President Obama has imparted significant responsibility on Biden since he took office in 2004, and in his most recent role, Vice President Biden will head the development of a new set...
Medical Schools Experiment with Shorter Courses | The Argument Against Increasing Taxes | With Five Days to Go, Fiscal Cliff Hanger Looms | Shortcomings Prevent A.T.F from Curbing Gun... (episode)
<p>With only five days left in 2012, lawmakers are back in Washington, D.C. today to continue talks on the fiscal cliff. Before the Christmas break, House Speaker John Boehner pulled Plan B off the table. </p>
As 2012 comes to a close, there’s still some unfinished business looming over Washington. President Obama and Congress have yet to come to an agreement on how to avoid triggering t...
It’s been 6 years since the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last had a permanent director. But in the wake of the tragedy at Newtown, more and more questions are b...
There are few professions, if any, that require as much as training as becoming a doctor, but now, that process could become one year shorter. Bioethicist Art Caplan discusses a new p...
<p>Last week, Russia's parliament unanimously approved a ban on American adoptions of Russian children and this week President Vladimir Putin signed it. What will happen to Russia’s waiting children?</p>
For many in the New York and New Jersey area, this week's winter storm comes as their recovery from super storm Sandy is still underway. That slow path to recovery for Sandy victims...
<p>It's Christmas 2012, one of the most highly anticipated movie release days of the year, and Rafer and Kristen are prepared to throw down over two of the big ones: "Les Miserables" and "Django Unchained."</p> (article)
Understanding How the Mind Makes Meaning | The Reading Brain | Your Brain on Sound | The Real Science of Erasing Your Brain | The Future of the Brain (episode)
What happens in our brains when we hear language, or speak it? In addition to our brains, what other parts of our bodies are at work, trying to relay and understand meaning? And how d...
Our brains evolved in survivalist terms, prioritizing basic sensory functions, like sight and scent. Today, our brains must adapt to learn much more complex processes, like learning t...
We're told from an early age that we have ears to hear with, but if you investigate a little closer, it turns out that behind our ears are our brains. Seth Horowitz is an auditory ...
What if you could erase any knowledge of painful experiences? This is not just the plotline of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." In reality, scientists have been working for ...
Ray Kurzweil, technologist and futurist who is on a mission to make us all immortal. According to Kurzweil, technology is progressing at a faster and faster rate so that in 10 or 15 y...
A Christmas Miracle: Donations from Strangers who Saved a Child | Deconstructing the Christmas Gift | Listeners' Most Meaningful Gifts | Celebrity Stories of Gift Giving | George Take... (episode)
The question over how and why we give gifts is central to the holiday season. What do we really value about gift giving and receiving? Nicholas Epley, a professor of behavioral scienc...
As The Takeaway explores stories of gift giving and gift receiving all this hour, a rare act of generosity changed Beth Gonzalez’s perspective on the notion of presents. Beth tells th...
<p>'Tis the season for gift giving, and we asked you -- our listeners -- to tell us about the most meaningful present you ever received.</p>
<p>Recent guests, including actors Ed Burns and Brian Cox and singers Olivia Newton John and <span>Darryl McDaniels, tell us about the gifts that have meant the most to them.</span></p>
For George Takei, gift giving will always be associated with something that was taken away from him as a child. As a boy he remembers being rounded up at the beginning of World War ...
This Christmas, less than two weeks after the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, we look at what it means to grieve during the holiday season with Rev. Mark Bozzuti-Jones, p...
Kerry Nomination Could Bring Another Senate Race for Massachusetts | Kerry Nominated to be the Next Secretary of State | Should Doping Be Legal? | Student Tweets U.S. Drone Strikes, H... (episode)
Senator Scott Brown may have lost his seat to Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren, but his campaign has new life. With John Kerry well on his way to head up the State Department, Brown has...
Following Friday's nomination by President Obama, it is expected that Senator John Kerry will find an easy confirmation of his role as the next secretary of state. Juana Summers, nati...
While the Olympics may have been the highlight of this year in sports, Lance Armstrong's doping scandal threatens to overshadow the athletic world as we reflect on 2012. Most American...
Earlier this month, NYU graduate student Josh Begley began tweeting every reported American drone strike — starting in 2002. His feed highlights the growing prevalence of a lethal tac...
On Christmas Day, Tom Hooper’s film adaptation of Les Misérables will debut in theaters nationwide to the delight of millions of fans. But behind the many adaptations of the story, is...
What It Means to Be a Woman with a Gun | Fiscal Cliff: What's Plan C? | A New Version of Hamlet: You Pick the Ending | Revamping Shakespeare | New Evolutionary Theory Suggests Disti... (episode)
A recent Gallop poll proves that it’s not just men who are buying guns. Gun ownership among women is at an all time high – 43 percent report having a gun in their home. That’s not f...
President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have just eleven days to strike a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. Yesterday, House Republicans failed to reach a vote on Speaker Boehner...
On what would have been Frank Zappa's 72nd birthday, his estate, The Zappa Family Trust, will sell copies of the master recordings of "Roxy by Proxy," an unreleased show from 1974. F...
What if Shakespeare's "Hamlet" could end any way you please? In a new book that's become the most successful Kickstarter publishing campaign ever, it can. Web cartoonist Ryan North di...
It’s not hard to see why web cartoonist Ryan North’s new choose-your-own adventure version of Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" has quickly gained popularity among the digital set. But what d...
In the last four decades, however, many new evolutionary theories have been created and revised. The "Out of Africa" theory, for example, maintains that humans emerged rapidly in on...
Syria Descends into Iraq-like Carnage | NATO to Transfer Lead Responsibility to Afghan Forces Next Year | Why Own a Gun? | What Ira Glass Thinks About Christmas | Host John Hockenberr... (episode)
This March will mark two years since the Syrian uprising began. While the revolt was born out of peaceful demonstrations, in recent months it has slipped into a state of ongoing and ...
For NATO, 2012 has been a key year in Afghanistan, as troops there prepare to hand over power to Afghan security forces next year. As far as the challenges that lie ahead, NATO Secret...
A portrait of gun owners in America is a lot like a portrait of Americans as a whole — diverse. But in the wake of the Newtown shooting, many Americans are wondering if our gun cultur...
Ira Glass, host of This American Life, has a story or three of four each week on his radio program. Ira and our host John Hockenberry used to work together at National Public Radio a ...
President Obama will likely take on immigration reform in his second term, but, for now, it's nearly impossible for undocumented students to attend college in Georgia. That's why Univ...
Back in 1987, Run D.M.C. did something unusual for hip hop artists — they released a Christmas single titled, "Christmas in Hollis," sampling holiday classics like "Joy to the World,"...
Author Rick Moody Calls for More Attention on Mental Health Services | Gun Control Proposals and the Second Amendment | Company that Made Adam Lanza's Assault Rifle Up for Sale | Chal... (episode)
As the debate over gun control is relaunched in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, there is another conversation taking place over the mental health resources avai...
Politicians across the political spectrum have proposed new gun control measures since the Newtown shooting, but how would the ideas on the table fit into Supreme Court decisions rega...
Katherine Bigelowe’s latest film "Zero Dark Thirty" comes out in limited release this week, but critics have already honed in on what’s become the film’s most controversial talking po...
Underwater noise pollution is taking a toll on marine life, and the clamor is entirely human-made. It’s the whine of ship engines, the searing blasts of military exercises, and the t...
The firearm manufacturer Freedom Group produced some of the weapons used by the Washington, D.C. sniper in 2002, by James Holmes in Aurora Colorado, and by Adam Lanza in Newtown Conne...