The Olympic Games seem to celebrate the extremes of athletic physique — from tiny gymnasts to impossibly huge shot-putters. But why are they shaped that way?
We've put together an infographic that explores how athletes' bodies have changed over the last century, and the role physics plays in each event. Here on Shots, we're taking a look at some of the athletes featured in the graphic.
As the presidential election nears, Morning Edition has begun a series of reports from an iconic American corner: First and Main. Several times in the next few months, we'll travel to a battleground state, then to a vital county in each state. In that county, we find a starting point for our visit: First and Main streets, the intersection of politics and real life.
Sofia Martinez was a kid when she began what you could call her life on the road.
At most cemeteries, hearing weed cutters and lawn mowers trimming grass around graves would seem normal enough. But at Lincoln Cemetery in Montgomery, Ala., these are the sounds of progress.
Lincoln Cemetery was established in 1907 for African-Americans. But with no one in charge of the cemetery or keeping up with burial records, abuse, vandalism and neglect became rampant and the cemetery is in disrepair. Grass and weeds grew three feet high. People picked apart old, crumbling graves and took bones of the deceased.
And no one is quite where people are actually buried.
Architect Guy Maxwell holds a printout of his proposed design for the new Bridge Building at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Another type of glass planned for the construction is a specially designed patterned glass, visible from both inside and outside. The opaque lines are called "frits" and are made of ceramic.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
A design prototype on Vassar's campus shows a type of bird-safe glass that displays a distinct pattern from outside, but from inside shows an unobstructed view.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Architect Guy Maxwell is a principal at Ennead Architects and an active birder. He says his love of birds — and of glass construction — propelled him to try to come up with solutions for fatal bird strikes.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
On Vassar's campus, this riparian, bird-friendly habitat is the future site of the Bridge Building designed by Maxwell and Ennead Architects.
Credit Ennead Architects
An image of a bird strike ghost print.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Visitors take in the views from the High Line, a Manhattan park developed on an old elevated railway line. City parks attract birds to the city, but glass-fronted buildings pose a danger.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
A house sparrow eyes a visitor from the foliage of Manhattan's High Line park.
Credit Kenneth Herdy / FLAP
This assortment of more than 1,500 dead birds, all killed by collisions with Toronto windows, was collected during the 2010 migration season by volunteers from the Canadian Fatal Light Awareness Program.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Architect Guy Maxwell holds a printout of his proposed design for the new Bridge Building at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Credit John W.Poole / NPR
Guy Maxwell, principal at Ennead Architects, talks to a reporter in the firm's Manhattan offices.
Credit Ennead Architects
This illustration shows a planned building at Vassar, which will be built into a wooded area, and will use special Ornilux Mikado glass that reflects UV light visible to birds.
As Reuters reports, Attar ran the 800 meter heat in a "white head cover, a long-sleeved green top, black leggings" and " luminous green running spikes."
Maga Barzallo Sockemtickem, 16, received a bone-marrow transplant at Seattle Children's Hospital in 2011 for leukemia and returned in July 2012 for follow-up treatment. On July 25, an artist at the hospital set up a cat photo installation in her room.
Austin Wierschke, left, of Rhinelander, Wis., and Kent Augustine, of Jamaica, N.Y., compete during the final round of the 2012 LG U.S. National Texting Championship on Wednesday, in New York. Wierschke won the championship for the second time in a row.
Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 6:38 pm
Back in front of my computer where thankfully I can use more than my thumbs to type, I see that Austin Wierschke of Rhinelander, Wis., grabbed the title again at the competition in New York City this afternoon. He's the first texting competitor to win back-to-back titles.
Originally published on Thu August 9, 2012 8:20 am
A mobile phone application released by the campaign of President Obama last week has some privacy advocates crying foul.
The app taps publicly available data and allows you see registered Democrats near you. It shows the Democrats' first name, last initial, age and their home address.
Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, will stand trial on charges related to the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Here, the couple is shown in 2007 attending Bo's father's funeral.
Credit Kyodo / Reuters/Landov
Gu Kailai and her husband, Bo Xilai, in 2007. Her trial involving the murder of a British businessman begins Thursday.
Credit Reuters/Landov
British businessman Neil Heywood, seen here at a gallery in Beijing last April, was found dead in his Chongqing hotel on Nov. 15, 2011. Heywood had ties to Bo Xilai's family, helping organize the education of son Bo Guagua, who studied at the exclusive British boarding schools Papplewick and Harrow.
One of China's biggest criminal trials opens Thursday, and its lurid details make for a sort-of Communist Party film noir. The wife of an ambitious Chinese politician is accused of murdering a British businessman. Her powerful husband allegedly blocks the police investigation, and the police chief, fearing for his life, takes refuge in a U.S. consulate and implicates the wife in the killing.
Originally published on Wed August 8, 2012 4:10 pm
About half of those surveyed in a new poll of voters in three swing states thought presidential candidates should release multiple years of their tax returns.
Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings (left) and Misty May-Treanor yell after winning a record third-straight gold medal in women's beach volleyball, at the Horse Guard's Parade in London.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings have won an unprecedented Olympic three-peat in women's beach volleyball, as they defeated their fellow Americans, the team of Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, in the gold medal match.
The match lasted just 36 minutes, as May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings won the first and second sets by the same score: 21-16. On the final point, Ross' serve floated long, and the celebration was on. May-Treanor started dancing on the sand, and the players ran to the stands to hug their loved ones.
Republican activist David Barton speaks before testifying before the Texas State Board of Education in 2009.
Credit Historical archives / Warren Throckmorton
Barton claims Jefferson, unlike the other presidents, closes his documents "In the year of our Lord Christ." It's actually a standard form of closing documents, used here by James Madison.
Credit Jack Plunkett / AP
Diana Gomez and Garrett Mize rally before a state Board of Education meeting in Austin, Texas, in 2010.
David Barton says Americans have been misled about their history. And he aims to change that.
"It's what I would call historical reclamation," Barton explains, in his soft but rapid-fire voice. "We're just trying to get history back to where it's accurate. If you're going to use history, get it right."
