The White House and lawmakers are defending a secret program that collects data on phone calls made by ordinary Americans. It was revealed Wednesday that the National Security Agency obtained data on calls from Verizon, including calls made locally, inside the United States and calls between the U.S. and overseas. Officials defend the program as necessary for fighting terrorism. Robert Siegel speaks with NPR's Dina Temple-Raston about the program, its scope and civil liberties implications.
Coastal fish farms are a major source of the seafood we eat, but all the fish waste they generate takes a toll on the environment. So a researcher in Canada is trying to clean up fish farms by creating an ecosystem where fish waste gets taken up by other valuable seafood commodities, like shellfish and kelp.
Bob Mondello says a G rating used to mean "general audiences." Now it means a movie for kids, and that means kids are less likely to be interested in them than they once were.
Science fiction movies throughout time are populated with robots. But when it comes to films with a tight focus on robots only a handful may come to mind. In advance of Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim, TOTN's favorite film buff Murray Horwitz discusses the best robot movies of all time.
The highly anticipated animated films Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 and Turbo hit theaters this summer. From cel technology to full-length, computer-animated, celebrity-studded movies, animation has come a long way.
