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December 18, 2012 When the Ninth Federal Circuit invalidated California's Prop. 8, Daryl Cagle could bearly contain his approval. Steve Kelley though it was a miscue when Obama required contraceptives to be included in most employer-sponsored health care plans, prompting many church-owned entities to go to court.

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December 17, 2012 What role is there for social scientists in addressing climate change? Commentator Tania Lombrozo follows up her interview with Stephan Lewandowsky with some psychologically motivated suggestions.

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December 17, 2012 Start with a pool of oil. Turn on a magnet. The oil travels up a superstructure and blossoms into a tree. Turn off the magnet, and the branches, the needles, the tree melt away. It's a puddle again.The perfect tree for an oil billionaire, no?

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December 17, 2012 If the conspiracy theorists are right, we only have a few more days before the end of the world. Author Ben H. Winters describes his favorite pre-apocalyptic works of fiction. Do you have a favorite doomsday masterpiece? Tell us in the comments.

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December 17, 2012 The presidential campaign began in earnest with Hajo De Reijger giving lots of running room to President Obama. But running room was in short supply for the Costa Concordia captain Francesco Schettino who capsized and allegedly abandoned his ship, winning Mike Keefe's enmity.

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December 16, 2012 U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice removed her name from consideration for Secretary of State because of the furor being raised over her role in explaining the attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi. Both Gary McCoy and Randall Enos see her as being used by others with ulterior motives.

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December 16, 2012 Science offers us Nothing But and we like it. Why? Why do we like to be told that we are nothing but our brains, when, after all, this is patently untrue? Alva Noë presses the question.

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December 15, 2012 A gunman entered an elementary school in Newtown, C.T. and killed 26 people, 20 of them children. From past incidents, Gustavo Rodriguez searches for answers and Randy Bish tries to offer some comfort.

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December 14, 2012 North Korea's launch of a satellite into orbit was met with widespread international condemnation. Patrick Chappatte questions whether the action constitutes a real threat, while Gustavo Rodriguez thinks some have already been harmed.

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December 14, 2012 Whenever Jeff Ingram suffers from an amnesia attack, his memory is wiped clean and he has to start over. Fearful that one day he may no longer accept her, his wife reminds him of the memories they've shared.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

December 13, 2012 Afshin Gharib, a psychology professor at Dominican University of California, prefers to give open-book tests. His colleague William Phillips lets students use cheat sheets. After several arguments about the techniques, they decided to conduct an experiment to find out which method works best.

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On Talk of the NationPlaylist

December 13, 2012 Is there a "War on Christmas" as some have proclaimed? Mike Smith thinks he knows the real issue , while Mike Luckovich predicts the victor.

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