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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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December 12, 2012 Our universe is fading away, at least when it comes to how many stars are being made. Its age of splendor long gone, we take solace in knowing that we are here to witness what remains.

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December 12, 2012 Author Wendy Welch shares her favorite book about small-town life that defy stereotypes. What is your favorite work that takes a bite out of literary tradition? Tell us in the comments.

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December 12, 2012 Michigan's legislature enacted "right to work" laws as scores of demonstrators converged on the state Capitol in protest. Lisa Benson thinks the developments are another sign that organized labor is going nowhere, while Jen Sorensen sees plenty of potential benefits from unionization.

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December 12, 2012 Hockey fans are living their lives, going about their business, but their days are a little paler. Commentator Frank Deford says fans deserve a little sympathy when their sport is taken from them.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

December 12, 2012 Spiced cookies shaped like windmills or villagers mark celebrations of St. Nicholas (or Sinterklaas) — and remind food writer Emily Hilliard of childhood visits with her grandmother. These speculaas even spawned a "cookie butter" that makes a festive base for a decadent pie.

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December 11, 2012 Two physicists, a skeptic and a scholar try to answer that question in the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate.

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ListenPlaylist

December 11, 2012 What would you want in a national Pledge For Science? How would you balance out the need to keep politicians from waffling on scientific issues as diverse as evolution, climate change and vaccines while separating out issues of research from issues of policy?

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December 11, 2012 There you are, hanging with the other pigeons. It's a sunny day. Tranquil. You are taking a bird bath along a river's edge, when suddenly, leaping out of the water onto the land, straight at you — is a fish! A pigeon-eating catfish. (We've got pictures.)

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December 11, 2012 On Sunday, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner met one-on-one at the White House. Even before the closed-door session, Tim Eagan and John Deering imagined who would have the upper hand.

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December 10, 2012 The bombshell announcement by South Carolina's Jim DeMint that he will resign his Senate seat could lead to the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction. But how will DeMint's tenure be judged?

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ListenPlaylist

December 10, 2012 Dashboard video cameras are common in Russia. In case you get bumped into, or bump someone else, insurance companies want to see what happened. So we have a video record of what it's like to drive there. You don't want to see this compilation video. (Oh yes you do.)

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