NPR News

The Texas State Capitol in Austin is seen on Saturday.

Texas legislation would allow partisan actors to request election audits

Andrew Schneider | Houston Public Media

The bill would allow county party leaders, candidates, judges and political committees to formally ask the Texas secretary of state's office to review any "irregularities" in an election.

Illustration of young people holding their cell phones up to their face

Facebook's own data is not as conclusive as you think about teens and mental health

Anya Kamenetz

It's grabbed a lot of headlines, but the evidence on social media and teen mental health — including that Facebook and Instagram research — is far from a smoking gun.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Benjamin List and David MacMillan, two scientists who pioneered an "elegant" new method of building molecules, known as asymmetric organocatalysis.

Two scientists win Nobel Prize in chemistry for new way of building molecules

Nell Greenfieldboyce

Benjamin List and David MacMillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in chemistry for coming up with a new tool for constructing molecules that has advanced pharmaceuticals and green technology.

In <em>No Time to Die</em>, Daniel Craig shows us a James Bond who's gone fishing.

Daniel Craig is the bookend Bond, giving 007's story a beginning — and an end

Chris Klimek

The last James Bond movie to star Daniel Craig is out today; Chris Klimek argues that Craig is the "bookend Bond," showing us 007 at the beginning and end, but never the prime of his career.

"Borrowers who devote a decade of their lives to public service should be able to rely on the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness," U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on Wednesday.

What borrowers need to know about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness overhaul

Cory Turner

On Wednesday, the U.S. Education Department said it would temporarily relax some of the program's rules. The changes could lead to loan cancellation for tens of thousands of borrowers.

Pope Francis listens to speeches during his weekly general audience in the Pope Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.

Pope Francis expresses shame at the scale of child sexual abuse by clergy in France

Associated Press

The pope spoke about a report released Tuesday that estimated some 330,000 French children were abused by clergy and other church authority figures dating back to 1950.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb led the Food and Drug Administration from 2017 to 2019. His new book discusses successes and failures of the U.S. response and how to plan ahead for future pandemics.

Why the U.S. pandemic playbook was no match for COVID

John Henning Schumann

In his new book, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb lays out what it will take for the U.S. to be ready to face future health crises.

Abu Zubaydah , who has never been charged, is held at Guantanamo Bay. He is at the center of Wednesday's case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court considers whether the CIA's black sites are state secrets

Nina Totenberg

The case's central issue concerns whether a Guantánamo Bay detainee who has never been charged with a crime can subpoena testimony from the CIA contractors who supervised his torture.

A floating barrier known as booms is set up to try to stop further incursion into the Wetlands Talbert Marsh after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif., last week.

Ship's anchor may have caused massive oil spill off the coast of Southern California

Associated Press

The torn underwater pipeline spilled tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil into the ocean, according to federal investigators.

This April 20, 2019, file photo shows the U.S. Immigration and Enforcement Processing Center operated by GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) a Florida-based company specializing in privatized corrections in Adelanto, Calif.

A federal appeals court blocks California's ban on private detention centers

Jaclyn Diaz

The 2-1 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said California's law doesn't circumvent federal authority when it comes to immigration issues.