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The Two-Way
6:40 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Did Jesus Have A Wife? Newly Discovered Ancient Text Reignites Debate

Credit Karen L. King / Harvard
The front of the papyrus fragment.

Originally published on Wed September 19, 2012 10:30 am

An ancient piece of text is reviving an equally ancient debate: Was Jesus Christ married?

Of course, most Christians believe that he wasn't. But today, Harvard Professor of Divinity Karen King presented a scrap of papyrus that dates back to the fourth century. She told a gathering of scholars in Rome that written in Coptic was this surprising sentence: "Jesus said to them, 'My wife...' "

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Shots - Health Blog
4:49 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Link Between BPA And Childhood Obesity Is Unclear

Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Canned food is a source of BPA exposure, but researchers aren't sure whether it causes childhood obesity. Above, the soup isle at a grocery store in Washington, D.C.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 8:23 pm

BPA could be making kids fat. Or not.

That's the unsatisfying takeaway from the latest study on bisphenol A — the plastic additive that environmental groups have blamed for everything from ADHD to prostate disease.

Unfortunately, the science behind those allegations isn't so clear. And the new study on obesity in children and teens is no exception.

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The Two-Way
4:42 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

In Fox Interview, Romney Doubles Down On '47 Percent' Comments

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 5:31 pm

"This is a message I'm carrying day in and day out and will carry over the coming months."

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The Two-Way
3:57 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

What Did Jimmy Carter's Grandson Have To Do With The Romney Video?

There is a partisan side to the video that is giving Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney headaches. The man who found the video online and then negotiated its full release was James Carter IV, President Jimmy Carter's grandson.

If you haven't heard by now, the video was released by Mother Jones and it shows Romney talking bluntly about 47 percent of the country, whom he says pay no taxes and think themselves "victims."

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The Salt
3:31 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Dr Pepper's Evolution Ad Strikes A Nerve With Some Christians

Credit Dr Pepper/Facebook
Dr Pepper's Facebook ad is the latest riff on a 1965 evolutionary graphic, which apparently still has the power to provoke.

Originally published on Wed September 19, 2012 7:22 am

I'm a Pepper, You're a Pepper, but clearly, some people are not Peppers.

Dr Pepper's new Facebook ad campaign featuring an ape moving from all-fours, to seeing a soda on a rock, to an upright man, enjoying a Pepper, is apparently red meat to some creationists who are loudly expressing outrage at the idea that humans evolved from soda-discovering apes.

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The Two-Way
2:48 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

'Mother Jones' Releases Full, Unedited Romney Video

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 3:57 pm

Shots - Health Blog
1:55 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Botswana Doctors Stop Cervical Cancer With A Vinegar Swab

Credit Jason Beaubien / NPR
Doreen Ramogola-Masire, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Botswana, hopes that a simple, quick screen for cervical cancer with vinegar will catch the disease early and save women's lives.

Originally published on Fri November 9, 2012 1:56 pm

In the U.S., the pap smear has become a routine part of women's health care, and it's dramatically reduced cervical cancer deaths. But in Africa and other impoverished regions, few women get pap smears because the countries lack the laboratories and other resources necessary to offer them.

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The Two-Way
1:06 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Egypt Issues Arrest Warrant For Americans Behind Muhammad Film

Credit Bret Hartman / Reuters /Landov
Los Angles County Sheriff's officers escort an unidentified person out of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula's home in Cerritos, Calif., early Saturday.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 2:26 pm

Egypt's general prosecutor has issued an arrest warrant for eight Americans in relation to the anti-Muslim film that has sparked worldwide protests.

While it's not entirely clear who made the The Innocence of Muslims, a Coptic Christian from California named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has admitted having a role in the film's making.

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The Salt
12:38 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Fruit And Veggies Linked To Lower Obesity Rates In New State Fat Rankings

Credit Dan Charles/NPR
Customers line up for farmers market produce on a corner in Washington, D.C., where people eat more fruits and veggies than in many states.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 4:32 pm

Every year, we dutifully report on the annual Trust for America's Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation state obesity rankings, and every year, it's a similar story — a handful of southern states, on the whole, are the biggest. (It's Mississippi, Louisiana, and West Virginia in 2011, in case you were wondering.)

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Monkey See
12:28 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

'Borderlands 2': A Fine Game's Follow-Up Prioritizes Dialogue And Character

Credit Take-Two Interactive
Handsome Jack, your megalomaniac enemy in Borderlands 2.

Another game with a post-apocalyptic theme? There are so many of them. Why do game makers have this lemming-like, bandwagoning quality? It's going to kill this sub-genre, not only as entertainment, but as a burgeoning popular art form.

Such were my thoughts in 2009 when I received and looked at the cover of Borderlands. And the goal, finding treasure in vaults, didn't appear to be all that different from the others, either.

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The Two-Way
12:17 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Chicago Teachers Scheduled To Vote On Contract

Credit M. Spencer Green / AP
Teacher Patty Westcott pickets outside Clissold Elementary School in Chicago on Tuesday.

Originally published on Wed September 19, 2012 7:43 am

Update at 6:15 p.m. ET. Strike Suspended:

Chicago teachers voted to suspend a strike that had gone into its seventh day today.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that means that 350,000 students in the nation's third-largest school district will return to classrooms this week.

The AP reports:

"The union's House of Delegates voted Tuesday to suspend the strike after learning details of a tentative contract agreement.

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The Two-Way
12:13 pm
Tue September 18, 2012

Our Mistake: We Missed The Ball On Reporting Baseball's 500,000th Error

Credit Jason Arnold / Getty Images
Jose Reyes of the Miami Marlins.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 12:53 pm

This blogger makes mistakes, as sharp-eyed Two-Way readers who can spell and punctuate know all too well.

So errors are something familiar.

Which brings up this milestone: Miami Marlins shortstop Jose Reyes on Saturday committed what is thought to have been the 500,000th error in Major League history (since 1876, that is).

But did he?

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Shots - Health Blog
11:49 am
Tue September 18, 2012

Nursing Homes' Arbitration Agreements Can Contain Hidden Risks

Credit iStockphoto.com
The agreements offered by many nursing homes can result in higher fees and smaller awards in the case of a dispute.

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 11:50 am

If you find yourself with the unenviable task of checking Mom or Dad into a nursing home one day, or if you're signing yourself in, chances are you'll find a document tucked inside the stack of admissions papers that says you agree to arbitrate disputes, should they arise, rather than take the case to court.

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The Two-Way
11:23 am
Tue September 18, 2012

To Celebrate A New Cub, Listen Again To NPR's Ode To The 'Panda Cam'

Credit National Zoo / Xinhua/Landov
A composite of images from the panda cam, showing Mei Xiang during and after giving birth.

The birth this week of a giant panda cub at Washington's National Zoo brings back fond memories and generates new excitement for Morning Edition supervising senior editor Kitty Eisele.

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Monkey See
10:55 am
Tue September 18, 2012

The Sophistication Problem: James Bond, Gene Kelly, And The Limbs We Live On

Credit iStockphoto.com

In an excellent piece at the Press Play blog at Indiewire, Matt Zoller Seitz writes of a screening of From Russia With Love, where he found that much of the audience was too busy guffawing at the elements it found dated to engage the film on its own terms. While he writes eloquently and angrily about the phenomenon of ironic distance, the killer line is this one: "It's up to the individual viewer to decide to connect or not connect with a creative work.

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