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The latest Shortwave Report (July 25) is up at the website
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In a House hearing about privacy and the Internet, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) indicated that Congress could take action to strengthen privacy protections. And a study disproves the notion that TV news audiences prefer superficial tabloid coverage to well-written quality journalism.

We continue our look at the campaigns against coal. This week we explore why the Department for Businesses compromise of "carbon capture ready" just isn't good enough. We also look at the impressive rollback of new coal developments in the US. Will there be a moratorium on unabated coal in the US by the end of the year?

Welcome to Palestine Today, a service of the International Middle East Media Centre, www.imemc.org, for Thursday July 24th, 2008.

Elizabeth Holtzman, former member of House of Representatives who served on the Nixon impeachment panel, will be testifying Friday, July 25, when the House Judiciary Committee considers Dennis Kucinich's bill with a single Article of Impeachment charging George W. Bush invaded Iraq under false pretenses. Holtzman was interviewed by Peter B. Collins on July 22. Here is a four-minute QuickTime excerpt from the interview:

National, Societal and World Politics, Events and Affairs from the Black perspective. Online Interactive Weekly talk program - Sobering, Stimulating and Hot.

In today’s show we take a closer look at vitamins, the tiny substances that are vital to our health. You’ll hear how the British biochemist Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins discovered vitamins (or, as he preferred, “vitamines”) in 1909 and find out why the rate of rickets is once again increasing. Finally, producer Jocelyn Ford takes us to Shijiazhuang in China’s Hebei Province for a visit to the world’s largest Vitamin C factory. Element of the Week: Iron.

While chemistry often plays a silent role in art, a few artists and scientists have consciously chosen to intersect the two. CHF’s Erin McLeary was astounded by the work of Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge, who created images with filter paper and called them “self-grown pictures.” We also visit two present-day New York artists — Steve Miller and Dove Bradshaw — who have chosen different routes to incorporate science into their art. Element of the Week: Neon.

Is science on the silver screen any less real than science in the lab? A crew from CHF attempts to answer this question with a visit to a new Star Wars exhibit at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. In a commentary on how cartoons shape our ideas about emerging science and technology, Jody Roberts suggests that accuracy is not really the point when science makes its way into popular culture. Element of the Week: Krypton.

You’ve heard the hype—but what’s nanotechnology really all about? Today’s show is an investigation into the current reality and the future potential of nanotechnology. In an interview with CHF’s Chi Chan, Harvard University chemist George Whitesides explains how nanofabrication works, what it has to do with chemistry, and what new developments we should expect to see in the next five years. In our Mystery Solved! segment, Jennifer Dionisio uncovers the tiny secret behind the legendary

From antibiotics to chemotherapy, modern pharmaceuticals have transformed the experience of illness in the 20th century. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the founder and chairman of Biocon, Ltd., joins us for a discussion of how the global business of pharmaceuticals is changing the culture of science in India. A commentary explores the far-reaching effects of pharmaceuticals in social, economic, and political history. Element of the Week: Sulfur.

Scientists have been fascinated with the question of what color is ever since Isaac Newton discovered that white light contains the entire color spectrum. Join CHF’s Erin McLeary and Integral Molecular’s Joe Rucker as they whip up a batch of mauvine, the first synthetic dye, in CHF’s catering kitchen. In this week’s Chemistry in Your Cupboard, learn how you can make your own pH meter with a common vegetable. Element of the Week: Chromium.

A Valentine for our listeners, this show is dedicated to the chemistry of love. In today’s show, we explain why passion has always been associated with fire and how the stars can influence your love life. We will also look at the long history of aphrodisiacs, from Spanish fly to chilies to chocolate — but in a different way than one might expect. The Element of the Week: Fire.

Today’s show takes a look at how scientists and educators are reinventing American science education. We chat with Tom Tritton, CHF’s new president, about how to introduce liberal arts students to science—and just as importantly, vice versa. Later in the show, producer Cyrus Farivar takes us to the classroom of Drexel University chemistry professor Jean-Claude Bradley, where students are using virtual reality to understand the molecular word. Element of the Week: Hydrogen.

We don’t normally think of computers, radios, and cell phones as products of chemistry, but none of these devices would be possible without specialized chemical manufacturing components and techniques. On today’s show we speak with Henry Kressel, author of Competing for the Future: How Digital Innovations Are Changing the World,about the early solid-state transistors that heralded the beginnings of the Digitial Age. We also share some listener feedback. The Element of the Week: Germanium.

Chemistry plays an integral role in both creating and preserving the printed page. Some historic inks have started to destroy the pages they’re printed on. Other books and manuscripts have been damaged as a result of older conservation practices. In this episode, two conservators assess some rare books at CHF. In Chemistry in Your Cupboard, learn about the history of invisible inks. Element of the Week: Copper.

Western medicine has always looked at the body as a system in balance. Today’s show looks at how ideas about the body’s equilibrium have changed over the past few centuries, from humoral theory to the discovery of vitamins and the role of trace elements in human health. The Element of the Week: Black bile.

In this episode, we look at several cases of how measurements affect scientific research and practice as well as daily life. We also explore two instances where the “standards” are changing: debates over how to fix the standard kilogram; and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry’s recent decision to change the atomic weights of five elements. Washington Post food science writer Robert Wolke joins us to discuss the chemistry of cooking. The Element of the Week: platinum.