Talk of the Nation

Law professor Thane Rosenbaum says it's time for Americans to be honest about the role revenge plays in our lives. "The distinction between justice and vengeance is false," he writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education. "A call for justice is always a cry for revenge."

The North Korean government officially suspended operations at the Kaesong industrial complex, withdrawing all of its more than 50,000 workers. Many see the complex as the last remaining symbol of North and South Korean unity and fear that tensions may be nearing a dangerous tipping point.

Surveys show a marked rise in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, among the nation's youth. William Graf, a professor of pediatrics and neurology at Yale School of Medicine, discusses the surge in ADHD diagnosis and its potential implications.

In The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, primatologist Frans de Waal explores traits like empathy and fairness in our closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, and argues that human morality is not the product of rational thought or religion, but evolved long ago.

Reporting in Science, Gabriel Villar and colleagues have turned tiny water droplets into cooperating networks that can pass electrical signals and do mechanical work. Villar says that in theory, water droplet networks could be used as artificial tissues.

This week President Obama announced his BRAIN (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) Initiative, which the White House describes as "a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind." National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins describes the new research plan.

After a winter that many beekeepers have described as particularly hard on their hives, Eric Mussen, extension apiculturist at the University of California, discusses the plight of the modern honeybee and the threats the tiny pollinators face from disease and pesticides.

In his new book Drunk Tank Pink Adam Alter, an assistant professor of psychology and marketing at NYU, explains how subtle cues, such as the sound of someone's name or the color of a room, can influence behaviors and thoughts. Alter discusses the book, and his research on the psychology of decision-making.

Reporting in Science Translational Medicine, researchers write that amyloid-forming proteins, traditionally thought of as enemies to the nervous system, may actually be protective 'guardians' instead. Study author Lawrence Steinman, a neurologist at Stanford University, explains how amyloid injections helped paralyzed mice with a multiple-sclerosis-like disease walk again.

Roger Ebert, an icon of film criticism and a one-time filmmaker himself, died Thursday at the age of 70. At the end of his life, Ebert cut back on his work as he faced a series of bouts with cancer. Film buff Murray Horwitz remembers Ebert and talks about the courage he showed in his final days.

Rutgers University fired basketball coach Mike Rice Wednesday after a video showing Rice physically and verbally abusing players became public. Lionel Tiger, professor emeritus at Rutgers University, argues that Rice should have been fired when the school first learned of the tapes months ago.

At the Guantanamo Bay detention center, 166 prisoners remain detained. U.S. officials say nearly a fourth of the captives are on hunger strike, though lawyers for the prisoners say the strike is more widespread. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has re-declared his desire to close the facility.

The box office hit Oz The Great and Powerful, is set 20 years before the The Wizard of Oz. The film's success shows that, no matter how old the story, viewers have an appetite for prequels. TOTN's favorite film buff Murray Horwitz explains what sets these films apart.

Los Angeles, Calif. is the first major city to computerize all of its traffic signals. According to the city, the average speed has gone from 15 miles per hour to 17.3. This is just one example of the innovative ways cities try to address congestion issues.

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford won the GOP nomination for the state's first district congressional seat Tuesday. Sanford's return to politics comes four years after revelations of his extramarital affair in 2009. Sanford isn't the only disgraced politician to make a comeback.