Talk of the Nation

NPR's Neal Conan reads from listener comments on previous show topics including the challenges the democracy of storytelling and how to achieve happiness in the workplace.

Two-thirds of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to a survey conducted by polling firm Penn Schoen Berland. Pollster Mark Penn explains that though Americans are losing confidence in the nation, they have retained a sense of personal optimism.

In his new book Little America, Washington Post correspondent Rajiv Chandrasekaran traces the decision-making process by senior American military officials during the 2009 troop surge in Afghanistan and analyzes their struggle to develop successful policies on the ground.

Seventeen people were killed and dozens wounded after attacks on churches on the Kenya-Somalia border Sunday. The bombings are just the latest in a series of incidents in Africa blamed on al-Qaida-linked militants in Kenya, Somalia, and Nigeria. NPR's Neal Conan speaks with NPR foreign correspondent Ofeibea Quist-Arcton.

After the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the vast majority of the Affordable Care Act, the court of public opinion has continued to judge the ruling and partisan debate rages on. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley and New York Magazine writer Jonathan Chait discuss the wide range of reactions to the landmark ruling.

Enrique Pena Nieto, the presidential candidate from Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, won the country's election Sunday. The party has been accused of using corrupt practices in the past. In a piece in the Dallas Morning News, Jesus Velasco asks if the U.S. can trust Mexico's new administration.

This Sunday, three members of the International Space Station crew will return to Earth on board a Kazakhstan-bound Soyuz craft, after over six months in orbit. Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers, two of the returning astronauts, and Joe Acaba, who arrived at the station in May, discuss life on board ISS, the visit of the Dragon capsule, and current activities in space.

Lonesome George, the only living member of a subspecies of giant tortoise, died last weekend at his home in the Galapagos Islands. Linda Cayot, tortoise conservationist and scientific advisor to the Galapagos Conservancy, discusses the life of Lonesome George and how he fit in to the larger picture of biodiversity in the Galapagos.

Reports from the National Research Council and the U.S. Geological Survey say that sea levels on both coasts of the United States are rising at an accelerating rate. Oceanographer Peter Howd talks about what's pushing up the oceans, and which coastal hotspots may drown first.

Alan Turing was the father of modern computing, helped the allies win World War II, and was gay — which led to his arrest, and chemical castration. David Leavitt, author of The Man Who Knew Too Much discusses Turing's achievements, persecution, and tragic suicide.

From a GPS that outsmarts traffic jams to flooring that generates electricity from footsteps, student inventors are dreaming up a more convenient, energy efficient future. Ira Flatow talks with winners of Microsoft's "Imagine Cup" and Siemens' "We Can Change The World Challenge" about their innovations.

The Amazing Spider-Man opens in theaters next week--will there be some spidey-science on the screen? Physicist James Kakalios, author of The Physics of Superheroes, and a science consultant on the movie, breaks down the physics of Spider-Man, and explains why even superheroes need to obey some laws of nature.

While he's best known for his aural pursuits, musician and DJ Moby has been taking photographs for years. His 2011 photo book, Destroyed, depicts what it's like to roam the world in the wee hours. Since then, he's turned his lens toward the architecture in Los Angeles, his adopted hometown.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of President Obama's healthcare law on Thursday, declaring the controversial individual mandate constitutional. The ruling may have significant implications for consumers and political ramifications for lawmakers, the Obama administration and the presidential election.