Seeing Red | WBUR and NPR - On Point with Tom Ashbrook

TODAY IS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17, 2010

Monday, January 5, 2004 at 10:00 AM EST

Seeing Red

NASA releases color photos of the red planet–the first from the surface of Mars in seven years. Black and white photos from roboticic rover Spirit revealed a 4-billion-year-old crater the size of Connecticut.

The early success of the mission is just the boost NASA needed after the Columbia tragedy last year. For his part, in the past few months, President Bush has said that he wants to expand America’s space program.

Are you exciting about space again? Are these images back from Mars propelling you to want to know more about what’s out there? Or does it feel like a waste of money?

Guests:

James Garvin, chief scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Project

Andrew Chaikin, science writer and author of “A Man on the Moon:The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts”

William Boynton, professor of planetary sciences at The University of Arizona

Alan Bean, retired astronaut, lunar module pilot on Apollo 12

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Sonny Rollins
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

We’ll talk with tenor saxophone great Sonny Rollins about his six decades at the pinnacle of jazz.

Ireland’s Epic Boom and Bust
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

For more than a decade Ireland boomed. It was Europe’s Celtic Tiger. Then it came crashing down. We’ll look at Ireland’s wild rise, and what went wrong.

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Ben Zimmer on Language
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Blogger and lexicographer Ben Zimmer takes over William Safire’s language column. We’ll catch the new wave of American language.

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Will the Dodd Bill Do the Job?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Senator Chris Dodd finally unveils his bill to rewrite the nation’s Wall Street regulation. Is it tough enough to do the job?

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IED’s in Afghanistan: Hard Numbers

The Department of Defense provided On Point with some statistics about IED attacks in Afghanistan, where there has been an increase in the use of such weapons over the past 14 months. It’s striking to see the spike in numbers — from 2,677 IED incidents in 2007 to 8,159 last year.

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Christopher Hill: U.S. Troop Withdrawal ‘On Schedule’

U.S. Ambassaor to Iraq Christopher Hill spoke with On Point live from Baghdad today as early voting gets underway, part of the run-up to Sunday’s elections. “So far so good,” Hill said, despite scattered violence. Hill said that the plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops by Sept. 1, and to leave only a residual advisory force of 50,000 or fewer, remains “very much on schedule.” Observers worry that a spike in violence could derail that timeline.

The Supreme Court’s Radio Silence

For radio listeners, a key element of our conversation about the Supreme Court gun-rights case was conspicuously absent: the audio recording of the oral arguments. Here’s why.

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