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Around the Nation
2:00 am
Thu January 5, 2012

Boeing To Close Wichita Defense Plant

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By Carla Eckels

Residents of Wichita, Kansas, are outraged after Boeing announced Wednesday that it will close a massive defense plant there. More than 2,000 highly skilled jobs will be gone by the end of next year. The announcement sparked considerable frustration among elected officials who had been lead to believe that more Boeing jobs were on the way to Wichita.

The Salt
12:57 am
Thu January 5, 2012

How The Russians Saved America's Sunflower

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Credit iStockphoto.com
A field of sunflowers in Russia.
Credit Dan Charles / NPR
In his greenhouse, Brent Hulke is breeding sunflowers that produce oil that's dramatically lower in saturated fat.
Credit Dan Charles / NPR
Brent Hulke, USDA's sunflower breeder, inspects his flowers in Fargo, ND.
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By Dan Charles

Next time you buy some potato chips, take a look at the list of ingredients. There's a good chance that, right after potatoes, you'll see this: "Sunflower oil."

You might think nothing of it. After all, the sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. Why wouldn't the potato chip industry use this home-grown oil?

But before the sunflower ended up helping to fry potatoes, it had to take a long detour through, of all places, the Soviet Union.

Let's follow this trail from the beginning.

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Energy
10:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Solar Panels Compete With Cheap Natural Gas

Credit Jeff Brady / NPR
Barbara Scott and Mac Given in Media, Pa., had 21 solar panels installed last March. With government rebates and tax incentives, Scott says, her family spent $21,000 to install the system.
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Renewable energy is growing rapidly in the U.S., with wind and solar industries enjoying double-digit growth each year. Part of that growth comes from more homeowners choosing to install solar panels.

With government subsidies, some people can even make a financial argument for installing the panels. But in recent years, the price of one fossil fuel — natural gas — has declined so much that solar panels are having difficulty competing.

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The Arab Spring: One Year Later
10:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Bahrain: The Revolution That Wasn't

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Bahrain is the one Arab country where the government has suppressed a major uprising. Here, protesters wave flags at the Pearl Roundabout in the capital Manama on Feb. 20, 2011, when the demonstrations were at their peak.
Credit John Moore / Getty Images
An independent commission found that the Bahrain security forces used excessive force and tortured some of those detained. Here, family members look upon the body of protester Abdul Ridha Mohammed, who was shot in the head and died of his wounds on Feb. 21, 2011.
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Arab revolts against secular leaders have been much more successful over the past year than those against monarchs. The one monarchy that faced a serious threat was the tiny Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. But after weeks of protests, troops from Saudi Arabia rolled into the country, the Bahraini regime imposed martial law, and a government crackdown followed. Kelly McEvers made several trips to Bahrain this past year and filed this report as part of NPR's series looking at the Arab Spring and where it stands today.

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Science
10:01 pm
Wed January 4, 2012

Man-Made Quakes? Blame Fracking And Drilling

Credit Ron Stone / Getty Images
For decades, scientists have known that activities like mining, drilling and building dams can actually create earthquakes. As early as the 1960s, observers noted that deep-earth gold mining changed the stresses in rocks and caused earthquakes. Above, miners drill into the rock at the Sub Nigel East Gold Mine in Johannesburg in 1961, more than 6,000 feet below ground.
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Small earthquakes in Ohio and Arkansas associated with hydraulic fracturing for gas have taken many people by surprise. Gas industry executives say there's no hard evidence that their activities are causing these quakes. But some scientists say it's certainly possible; in fact, people have been causing quakes for years.

In the 1960s, geologists realized that gold mines in South Africa had created small earthquakes. Caverns dug into the earth thousands of feet below the surface collapsed. The "pancake" effect caused quakes, in one case a magnitude 5.2 temblor.

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