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Taipei 101, the world's tallest building, will be officially inaugurated in Taipei, Taiwan, on Dec. 31. Designing the 1,666-foot skyscraper in the earthquake- and typhoon-prone region presented engineers with quite a challenge. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and structural engineering consultant Dennis Poon.

Students in the United States trail many of their peers in Europe and Asia in math and science scores, according to the newly released results of an international standardized test.

President Bush says Social Security is in "crisis," but polls show a majority of seniors think the system needs only minor fixes. Retirees in Arizona and Pennsylvania weigh in on the issue.

With her deep and smoky alto, singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz defies the boundaries of blues, jazz and folk. Her eclectic new album, Beautiful Yesterday, evokes feelings of nostalgia.

President Bush taps Alberto Gonzales to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general, calling the man who currently serves as White House counsel "a calm and steady voice in times of crisis."

They're an odd couple. Angel-voiced Scot Isobel Campbell and gravelly grunge rocker Mark Lanegan of Seattle combine their talents on the CD Ballad of the Broken Seas. Campbell tells Liane Hansen about life after Belle and Sebastian.

The British music press is hailing a new band, the Arctic Monkeys, as being as big as the Beatles — or at least as big as Oasis. The first-week release of the band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold over 118,000 copies.

A "super-max" is the highest security prison in the penitentiary system. It's here the worst offenders -- or the most endangered ones -- serve their time in near isolation. There is only one federal super-max in the United States, located in Florence, Colo.

The National Security Archive is a repository for intelligence documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Its contents include papers related to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Iran-Contra affair --and, more recently, to pre-9/11 warnings about Osama bin Laden. It is led by Tom Blanton.

Michele Norris speaks with BBC disc jockey Charlie Gillett, who hosts a world music program in London. He's put together a two-CD set offering a sample of the most exciting music he's found during the past year