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Commentator and novelist Reynolds Price says writing can indeed by taught -- at least to serious college students, who can learn serviceable prose. He adds that some skill at creative writing can be acquired, but superior creative work is the far rarer result of inborn "neural tilt," and early environment.

BBC's Adam Brimelow reports that today a British court will rule on whether doctors can separate six-week old Siamese twins in an operation in which one will die.

Watching the Olympic games in Sydney, Commentator James Finn Garner yearns for the days when the U.S. had a rival to reckon with.

Track and field gets underway at the Olympics Friday, with American sprinters Marion Jones and Maurice Greene competing in qualifying rounds. But the big track news was made OFF the track. As NPR's Howard Berkes reports, the mysterious French runner Marie-Jose Perec left Sydney a day before her first heat, claiming an intruder forced his way into her hotel room and threatened her. Perec, the defending Olympic champion in the 200 and 400 meters, avoided all public appearances in the weeks before the Games, communicating only through her Website.

NPR's Tom Goldman visited several families with children involved heavily in elite youth sports. The kids' schedules are demanding -- often taking them out of state for tournaments. And the costs involved, including fees, private coaching and equipment, can take a toll on the family budget. But these parents told Goldman that immersing themselves in the sport along with their children is rewarding.

With the presidential election up for grabs in many big states, the candidates and their supporters are flooding the airwaves with political commercials designed to rev up their supporters and convert the undecided. The ad war is particularly fierce in several Midwestern states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Missouri. NPR's Steve Inskeep spent much of this week watching television in suburban St. Louis to get a flavor of what voters there are seeing each day.

NPR's Joanne Silberner watched the struggles of Tyler Handerson and his family as they waited for the restart of an experimental medical study. Tyler has a cancer that affects nerve cells and the brain. The study aims to use a new kind of "gene therapy" to cure the cancer. But the trial was one of many put on hold last year after the death of a Pennsylvania teenager.

The first American to win a gold medal in weightlifting in 40 years hardly fits the sport's image. She's a 105-pound former gymnast named Tara Nott. As NPR's reports, Nott was awarded the gold when it was stripped from a Bulgarian lifter who tested positive for a banned diuretic. In other Olympic action, Americans won twin gold medals today when they tied in swimming's mad dash, the 50 meters, breaking a run of victories by Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband.

At each Olympics, the winner of the 100 meters becomes known as the fastest man in the world. The race lasts a tad over 9 seconds, but it requires tremendous physical and mental preparation. It's not unusual for an elite sprinter to engage a scientist to analyze the biomechanics of his gait. But as NPR's Tom Goldman reports, at race time simplicity is best. Top runners say they are able to clear their minds of extraneous thoughts during their races.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that with just two days before Yugoslavia's presidential election, there's growing anxiety in Belgrade and abroad about the possible aftermath of the vote. Polls show opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica leading Slobodan Milosevic. But many opposition leaders and analysts believe that Milosevic, an indicted war criminal, will resort to anything to stay in power.