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A Harvard dental researcher says he's figured out the purpose of the giant, unicorn-like tusk seen on narwhal whales: It acts like an antenna that allows the narwhal to sense food and sea conditions. The dentist says the tusks are a giant tooth that grows inside out, with hard tissue inside and sensitive nerves on the outside.

For some people, chile peppers are wild enough when they're encountered in southwestern cooking. But Scott Simon and crew recently searched fruitlessly for chiles growing wild in the Sonoran desert.

Reconstructing the damaged infrastructure of the Gulf Coast is a focal point for the Bush administration. Mark Schleifstein, staff writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, says many who lost their homes or saw severe damage are still unclear on how much of the city can be saved.

The owners of a nursing home in which patients died after they were not evacuated during Hurricane Katrina are facing negligent-homicide charges. Aid workers found 34 bodies in St. Rita's, the St. Bernard Parish facility. Robert Siegel talks with Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti.

Astronomers have pinpointed the exact moment when Ansel Adams snapped his famous photo "Autumn Moon," capturing a serene night in the Yosemite Valley. Now there's plans to re-create that photograph Thursday night.

Many communities in the Gulf Coast wonder how they will meet debt payments on outstanding bond issues. That could make it harder to make good on old debts and borrow the new money local governments need to bring devastated areas back to life.

In an address to the nation from New Orleans Thursday evening, President Bush outlined a massive reconstruction plan to restore areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina. He touched on areas from rebuilding electrical systems to mail delivery as he pledged substantial federal help.

The announcement Tuesday that Harvard University President Lawrence Summers is resigning points to the difficulties of running a high-profile university, and the need to balance many constituencies: alumni, governing board, faculty and students.

Tennessee is the first state to have a registry of those convicted of meth-related crimes, similar to registries states keep on convicted sex offenders. It allows people to learn if a meth lab or user is in their neighborhood.

Steve Inskeep talks to Stephen Cohen, senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, about the political impact of the massive earthquake that shook Pakistan over the weekend.