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Insects known as "walking sticks" have gained and lost wings several times over the last 10 million years. At least that's what a study in this week's issue of Nature magazine contends. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Michael F. Whiting, professor of evolutionary biology at Brigham Young University and lead author of Loss and Recovery of Wings in Stick Insects.

Enormous deficits loom over the federal budget this year and next. The White House is pressing Senate Republicans to trim nearly $10 billion from spending bills approved last year when Democrats ran the Senate. Democrats respond that the president's proposed tax cuts need trimming -- not federal spending. NPR's David Welna reports.

A chain of Hong Kong health clubs emphasizes modesty -- or perhaps vanity -- in an age of instant information. Also, they name hurricanes, don't they? Well, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson has a plan to personalize a much different -- and more local -- form of natural disaster.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the White House plans to push harder to bridge the gap between Venezuela's president and opposition forces that want him out, and end the opposition strike that's paralyzed Venezuela's oil industry. The Bush administration wants Latin American leaders to join the effort. Opposition forces have been striking for more than six weeks against President Hugo Chavez.

Biles shocked the world when she withdrew from events at the Olympics this summer, citing a phenomenon called the "twisties." In an interview Thursday, she says she's still grappling with it.

Host John Ydstie talks with Christine Brennan of The Washington Post about the U.S. Figure Skating Championships underway in Dallas.

Human rights groups fear the aftermath of a war in Iraq could create a climate of revenge among Iraqis who have suffered under Saddam Hussein's government. Some Iraqi exiles downplay the issue, but other observers say the Bush administration must be prepared to address post-war vendettas. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The French film noir classic Quai des Orfevres makes a new tour of U.S. theaters half a century after its 1948 release, with a restored print. It features a lost Paris full of music halls, cigarette smoke and a criminal investigation. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

NPR's Special Correspondent Susan Stamberg talks with Princess Mary Elettra Elena Anna Marconi about the work of her father, inventor Guglielmo Marconi. Tomorrow marks 100 years since he sent the first radio telegram.

Researchers say they have used genetic engineering to create a mouse that is abnormally anxious and aggressive -- a strain that could help explain why some people are prone to anxiety or panic attacks. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports on new research published in the journal Neuron. Watch videos of normal mouse behavior, and the violent behavior of a genetically modified mouse.