Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, host:

NPR's Joe Palca has the findings of a scientific study that explored how multi-cellular organisms evolved.

Students in Atlanta's troubled public school system started classes this week. It follows a year of controversy after dozens of administrators and teachers were found to have cheated on state tests so that students would appear to have made academic gains.

Verizon landline workers are on strike. They say their service is the bedrock of the company's booming wireless business. They don't want to give up benefits just because they work on a less profitable side of the business now. Management says to stay competitive, the 45,000 landline workers can't be paid as if the company is a monopoly.

Steve Inskeep has the Last Word in business.

The News Corp. board of directors met in Los Angeles Tuesday. It was the first time they had gotten together since the phone-hacking scandal that has roiled its British holdings.

London's riots grew after a peaceful vigil outside Tottenham police station spiraled out of control. Twenty-six years ago, a similar riot in the area sparked a lasting debate about policing and social integration in Britain. Steve Inskeep talks to David Lammy, a life-long resident of Tottenham and its Member of Parliament, about the social and economic problems within his community.

Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating — coupled with increasing economic uncertainty — is making investors nervous. Stocks on Wall Street have been volatile. Steve Inskeep talks to billionaire investor Wilbur Ross about his thoughts about the nature of the economy.

There were 10,000 more police officers out on the streets of London Tuesday night. They are trying to stop days of rioting. Gangs of youths have attacked police, burnt buildings and looted stores in escalating violence since Saturday night.

For most people, their biggest investment is their home. Following Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. credit, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, there may be even more uncertainty about buying or selling a home right now.

Russell Zanca, 47, has a three bedroom, one and a half bath vintage brick Georgian house on the market. The anthropology professor's home is on a quiet tree-lined street on Chicago's North Side.

"It's just a nice solid house," Zanca says.