Talk of the Nation from NPR

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, about 15 percent of new marriages in 2010 were between people of different races or ethnicities — nearly twice the rate from 30 years prior. Though interracial marriage is more mainstream, the unions may still cause tension among family members.

NPR's John Donvan reads from listener comments on previous show topics including Virginia's proposed ultrasound law, preparing your pockets for a rainy day and reservation life.

Chef Charlie Trotter helped pioneer American fine dining at a time when French cuisine reigned on the food scene. After 25 years, Trotter will close his namesake restaurant — Charlie Trotter's — in Chicago, Ill., to pursue a Master's in philosophy and political theory.

Transcript

JOHN DONVAN, HOST:

The Somali Civil War that began in 1991 destroyed the country's agriculture; that led to widespread starvation and poverty, thousands of people died, warlords took over clans. The United States and other countries tried to help, but all efforts have failed. Now 20 years have gone by. And with piracy and the threat of terrorism from the group al-Shabab becoming a global problem, the British government held a summit last week in London with 55 delegations from Somalia and the international community.

In a 2003 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold affirmative action and said it expected that in 25 years, "the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary." The court will hear a case involving race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas in the fall.

More than half of children born to women under 30 in the U.S. are born out of marriage, according to the research group Child Trends. In an op-ed in Slate magazine, writer Jessica Olien says she wants to raise a child alone, without a husband to complicate the process.

Reporting in Environmental Science and Technology, researchers write of harvesting electricity from microbe-rich river sediments--enough to power a small LED bulb. Grant Burgess, a marine biotechnologist at Newcastle University, discusses the hunt for electron-burping bugs.

When doctors autopsied tuberculosis patients, they described finding round, white swellings, especially in and around the lungs. Medical historian Howard Markel describes how those potato-like growths led to the disease being called tuberculosis, from the Latin tuber.

Web browser manufactures often market their products to consumers with an emphasis on privacy, assuring users that their products can better control how personal information is used online. Carnegie Mellon privacy researcher Lorrie Cranor explains that many companies have developed quiet ways to step around some of that privacy-protecting code.