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Smoking marijuana has just got to be bad for the lungs, since it's been made abundantly clear that cigarettes wreak havoc. Or so it would seem.

But the record on marijuana and lung health has been confusing at best. The latest study is typical: It shows that pot smokers' lung function actually improves, at least if they're not smoking a lot.

There is no escaping artificial flavor. It's everywhere, and the people who invent it argue that it will enhance your experience of a food — making it more tropical, more floral, or more bitter, in a good way.

Europe's debt crisis is a huge threat to the U.S. economy. Or is it?

For many months, economists have been warning that Europe's debt troubles could spiral into a massive recession that drags down U.S. growth.

But some analysts say those fears may be wildly exaggerated. The U.S. economy has been "decoupling" from Europe for some time, and wouldn't be significantly harmed by any recession taking shape over there, they argue.

The debate over a math problem at a Georgia elementary school intensified today with parents protesting and the Georgia NAACP calling for the teacher who wrote the math problem to be fired.

At issue is a third-grade worksheet that included references to slaves filling baskets with cotton and this question: "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week? Two weeks?"

If campaigning for Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire sounds like hard work, try going door-to-door before the primary — for Jesus. Ike Sriskandarajah of TurnStyleNews.com, a production of Youth Radio, spoke with two Mormon missionaries in Exeter, N.H., to hear how they ride the line between proselytizing and politics.

As Sriskandarajah reports on All Things Considered Tuesday, most canvassers wear candidates' buttons and carry campaign signs.

Health care reform is no laughing matter, but MIT economist Jonathan Gruber's new comic book on the subject aims to communicate some pretty complicated policy details in a way that, if not exactly side-splitting, is at least engaging.

After months of campaigning and millions of dollars in TV ads, the first presidential primary is Tuesday in New Hampshire. Audie Cornish talks with NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson about what to expect when the results roll in.

Two Mormon missionaries in their 20s say they have to navigate proselytizing and politics as they go door to door in New Hampshire days before the primary. They are stumping for Jesus as part of their two-year mission for the Mormon Church, but they are sometimes pressed by voters to give opinions on the two Mormon candidates running for president: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. The experience has them reflecting on religion and politics.

The children of the Republican presidential candidates have been almost as present on the campaign trail as the candidates themselves. Sometimes they just serve as a backdrop on TV, other times as valuable surrogates.

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MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

More than half of states had forced sterilization programs at one time, but few were as aggressive as North Carolina's. Some 7,600 men, women and children were sterilized by that state's eugenics board up to the mid 1970s. Sterilization was seen as a way to control welfare costs and improve the caliber of the population. Well, today, a task force in North Carolina took a step toward becoming the only state to offer compensation to eugenics victims.

From member station WFAE, Julie Rose has the story.

Dirty words are once again front and center at the Supreme Court, which is considering a challenge to a regulation that allows the Federal Communications Commission to punish broadcasters for the fleeting use of vulgar language.

The Army has spent billions of dollars in the past 15 years on an ambitious program to develop a universal radio. It was called the Joint Tactical Radio System, or "JTRS." But now the Army has scrapped most of that program. Melissa Block talks to military writer David Axe about its failure.

Melissa Block talks to NPR's Ari Shapiro, who is covering the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Romney is the frontrunner in polls leading up to Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

Audie Cornish and Melissa Block talk to NPR correspondents covering the New Hampshire primary. NPR's Don Gonyea is covering the campaign of former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. NPR's Robert Smith is covering the campaign of Texas Rep. Ron Paul. NPR's Tovia Smith is covering the campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. And NPR's Andrea Seabrook is covering the campaign of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Last week in Boston, 7,000 mathematicians, math teachers and math enthusiasts from all over the world converged for something called the Joint Mathematics Meeting. Naturally, there was a lot of this...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: C plus S minus two.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Well, S is A plus B and C is two.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: Right.

BLOCK: But reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro also found a lot that he wasn't expecting.

When the current president of South Korea Lee Myung-bak took office four years ago, he turned a cold shoulder to engagement with North Korea. The conservative wing in South Korea opposed improving relations with Pyongyang. But that has proven to be an unpopular policy, and now Lee finds himself in the difficult position of appealing for closer ties in this unpredictable transition period in North Korea. Lee goes to Beijing Monday to seek Chinese backing for this policy shift.

In Israel, it might become a crime to use Nazi comparisons to criticize someone. As the AP puts it, a bill under consideration by parliament would "would impose penalties of up to six months in jail and a $25,000 fine for using the word 'Nazi' or Holocaust symbols for purposes other than teaching, documentation or research."

Not too long ago Nokia was the largest tech company in Europe. Its market cap rivaled Microsoft's. It helped create the mobile phone industry as we know it. But the emergence of a new generation of smartphones — led by Apple's iPhone and Android-based offerings from Samsung, HTC and others — left Nokia behind.

This can be a harrowing time for high school seniors and their parents in the U.S. as they wait to hear from college admissions offices. But the pressure can be equally intense, if not more so in India, where the massive number of applicants and one make-or-break exam keeps students on edge.

Admission to Delhi University, India's most prestigious school, is considered as tough, if not tougher than, the process at many leading schools in the U.S.

"It's a very difficult game, given the numbers," says Dinesh Singh, the vice chancellor of Delhi University.

Eight colleges in Georgia will now become four, the State Board of Regents announced today. The move wil affect about 36,000 students and was proposed in an effort to save money.