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Airs Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV

Twenty years ago, many scientists didn't think that genes could cause diseases like cancer. The discovery of the BRCA gene for hereditary breast cancer changed that. Mary-Claire King tells how.

Panera Bread says it's dropping artificial colors, preservatives and additives from many menu items. But while it says that includes artificial sweeteners, it's leaving sodas with them on the menu.

"Everything I write upsets somebody," Rushdie tells NPR's Scott Simon. His latest book, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, sweeps the reader into a turbulent, magical, mythological world.

Recent studies have found that background checks can help curb gun violence. In recent shootings, though, evidence is tougher to see.

Don't call it a comeback: Blocks have been here for more than 100 years. Studies have shown they can help build language and cognition skills — and even help teach math.

Can a colicky baby's piercing scream be militarized? As in, made (literally) into a weapon of war? Oh, absolutely, says this scholar, smiling ever so slightly.

Representing fields from chemistry to poetry, the 24 MacArthur Foundation Fellows will each receive $500,000 over the next five years.

We're learning more about the comet that a European Space Agency paired up with its Rosetta probe last fall. For one thing, it has "goosebumps" on steep cliff faces. It's also highly porous.

The police do it. The FBI does it. Could be, foreign governments do it. With the right equipment, people can hijack your cellphone calls and texts and listen in.