VOASE0121_This Is America

21 January 2007

Hillary Clinton Enters the Race for a Prize As-Yet Unclaimed by Any Woman in American Politics
Now that the US has a female House speaker, could the presidency be next in 2008?

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

Senator Hillary Clinton announced Saturday on her Web site that she is forming a presidential exploratory committee. Details below.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Faith Lapidus. Women in American politics is our report this week.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Nancy Pelosi won her first election to Congress twenty years ago this June.

She led the California State Democratic Party in the early eighties. After that she served at the national level as finance chair of the campaign committee for Democrats in the Senate. She also kept busy with her five children.

Nancy Pelosi came from a political family. She was good at raising money but had never been a candidate for public office herself.

VOICE TWO:

Then in nineteen eighty-seven, the death of a Democratic representative in San Francisco led to a special election. Nancy Pelosi narrowly won her party's nomination to enter the race.

Since then, voters in the heavily Democratic district have re-elected her to Congress ten times.

Nancy Pelosi is welcomed by former speaker Dennis Hastert

Now she holds the powerful job of speaker of the House of Representatives. Under the Constitution, the speaker becomes president of the United States if ever the president and vice president are unable to serve.

VOICE ONE:

Displeasure with the Iraq war was a driving force in the victory for the Democrats in the elections last November. The Republican Party lost control of both houses of Congress for the first time in twelve years.

Nancy Pelosi was the minority leader in the House. As expected, she became the new speaker when the One Hundred Tenth Congress opened on January fourth.

NANCY PELOSI: "By electing me speaker, you have brought us closer to the ideal of equality that is America's heritage and America's hope."

Nancy Pelosi is the first woman ever elected to lead the House. At her swearing-in, she thanked the new minority leader, Republican John Boehner, for pointing that out.

NANCY PELOSI: "This is an historic moment and I thank the leader for acknowledging it. Thank you, Mister Boehner. It's an historic moment for the Congress. It's an historic moment for the women of America."

VOICE TWO:

The new Congress has a record number of women, including ten newly elected to the House.

Twenty years ago, when Nancy Pelosi was first elected, men filled all but twenty-two seats in the House. Now seventy-one of the four hundred thirty-five members, or sixteen percent, are women. Most are Democrats.

VOICE ONE:

Historically many of the women who have served in the Senate were never elected. They were appointed to complete the term of a husband or other male relative who resigned or died.

Seeds of Peace campers from the Middle East with Maine Senator Olympia Snowe on Capitol Hill

Fifteen years ago, only two of the one hundred senators were women. Now the number is a record sixteen.

One of the five Republicans, Olympia Snowe of Maine, has served in both houses of Congress and both houses of her state legislature.

VOICE TWO:

Two women are new to the Senate this year. Both are Democrats. Amy Klobuchar enforced the law as chief prosecutor in the largest county in Minnesota. Claire McCaskill served as state auditor before she became the first woman ever elected a senator from Missouri.

At the state level, women are governors of nine of the fifty states.

VOICE ONE:

Across the country, the victory for Democratic candidates in November brought back memories. It was similar to the elections of nineteen ninety-four -- only then, it was the other way around. That was the year of what became known as the Republican revolution.

In Congress, all of the representatives and a third of the senators are elected every two years. Now all the attention is on two thousand eight, when Americans will also elect a new president.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

America won its independence in seventeen seventy-six. But it was not until nineteen twenty that American women won a constitutional right to vote.

Women have made gains in society, but people talk about a "glass ceiling." This is the idea that women may face unwritten limits on their rise to power in jobs or other areas.

Nancy Pelosi says her election as speaker of the House means that women have finally broken, in her words, the "marble ceiling."

VOICE ONE:

The sixty-six-year-old speaker quickly set to work on the legislative goals of House Democrats for the first one hundred hours of the new Congress. The issues were as different as increasing the federal minimum wage and reducing interest rates on student loans.

But there were disputes among Democrats over some of her early decisions. For example, some members of her party disagreed with her choice for chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. She chose Silvestre Reyes of Texas over Jane Harman of California -- the longest-serving Democrat on the committee.

VOICE TWO:

Nancy Pelosi was born Nancy D'Alesandro. She was one of five children in a family in the Little Italy area of Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Junior, was the mayor of Baltimore. Before that he represented the city for five terms in the House of Representatives. Later, his son Thomas the Third also became mayor of Baltimore.

Daughter Nancy graduated in nineteen sixty-two from Trinity College -- now Trinity Washington University -- in the nation's capital. The following year she married Paul Pelosi, a wealthy businessman from San Francisco.

VOICE ONE:

In Congress, Nancy Pelosi served on the House Appropriations Committee, which deals with federal spending. In two thousand two she was elected minority leader.

Many women are proud of her success. But women are fifty-one percent of the population and their numbers in Congress fall far short of that.

VOICE TWO:

Last year, even extra money from the Democratic Party failed to help many female candidates win seats in Congress.

One woman who appeared likely to win a seat in the House was Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. She was a helicopter pilot in the Iraq war. She lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down. Before the election, Tammy Duckworth was ahead in public opinion. But when the ballots were counted, Republican Peter Roskam had narrowly defeated her.

VOICE TWO:

Some people say it is harder for women than men to win elections. They say voters may worry that women will be soft on issues like illegal immigration. Or voters, male as well as female, are suspicious of women in power.

Others argue that while some voters might discriminate against women, most base their choices on a candidate's positions.

Political observers can argue all day about why Congress does not have more women.

VOICE ONE:

And the fact is, they can all be right. America is a big country. What influences voters in one area may have no effect in another. In some cases, what might count most is the ability of a candidate to raise enough money for an effective media campaign.

Even a candidate for local office may have to raise money for a campaign.

VOICE TWO:

Some groups make special efforts to help female candidates. But in political fund-raising there are no guarantees.

For example, Elizabeth Dole sought the Republican nomination for president in two thousand. She dropped out, saying she could not raise enough money for a campaign. She is now a senator from North Carolina.

'I'm In,' Clinton Declares

VOICE ONE:

Raising money might not be such a problem for Hillary Rodham Clinton. Senator Clinton has long been considered the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination next year. Finally, on Saturday, she announced that she is forming a presidential exploratory committee, the first step toward becoming a candidate.

HILLARY CLINON: "You know, after six years of George Bush, it is time to renew the promise of America. Our basic bargain -- that no matter who you are or where you live, if you work hard and play by the rules you can build a good life for yourself and your family."

The wife of former president Bill Clinton was elected a senator from New York in two thousand, and re-elected last November.

No major American party has ever nominated a woman for president. And only one woman, Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, was a candidate for vice president. That was in nineteen eighty-four.

Most Americans say they would vote for a female president. But lately there has been a lot of excitement about another Democrat. Illinois Senator Barack Obama announced last Tuesday that he has formed a presidential exploratory committee.

A number of other Democrats and Republicans have also announced exploratory committees. Federal election rules permit individuals to "test the waters." They can raise money and see if they have enough public support before officially declaring themselves candidates.

VOICE TWO:

Condoleezza Rice has often been spoken of as a possible Republican presidential candidate. But the secretary of state says she does not want to be president.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty Weaver. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Transcripts and MP3 files of our programs are at voaspecialenglish.com. Please join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

VOASE0121_Development Report

21 January 2007

'FabLabs' Help Communities Design Their Own Solutions
A project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sets up fabrication laboratories to help developing countries.

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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Imagine a world without manufacturers. Or at least not as we now think of them. Instead, we as individuals control the technology to design and make most anything we want.

That world exists now in the mind of Neil Gershenfeld. Professor Gershenfeld is a computer scientist and physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He directs the Center for Bits and Atoms at M.I.T.

The center is exploring the relationship between computer science and physical science. The work is receiving financial support from the National Science Foundation.

Neil Gershenfeld wants to help developing countries create technological tools to solve their own problems. He says this is one way to bring the results of the digital revolution to the developing world.

An antenna project at a FabLab in Ghana

And many of those solutions might come out of personal fabrication laboratories -- or "FabLabs." So far the center has set up about fifteen of these laboratories around the world.

Each FabLab comes equipped with about twenty thousand dollars' worth of electronics, design tools and computers. The labs are all similar but they are put to use in very different ways.

In Costa Rica, for example, students used a FabLab to develop new educational technologies. They also developed environmental sensing systems for farmers.

In Pabal, India, villagers used a FabLab to improve the design process for diesel engines that are used for many purposes in the community. That was one of their first projects. A FabLab in Takoradi, Ghana, is developing machines powered by the sun for cooking and other uses.

Developing countries are not the only ones with FabLabs. In Norway, farmers used one to design what they call "sheep radios." They wanted a radio frequency identification system to be able to follow a sheep from birth to market.

People have also used FabLabs to test new designs for business ideas.

Sherry Lassiter works at the Center for Bits and Atoms at M.I.T. She says three laboratories recently opened in South Africa.

The hope is that in the future, FabLabs will become economically self-supporting. They might even be able to design new versions of themselves to keep up with demand.

In fact, Professor Gershenfeld imagines a time when personal fabrication laboratories are truly personal -- a FabLab in every home.

And that's the VOA Special English Development Report, written by Jill Moss. For a link to the Center for Bits and Atoms at M.I.T., go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Jim Tedder.

VOASE0120_People In America

20 January 2007

James Brown, 1933-2006: The Godfather of Soul Influenced Many Kinds of Music During His 50-Year Career
Brown was also called "the hardest working man in show business."

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about James Brown, the musician called "The Godfather of Soul."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

James Brown

That was James Brown singing his famous hit song from nineteen sixty-five, "I Got You (I Feel Good.)" With this song, Brown went from a rhythm and blues singer to a pop music star. It helped him gain a huge number of white fans as well as black ones. He became a famous and wealthy singer, songwriter and performer. But this huge success was very different from the poverty of his early life.

VOICE TWO:

James Brown was born in nineteen thirty-three in a one-room house near Barnwell, South Carolina. His father, Joe Brown, had a job removing fluids from pine trees in the surrounding woods. He sold the sap for making turpentine. The boy's mother left the family when he was seven years old. James and his father moved to Augusta, Georgia.

Young James had musical abilities. He learned to play the guitar, piano and drums. He did this while picking crops in the fields and shining people's shoes to earn money to survive.

VOICE ONE:

James loved the African-American church music called gospel. He loved it when the church's religious leader would sing this music and drop to his knees with emotional shouts and screams. Brown later used this kind of emotional singing in his own performances.

He also liked the sound of the jazz and rhythm and blues performer Louis Jordan. Jordan had recorded a song called "Caldonia" and other popular songs in the late nineteen forties and nineteen fifties.

VOICE TWO:

By the time he was thirteen, James Brown had formed his own music group. He later joined a group called the Flames. The band played at drinking places, restaurants, colleges and other places in the South.

These young performers copied the sounds of successful rhythm and blues groups. They also included in their shows a song co-written by James Brown. It was called "Please, Please, Please."

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This was the song that launched James Brown's career. He was able to stop doing low-paying jobs. He said the success of the song gave him the chance to have some of the things he could not have dreamed of. "Please, Please, Please" was recorded in nineteen fifty-six. It sold more than one million copies. It made James Brown famous in the United States. And it became part of his electrifying stage performances.

Brown would be on stage with an eighteen-piece band and a group of dancers. His emotional singing included unusual sounds and screams. He danced around the stage performing movements that had not been seen before. He created his own musical and performing style.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

That was another James Brown hit song, "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" from nineteen sixty-five. Brown said that song was one of the most important things he ever did in the way of changing music rhythms. With that song, Brown created the music he called "funk." This later came to be called "soul" music. And James Brown became known as "The Godfather of Soul." He followed this hit a few months later with "I Got You (I Feel Good)", an even bigger hit.

VOICE ONE:

James Brown also became known as "the hardest working man in show business." During the nineteen sixties, he performed his exciting show almost non-stop in city after city in the United States and in other countries.

At the same time, Brown worked for civil rights for African-Americans. He supported black business ownership as the most important way to what he called "real black power." He urged black people to be proud of themselves. And he urged young people to continue their education and not drop out of school. His message was positive instead of angry. He recorded this song in nineteen sixty-eight, "Say it Loud ( I'm Black and I'm Proud.)"

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Over the years, James Brown had problems in business, with taxes and in his personal life. During the nineteen seventies, his popularity decreased as disco music became popular. But he made a comeback in the early nineteen eighties, with "Living in America," his first hit in years.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen eighty-six, James Brown was one of the first performers invited into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He became one of the most successful recording artists in history. With the exception of Elvis Presley, no pop artist had more hit records. He had ninety-four songs in the Top One Hundred songs. And he had more Top Twenty single records than any other recording artist up to that time.

But, in nineteen eighty-eight, he committed some crimes. He spent two and one-half years in prison. He was pardoned of his crimes in two thousand three.

VOICE TWO:

James Brown received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in nineteen ninety-two. He later talked about what he had tried to do to help young people. He said he tried to teach through his music. He thought it was very important to make young people proud of themselves and willing to work for what they wanted. He said life is sometimes really hard, but you can make it a lot better if you try to prepare for it.

VOICE ONE:

James Brown saw himself as an example of "the American dream." That means that a person can rise from poverty to wealth and success if he or she works hard. Brown influenced the music of his time and many performers who came after him. He showed his personality and energy in his famous shout:

"If you are an American or you're just a human being and got any blood going through your veins -- AHHOOWW! I feel good!"

VOICE TWO:

James Brown performed until the very end of his life and continued to help his community. Three days before his death, he joined volunteers at his yearly event to give toys to needy children in Augusta, Georgia. He had planned to perform on New Year's Eve at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York City.

James Brown, "The Godfather of Soul," died December twenty-fifth, two thousand six in Atlanta, Georgia. He was seventy-three. During his fifty-year career, he made many music fans feel good.

(MUSIC: "I Got You (I Feel Good)")

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Barbara Klein. You can read scripts and download audio at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for People in America in VOA Special English.

VOASE0119_In the News

19 January 2007

US Says Wiretap Program Will Now Require Court Approval | More Trouble for Somalia?
Updates of two stories from the past six months.

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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

This week -- new developments in two stories we reported on last year.

In August, a federal judge tried to stop what the Bush administration calls the Terrorist Surveillance Program. A presidential order let the National Security Agency read e-mails and listen to calls to or from al-Qaida suspects in the United States without a court order.

The judge in Detroit said the program violated rights of free speech and privacy. She ruled it unconstitutional and in violation of a federal intelligence law.

In October, an appeals court said the government could continue the program while it appealed the ruling.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee

But this week the administration said it has ended the use of surveillance without court approval. It says the program now operates under rules prepared by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Democrats, newly in control of Congress, praised the move but said it should have happened sooner. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said there are still questions about exactly how the program will work.

The Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Attorney General Alberto Gonzales this week. He says officials do not want to release too many details, for security reasons.

President Bush secretly approved the surveillance program after the September eleventh, two thousand one, attacks on the United States. After the attacks, Congress gave him the power to use all necessary force against those responsible.

The New York Times reported the existence of the program at the end of two thousand five.

Last June, we reported on the situation in Somalia. The Islamic Courts movement had just captured Mogadishu, the capital. Last month, Ethiopian troops entered Somalia. They helped its temporary government to force Islamist fighters from Mogadishu and other parts of the country.

But this week there was a political move that American and European officials say could hurt efforts to unite Somalis. The Somali parliament voted its pro-Islamist speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, out of his job.

Last year, Mister Aden tried to negotiate peace with the Islamic movement. President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi rejected his efforts. At that time, the movement controlled Mogadishu.

Ethiopian troops are expected to leave the country soon. There are worries of renewed anarchy and civil war.

Eight thousand troops are needed for a proposed African peacekeeping force. Uganda was the first to offer any. On Friday, an official of Uganda's ruling party told VOA that the party supports deploying one thousand five hundred soldiers.

Somalia has lacked an effective central government since the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in nineteen ninety-one.

Last week, the United States launched an air strike in an area of southern Somalia believed to be a hiding place for members of al-Qaida.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Brianna Blake. I’m Steve Ember.

VOASE0118_Economics Report

18 January 2007

Big and Bigger: Mergers and Acquisitions Stay Strong Into '07
Last year brought record levels of activity worldwide, but the biggest deal was the combining of AT&T and BellSouth.

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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Companies combined or bought other businesses at record levels last year. Almost four trillion dollars in deals worldwide represented an increase of nearly forty percent from the year before. So far in January, merger and acquisition activity has remained strong.

Delta Air Lines, currently in Federal Bankruptcy Court protection, is a target of US Airways

In the airline industry, US Airways this month raised its recent offer to buy Delta to ten billion dollars. If that goes through, there could be other airline deals coming.

General Electric has recently added some new manufacturers to its mix of businesses.

But in the biggest deal of last year, AT&T merged with the telecommunications company BellSouth. That deal in the United States was valued at seventy-three billion dollars, not including debt.

The satellite radio industry has had increasing talk of a merger between XM and Sirius, the two major companies. But the head of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington said this week that one company could not own both operating licenses.

With all the deals last year, investment banks did well. Goldman Sachs advised on more than four hundred mergers -- valued at over one trillion dollars. Citicorp and Morgan Stanley were not far behind.

A merger is when two or more companies combine their operations. Generally the combined company is able to negotiate lower prices with suppliers because of its bigger size and market. Jobs are sometimes also cut in mergers to save money.

The idea is to increase the value of the combined company for shareholders. But that does not always happen. Some experts suggest that only one merger in three creates big gains for shareholders. At the same time, mergers can reduce competition, resulting in higher prices.

The simplest way for companies to combine is through an acquisition. One company buys another. A hostile takeover is when the target company did not invite or approve an offer to its shareholders.

Last year, the world's biggest steelmaker, Mittal of India, succeeded in buying all the shares of its top competitor, Arcelor of Luxembourg.

Companies may take a large part or a small part in guiding the policies of the businesses they acquire. Investor Warren Buffett is known for buying controlling shares of stock in companies but leaving their management teams in place. He says he is not interested in companies without established management.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I'm Mario Ritter.

VOASE0118_American Mosaic

18 January 2007

Baseball Writers Honor the Iron Man, Mr. Padre for a Job Well Done
Also: A question from Nigeria about the Sears Tower, and music for ''tweens'' helps drive album sales.

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HOST:

Welcome to AMERICAN MOSAIC in VOA Special English.

(MUSIC)

I'm Doug Johnson. This week on our show:

Getting ready for the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A question from Nigeria about the Sears Tower in Chicago ...

And a report on how "tweens" are helping to drive sales in the pop music industry.

Baseball Hall of Fame

HOST:

Last week, the Baseball Writers' Association of America elected Cal Ripken Junior and Tony Gwynn to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Their careers were unusual in Major League baseball today. Barbara Klein explains why.

BARBARA KLEIN:

Cal Ripken Jr., left, and Tony Gwynn after their election to the Hall of Fame

Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Junior played all their years in the major leagues with just one team.

Cal Ripken played for the Baltimore Orioles from nineteen eighty-one to two thousand one. He played shortstop for most of his career and later moved to third base.

He played in nineteen All-Star Games and was named the most valuable player in two of them. Also, he was the American League's most valuable player in nineteen eighty-three when Baltimore won the World Series.

But baseball history may best remember him for playing two thousand six hundred thirty-two consecutive games. The city of Baltimore celebrated in nineteen ninety-five when he broke the record set by Lou Gehrig for not missing any games. That record had stood for fifty-six years. Cal Ripken Junior became known as the "Iron Man" of baseball.

Tony Gwynn has a nickname too: "Mister Padre." He played for the San Diego Padres from nineteen eighty-two until two thousand one. His hitting earned him the twentieth highest batting average in the major leagues. He won eight National League batting championships. But he also won five Golden Glove awards for his fielding. Tony Gwynn played in fifteen All-Star Games and two World Series.

Both new Hall of Famers are still active in the sport. Cal Ripken owns minor league teams and supervises a baseball league for young people. And Tony Gwynn is the baseball coach at San Diego State University.

They were the only candidates on the two thousand seven Hall of Fame ballot to receive the required seventy-five percent of the votes.

Five hundred forty-five members of the American Baseball Writers' Association voted. All but eight of them voted for Cal Ripken. He received five hundred thirty-seven votes. Tony Gwynn received five hundred thirty-two.

They will be honored at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, at ceremonies on July twenty-ninth.

Sears Tower

HOST:

Our listener question this week comes from Abdul Qadir Usman of Gombe, Nigeria. He wants to know more about the Sears Tower.

The Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois, is the tallest office building in the United States.

Sears Tower

It was built between nineteen seventy and nineteen seventy-four. For more than twenty years, it was the tallest building in the world.

The tower rises more than four hundred forty meters -- five hundred ten if you add the two broadcasting towers on top. Either way, it stands as a tall, dark presence over the area of Chicago known as the Loop.

The facing material is black aluminum. The windows are bronze colored glass. The building has one hundred ten floors.

Architect Bruce Graham of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill designed the tower for Sears, Roebuck and Company. The company later moved its main offices to the greater Chicago area.

Sears, Roebuck was once the nation's leading operator of department stores and a mail-order business. Its competitor Kmart bought the company in two thousand five.

Most of the Sears Tower is office space. But people also live in apartments and there are stores and restaurants.

The building has an observation area called the Skydeck. On cloudy days, people on the street cannot even see all the way to the top of the Sears Tower. But on clear days, visitors to the Skydeck can see three other states -- Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Explanations of the sights appear in English, Spanish, Polish, French, Japanese and German. And there are windows placed low, at eye level for children.

People also can see local sights like the Millennium Park and the shining white Wrigley Building along the Chicago River. They can watch the ships on Lake Michigan. And, in the summer, they can follow the little dots that really are people swimming, or sailing in boats with colorful sails.

Tween Music

HOST:

Some of the biggest buyers in today's music world are not very big at all. They are children between the ages of eight and twelve -- between early childhood and the teen years. Marketers call them "tweens." Faith Lapidus has our story.

FAITH LAPIDUS:

Lately, record companies have been finding it harder to sell albums to adults. At the same time, online music stores and free sharing services on the Web have brought changes to the industry.

To increase their sales, record companies have been looking more and more at the tween market.

"Hannah Montana" is the name of a popular Disney television series. The show is about a high school student who has a secret life as a pop star named Hannah Montana.

The young actress is Miley Cyrus. Her father is country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, who also appears on the show.

Since its release the "Hannah Montana" soundtrack CD has outsold the albums of many established performers. In its first two months it sold more than a million and a half copies with songs like this one, called "If We Were a Movie."

(MUSIC)

Also popular with tweens is the story of a musical group called "The Cheetah Girls." What began as a series of books has grown into two movies.

The actresses in the movies play colorfully dressed performers who sing and dance. They are now performing their music live all over the country. Here they are with "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)."

(MUSIC)

It might not surprise you that the top-selling album in the United States last year was for young people. The market research company Nielsen SoundScan says the top seller was the soundtrack to the Disney television movie "High School Musical."

This is the story of two students who decide to try out for singing parts in a high school play. By following their dream, they set an example for others. The album has sold millions of copies all over the world -- there is even a version in Hindi.

From "High School Musical," we leave you with a song called "We're All in This Together."

(MUSIC)

HOST:

I'm Doug Johnson. I hope you enjoyed our program today. It was written by Nancy Steinbach and Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver was our producer. MP3 files and transcripts of our shows are at voaspecialenglish.com.

And we hope you can join us again next week for AMERICAN MOSAIC, VOA’s radio magazine in Special English.

VOASE0117_The Making of a Nation

16 January 2007

American History: One Problem After Another Faced Truman in His First Months in Office
At first the president seemed weak, but he proved a strong leader especially in foreign policy.

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VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

The surrender of Japan in August nineteen forty-five ended the Second World War. Americans looked to their new president, Harry Truman of the state of Missouri, to lead them into a new period of peace.

Harry Truman

No one expected President Truman to be as strong a leader as Franklin Roosevelt had been. And at first, they were right. Truman had one problem after another during his first months in the White House.

VOICE TWO:

Truman's first big problem was the economy. In the days after the war ended, almost two million Americans lost their jobs as arms factories closed. Americans everywhere worried about what would happen next. Only a few years before, the nation had suffered through the worst economic crisis in American history. No one wanted to return to the closed banks, hungry children, and other sad memories of the Great Depression.

In some ways, the economy did better than experts hoped. The gross national product dropped only a small amount. Many Americans still had money they had saved during the war. And Congress passed a law to help people to keep their jobs. The situation could have been much worse than it was.

VOICE ONE:

However, the economy also could have been better -- much better. Suddenly, almost overnight, the price of everything began to rise. Clothes that cost five or six dollars yesterday now cost ten to fifteen dollars. Used automobile tires sold for the surprisingly high price of twenty dollars.

President Truman tried to stop the increases through a special price control agency that had been created during the war. However, people by the thousands refused to follow the government price control rules. Instead, they set their own prices for goods.

VOICE TWO:

Store owners would tell government officials that they were still obeying the price rules. But often they charged whatever they wanted for goods.

A meat salesman, for example, might say there was no good meat that day. But for three dollars extra, he would suddenly find a thick piece of meat to sell. A car salesman would sell his cars at the controlled price. But he might insist that the buyers also buy his dog for five hundred dollars. And his dog would return home that night.

VOICE ONE:

It was not just store owners who were charging more and refusing to obey government price rules. It was also the woman who rented a house to a young family…the farmer selling food…and finally, most importantly, it was organized labor.

President Truman had always been a friend of labor unions. But during the first months of his administration, he became involved in a fierce struggle with coal miners and railroad workers.

VOICE TWO:

The first sign of trouble came in September nineteen forty-five. A group of workers closed down automobile factories at the Ford Company. Then, workers at the General Motors auto company went on strike. Soon there were strikes everywhere.

Workers went on strike in the oil industry, the clothing industry, the wood-cutting industry and the electrical industry.

The strikes made Truman angry. He believed the striking workers were threatening the economy and security of the United States. He got even angrier when representatives of striking steel and railroad workers came to the White House and refused to accept a compromise wage offer.

"You are crazy," Truman told the union leader, "if you think I am going to sit here and let you stop this whole country."

VOICE ONE:

Truman ordered government forces to take over the railroads and the coal mines. And within a short time, the striking coal miners returned to work. However, the president had less success with the railroad workers. He became so angry with them that he asked Congress to give him the power to draft all striking rail workers into the armed forces.

The rail strike finally ended. But millions of Americans lost faith in Truman's ability to lead the country, to bring people together, and end disputes peacefully.

VOICE TWO:

By late nineteen forty-six, most Americans believed that the man in the White House did not know what he was doing. Truman seemed weak and unable to control events.

Union members disliked him because of his violent opposition to the coal and rail strikes. Farmers opposed Truman because of the administration's effort to keep meat prices low. Conservatives did not trust the reforms that Truman promised in his speeches. And liberal Democrats watched with worry as many old advisers of Franklin Roosevelt left the government because they could not work well with Truman.

VOICE ONE:

In November, nineteen forty-six, the people voted in congressional and state elections. The results showed they were not satisfied with Truman and the Democratic Party. Republicans won control of both houses of Congress for the first time in eighteen years. And Republicans were elected governor in twenty-five states.

The election was a serious defeat for the Democrats. But it was a disaster for Truman. Some members of his party even called on him to resign. Few people gave Truman much chance of winning a second term in the White House.

However, Harry Truman began to change in the months that followed. He started speaking with more strength and firmness. He showed more understanding of the powers of the presidency. And in matters of foreign policy, he began to act more like a president. This was especially true in Truman's reaction to Soviet aggression in Germany.

VOICE TWO:

Truman wanted to rebuild Germany, as well as the other countries of Western Europe. His administration worked closely with west European leaders to rescue their broken economies through the Marshall Plan.

But the Soviets did not want to see Germany rebuild, at least not so quickly. So at first, they flooded Germany with extra German currency in an effort to destroy the value of the German mark. They walked out of economic conferences. And finally, in early nineteen forty-eight, they blocked all the roads to Berlin to try to cut off the city from the western powers.

VOICE ONE:

The Soviet actions were a direct threat to the west. Truman had three difficult choices. If he did nothing, the world would think the United States was weak and unable to stop Soviet aggression. If he fought the blockade with armed force, he might start a third world war. But there was another choice. That was to fly supplies to the city.

The American military commander in Germany proposed the idea of dropping thousands of kilograms of food, fuel, and other goods to the people of Berlin by parachute. Not just once, but every day, as long as the Russians continued their blockade.

VOICE TWO:

C-47s unloading at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin

It would be a difficult job. West Berlin was home to two-and-a-half-million people. No one had ever tried to supply so large a city by air. Large C forty-seven transport airplanes would have to take off every three-and-a-half-minutes all through the day and night, every day, to supply the people of Berlin with enough food.

The people of Berlin gave needed support from the ground. More than twenty thousand Berliners worked day and night to build an extra landing field for the American airplanes.

It was not long before it became clear that the American air rescue would succeed. West Berlin would remain free of Soviet control. The Russians soon understood this fact, too. In May of nineteen forty-nine, almost one year after they had started their blockade, they ended it.

VOICE ONE:

The crisis in Berlin changed the way many Americans saw their president. Harry Truman no longer seemed so weak or unsure of himself. Instead, he was acting as a leader who could take an active part in world affairs.

Truman's popularity increased. However, most Americans did not expect him to win the presidential election in nineteen forty-eight. Almost everyone believed that the Republican candidate would capture the office.

The election campaign that year turned out to be one of the most exciting and surprising in the entire history of the nation. That nineteen forty-eight election will be our story next week.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to THE MAKING OF A NATION, a program in Special English by the Voice of America. Your narrators have been Harry Monroe and Rich Kleinfeldt. Our program was written by David Jarmul.

VOASE0117_Education Report

17 January 2007

Coming to America as a Fulbrighter
The Fulbright Program was established 1946 as a way to improve international understanding.

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This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

We come to the twentieth week of our series on higher education in the United States. Today we answer two e-mails from Thailand. A refugee from Burma and another listener in Thailand both want to know more about the Fulbright Program.

The Fulbright Program gives Americans a chance to study, teach or do research in other countries. And it gives people in other countries a chance to do the same in America.

Hala al-Sarraf, an Iraqi Fulbright scholar, appears before lawmakers in Congress in July of last year

Fulbright grants are given to graduate students, scholars and professionals. There is also a Fulbright exchange program just for teachers and administrators.

Each year about six thousand people receive Fulbright grants. The United States government pays most of the costs. Foreign governments and schools help by sharing costs and providing other support.

The Fulbright Program operates in about one hundred fifty countries. Around two hundred seventy thousand Fulbrighters have taken part over the years.

Legislation by Senator William Fulbright established the program in nineteen forty-six. He saw educational exchange as a way to help people understand other ideas and ways of life. Senator Fulbright also believed the program could educate future world leaders.

In nineteen sixty-eight, the Foreign Language Teaching Assistant Program began. This Fulbright program brings foreign teachers to the United States to work with high school or college students.

Two other Fulbright programs that offer ways to come to the United States are the foreign student and visiting scholar programs. The Foreign Student Program brings graduate students to study and do research at a college or university. The Visiting Scholar Program brings foreign experts to speak and do research for up to a year.

The list of countries in the Fulbright Program changes each year. And the requirements may differ from country to country.

You can learn more about the program from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the State Department. We have a link to the program's Web site at voaspecialenglish.com. Or do a search on the Internet for "Fulbright Program."

You can also contact the local Fulbright Commission or American Embassy in your country for more information.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. To send us e-mail, write to special@voanews.com. I'm Steve Ember.

VOASE0116_Health Report

16 January 2007

Progress Reported in AIDS Campaign for Children
UNICEF sees ''breakthroughs'' in several African countries in efforts to prevent mother-to-child infection and to care for children with HIV.

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This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Our subject this week is children and AIDS.

A baby sleeps in her mother's arms next to the anti-AIDS drug nevirapine

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, has just released a report on a campaign launched in October of two thousand five. UNICEF, the U.N. AIDS program and other groups wanted to bring greater attention to the needs of children affected by AIDS.

The report on the "Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS" campaign says there are signs of progress.

One of the biggest problems is the spread of HIV from mothers to children. Mother-to-child transmission was the main cause of the estimated half-million new infections last year in children under the age of fifteen.

UNICEF reports that several countries in eastern and southern Africa have made what it calls breakthroughs. It says they greatly increased the number of mothers who receive antiretroviral drugs. These medicines can prevent mother-to-child transmission.

For example, the report says Namibia increased coverage from six percent of mothers to twenty-nine percent. That was between two thousand four and two thousand five. And in South Africa, it says, the number rose during that same period from twenty-two percent of mothers to thirty percent.

However, the report says there are still far too many pregnant women infected with HIV who do not get antiretroviral treatment. Only nine percent of them in poor countries were getting the medicines in two thousand five.

UNICEF also reports gains in providing treatment to children who already have HIV or AIDS. The agency says testing programs and health worker skills have improved. Lower drug prices and simpler treatments have also helped in the care of children with HIV/AIDS.

Several countries increased HIV treatment for children by combining it with programs at treatment centers for adults. The report says the countries include Botswana, India, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand.

Still there is much more room for progress. UNICEF says just one in ten infected children worldwide gets antiretroviral treatment. And only four percent of children born to HIV-infected mothers receive drugs to prevent infections that can be deadly.

The UNICEF report also discusses efforts to help the millions of children who have lost parents to AIDS. It says more and more are getting educations, thanks in part to the cancellation of school charges in several countries.

And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver. I'm Bob Doughty.

VOASE0116_Explorations

16 January 2007

For Older Adults, Many Chances to Make Learning Into a Lifelong Activity
More than 40,000 people are members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute programs across the US.

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VOICE ONE:

I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Mario Ritter with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. We continue our series about ways older Americans are keeping mentally active. Today, we tell about lifelong learning programs.

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VOICE ONE:

Members of an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Yavapai College in Arizona

Older Americans who are either retired or reaching retirement age are concerned about keeping active when they leave their jobs. They know that staying physically and mentally active is necessary for good health.

It is easy for an individual to get exercise by walking, swimming or bicycling. But keeping mentally active is easier in a group. So, many programs have been created for aging Americans where they can continue to learn and experience new things.

VOICE TWO:

There are many education programs in communities across the United States. More than three hundred fifty of these learning programs belong to the Elderhostel Institute Network. It is part of Elderhostel, an organization that provides travel and learning experiences for hundreds of thousands of older Americans every year.

VOICE ONE:

Programs in the Elderhostel Institute Network are connected with the colleges and universities in the communities. Yet they are independent. Members elect leaders and help make decisions about what will be taught and by whom. There are no tests to take or papers to write. Anyone over the age of fifty can pay to belong. People do not have to travel to take the courses.

The Elderhostel Institute Network provides an Internet Web site where groups from all over the United States can exchange experiences. It helps organize conferences and offers advice for people wanting to start new programs.

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VOICE TWO:

Some community-based education programs for people over fifty-five are called Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. Many of these programs also belong to the Elderhostel Institute Network. The difference is that the Bernard Osher Foundation gives money to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes to help support them.

Bernard Osher was born in the state of Maine. He was a very successful businessman. He started a foundation thirty years ago to give money to help educational and cultural organizations in Maine and in California.

VOICE ONE:

In nineteen ninety-seven, the University of Southern Maine invited older adults who lived in the area to a meeting to talk about an exciting new chance to learn. The program would offer study groups and discussions on many different subjects, but there would be no tests or grades. It would be open to people who were at least fifty years old. Organizers expected one hundred fifty people to attend. Five hundred showed up.

The program, known as Senior College, quickly became successful. In two thousand one, the Osher Foundation provided financial support that let the program expand its offerings to almost one thousand adults. The University of Southern Maine’s Senior College became the first Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. A national movement had begun.

VOICE TWO:

Mary Bitterman is president of the Bernard Osher Foundation. She says Bernard Osher always placed a high value on education. He had been giving financial assistance to people who wanted to continue their education but lacked money.

Miz Bitterman says Mister Osher became interested in supporting educational programs for older people when he visited his hometown in Maine in two thousand. He found differences among his friends. Some were inactive and depressed. Others were lively and happy. They were attending Senior College at the University of Southern Maine. Miz Bitterman says Mister Osher was surprised that people could gain so much by learning new things every day.

VOICE ONE:

Osher members at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Mister Osher decided his Foundation should support the development of more learning communities of older adults. He wanted to create Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in as many states as possible and to be in different kinds of communities. Mary Bitterman says the Osher Foundation gives one hundred thousand dollars a year for up to four years to the programs that are accepted as members.

An Osher Lifelong Learning Institute may request a grant of one million dollars for its long term needs when it has about five hundred members and is offering college level courses. So far, seventeen of them have received the grants.

VOICE TWO:

Mary Bitterman thinks that the lifelong learning movement is just beginning. Americans today are living longer. Yet she says the important issue is not how long we live but how many exciting, productive years we have ahead of us.

Miz Bitterman says that taking part in Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes gives people energy. It confirms the importance of continued personal development. She says it lets older people feel that every day there is the possibility of learning something new that will open doors to a new life.

VOICE ONE:

Kali Lightfoot is executive director of the National Resource Center for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. The center is at the University of Southern Maine.

Miz Lightfoot says there are now almost one hundred Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes in about forty states. More than forty thousand people are members of them.

The resource center helps member groups exchange information about their problems, solutions and experiences. They do so through an Internet Web site, national conferences and a research journal.

VOICE TWO:

Miz Lightfoot says she has discovered that lifelong learners are looking to the future and not living in the past. One example, she says, is a ninety-three year old member who talks about how excited she is to be learning about Afghanistan. This woman forgets about the difficulty she has climbing the stairs to the classroom.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Thirty adults fill the hallway in a university building in Washington, D.C. talking and drinking coffee. They are having loud, lively discussions about current international and national events. They are on a short break from their class, "News in Context," a very popular offering of the Osher Lifetime Learning Institute at American University.

The class is part of the continuing education program at American University. It began in nineteen eighty-two as the Institute for Learning in Retirement. It is a new member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

VOICE TWO:

Sidney Steinitz is chairman of its Board of Directors. He says the name has changed, but nothing else has. Fifty courses are offered in the autumn and fifty different courses in the spring. Each course meets for two hours once a week for eight to ten weeks.

Mister Steinitz says members decide what will be taught. They find the study group leaders or teachers. Study group leaders are experts in the subjects. Some have taught in colleges or high schools. Others have knowledge of the subject from their work. Still others have become experts by learning on their own.

Teachers are not paid. They teach because they are interested in sharing their knowledge and learning from other members. Some of the teachers are members of the group. Mister Steinitz was a lawyer for the Federal Trade Commission before he retired. Now he teaches courses on "Great Books," a subject he loves.

VOICE ONE:

Anne Wallace is executive director of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at American University. She says the subjects of most courses are similar to what is taught at colleges. They include history, politics, philosophy, archeology, science and literature.

Courses taught by retired scientists about the universe, genetic research and the history of science are always popular. Other popular courses include "Understanding the Information Age" taught by a retired telecommunications engineer. "Great European Trials" is taught by a long-time lawyer. A doctor leads a study group on "Human Nature." A woman who worked at the United States Treasury teaches a course on "Ballet: Star Performers and Performances."

VOICE TWO:

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at American University has about five hundred thirty members. They pay four hundred dollars for a year’s membership. Members are able to take up to three courses in the fall and three more in the spring.

Anne Wallace says almost all of the members say they belong because they enjoy the intellectual activity. They also enjoy the new friends they make, and the community spirit they experience. Miz Wallace says the members are what make the Lifelong Learning Institute so special.

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VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano. It was produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Mario Ritter. You can read scripts of our programs and download audio at voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

VOASE0115_Science In the News

15 January 2007 Alzheimer’s disease -- The Most Common Form of Dementia, Affecting Millions of People Around the World
Scientists are working on ways to find it early, although its cause is still unknown one hundred years after it was first discovered.

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VOICE ONE:

This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Faith Lapidus. Today we tell about Alzheimer’s disease. One century after its discovery, the cause of the disease is still unknown.

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VOICE ONE:

In November of nineteen ninety-four, Ronald Reagan wrote a letter to the American people. The former president shared the news that he had Alzheimer’s disease. Mister Reagan began what he called his journey into the sunset of his life. That ten year journey ended on June fifth, two thousand four, at the age of ninety-three.

Ronald Reagan

In his letter, America's fortieth President wrote about the fears and difficulties presented by Alzheimer’s disease. He said that he and his wife Nancy hoped their public announcement would lead to greater understanding of the condition among individuals and families affected by it.

VOICE TWO:

Ronald Reagan was probably the most famous person to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. In the United States, about four million five hundred thousand people have the disease. Many millions more are expected to have it in years to come.

Doctors describe Alzheimer's as a slowly increasing brain disorder. It affects memory and personality -- those qualities that make a person an individual. There is no known cure. Victims slowly lose their abilities to deal with everyday life. At first they forget simple things, like where they put something or a person’s name.

As time passes, they forget more and more. They forget the names of their husband, wife or children. Then they forget who they are. Finally, they remember nothing. It is as if their brain dies before the other parts of the body. Victims of Alzheimer’s do die from the disease, but it many take many years.

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VOICE ONE:

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common kind of a disability or mental sickness called dementia. Dementia is the loss of thinking ability that is severe enough to interfere with daily activities. It is not a disease itself. Instead, dementia is a group of signs of some conditions and diseases.

Daughter feeding her mother, who has Alzheimer's

Some kinds of dementia can be cured or corrected. This is especially true if they are caused by drugs, alcohol, infection sight or hearing problems, heart or lung problems or head injury. Other kinds of dementia can be corrected by changing levels of hormones or vitamins in the body. However, brain cells of Alzheimer’s victims die and are not replaced.

Victims can become angry and violent as the ability to remember and think decreases. Often they shout and move about with no purpose or goal. Media reports often tell about older people found walking in places far from their homes, not knowing where they are or where they came from. Generally, these people are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

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VOICE TWO:

Alzheimer’s disease generally develops differently in each person. Yet some early signs of the disease are common. Often, the victims may not recognize changes in themselves. Others see the changes and the struggle to hide them.

Probably the most common early sign is short-term memory loss. The victim cannot remember something that happened yesterday, for example. Also, victims of the disease have increasing difficulty learning and storing new information. Slowly, thinking becomes much more difficult. The victims cannot understand a joke, or cannot cook a meal, or perform simple work.

VOICE ONE:

Another sign of Alzheimer’s disease is difficulty solving simple problems, such as what to do if food on a stove is burning. Also, people have trouble following directions or finding their way to nearby places.

Another sign is struggling to find the right words to express thoughts or understand what is being discussed. Finally, people with Alzheimer’s seem to change. Quiet people may become noisier and aggressive. They may easily become angry and lose their ability to trust others.

VOICE TWO:

Alzheimer’s disease normally affects people more than sixty-five years old. But a few rare cases have been discovered in people younger than fifty. The average age of those found to have the disease is about eighty years old.

Alzheimer’s is found in only about two percent of people who are sixty-five. But the risk increases to about twenty percent by age eighty. By ninety, half of all people are found to have some signs of the disease.

VOICE ONE:

Alzheimer’s disease affects people of all races equally. Yet women are more likely to develop the disease than men. This is partly because women generally live longer than men.

There is no simple test to show if someone has Alzheimer’s disease. Doctors who suspect Alzheimer’s must test the patient for many other disabilities first. Alzheimer’s is considered the cause if the tests fail to show the presence of other disabilities. The only way to tell for sure if a person has Alzheimer’s is to examine the victim’s brain after death.

VOICE TWO:

Recently, scientists reported progress in efforts to identify persons who will develop Alzheimer’s disease. For example, one study examined brain and spinal cord fluid from sixty-eight people. It found twenty-three proteins that showed evidence of the disease. Study organizers said the protein test was correct in about ninety percent of patients involved in the study. The results were confirmed with brain examinations after the patients died.

Another study found evidence of Alzheimer's by using a chemical known as F-D-D-N-P. This study used a process called positron emission tomography to make brain images of eighty-three adults. American scientists said the test was ninety-eight percent correct in showing differences between Alzheimer's and normal memory problems.

Scientists say all these results must be repeated with larger groups of patients. But they said that being able to find the presence of the disease in such ways would make early treatment possible.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In his book “The Notebook,” Nicholas Sparks calls Alzheimer’s disease, “a thief of hearts and souls and memories.” British writer Iris Murdoch died of the disease. She said it was a dark and terrible place.

It has been more than a century since a German doctor, Alois Alzheimer, told about a dementia patient whose brain was studied after death. Her brain had sticky structures and nerve cells that appeared to be mixed together. Later studies showed these tangled nerves are made of a protein called tau. The tau protein changes so that it sticks together in groups. The sticky structures were shown to be amyloid plaques.

VOICE TWO:

Scientists are still not sure what causes Alzheimer’s disease. The leading theory blames amyloid plaques. Reports say about one hundred different drugs are being tested to treat or slow the progress of the disease.

Some American scientists have found a way to reduce amyloid plaque development. Researchers in New York say they reduced the amount of amyloid protein in the brains of mice by fifty percent. They say they did this by stopping interaction between amyloid and a protein known as apo E. Apo E moves cholesterol and other fats around the brain.

VOICE ONE:

Not all scientists are sure that amyloid plaques cause Alzheimer’s disease. Some say the plaques could be an effect of the disease, not the cause. Reports say some people who die of Alzheimer's do not have any plaques in their brains. Others who have the sticky structures showed no signs of Alzheimer's.

Many scientists now say doctors are considering other possibilities. These include studies of enzymes that act on proteins to produce the plaques, and using antibodies against amyloid. Yet amyloid and enzymes are important for health and scientists do not want to destroy them completely.

VOICE TWO:

Other scientists are working with a gene called apoE4. Scientists in nineteen ninety-three discovered that its presence increases the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease. They now say that apoE4 is present in fifty to seventy percent of the patients with the disease.

Some scientists are attempting to change the protein that apoE4 makes. Others are working to block an enzyme that divides the apoE4 protein into different pieces that kill nerve cells.

Many more studies are being done to find the cause and treatment for Alzheimer's…a disease that continues to affect millions of people around the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Nancy Steinbach. Our producer was Brianna Blake. This is Bob Doughty.

VOICE TWO:

And this is Faith Lapidus. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.