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Once, American Idol helped establish a new pop songbook and distilled the essence of contemporary stardom. NPR Music's critic, Ann Powers, says those days are gone.

In 1993 Onyx's raucous single became an unlikely hit on MTV and pop radio. The song was on the leading edge of a media change of heart.

What do you do if your country is extremely rich and wants to give its college students a first-rate education without leaving home? Qatar has imported a host of U.S. universities that include Georgetown, Northwestern and Cornell.

Education has been called the top civil rights issue of the 21st century. Host Michel Martin asks former U.S. Secretary of Education of Education Rod Paige about whether the nation is winning the battle for equality in schools.

A new report suggests that more white students are heading to top tier colleges, while their black and Hispanic counterparts are turning to low tuition, open-access institutions. Host Michel Martin speaks with Georgetown's Anthony Carnevale, about what the numbers mean.

Scientists are asking people to contribute samples of their gut microbes to help figure out how those microbes affect human health. But ethicists say sharing that information, as well as the personal health data that make it useful to researchers, poses risks. That's especially true for children.

Think the apps your kids download are harmless? A federal government report says that may not be true. The investigation found that hundreds of popular mobile device apps have been collecting and sharing data about children. Host Michel Martin talks with Rey Junco of the Harvard Berkman Center, about how best to protect your kids' digital privacy.

Steve Inskeep talks to Steve Coll about his new book, Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. In it, Coll delves into the business model of one of the country's largest and most profitable corporations. He explores how the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 shaped the culture at the company for years to come.

Audie Cornish speaks with our regular political commentators, E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution, and David Brooks of The New York Times. They discuss the jobs numbers and the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death.

Surgeons in Sweden replaced an American patient's cancerous windpipe with a scaffold built from nanofibers and seeded with the patient's stem cells. Lead surgeon Dr. Paolo Macchiarini discusses the procedure and the benefits of tissue-engineered synthetic organs.