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According to the Institute of Medicine as many as 250,000 of 700,000 veterans of the first Gulf War suffer from an array of unexplained medical ailments. Guests discuss the latest research on Gulf War illness and its treatment and why it's been hard to pinpoint a cause.

Although the gastric brooding frog became extinct in the mid-1980s, the genome of that Australian amphibian species is alive again thanks to modern biotech techniques. Michael Archer, leader of the 'Lazarus Project,' describes early efforts to resurrect extinct species.

Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read emails from listeners about a series on guns.

Melissa Block talks to Daniel Webster, director of the John Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, about the wide variation in gun laws from state to state, and how those laws correspond to gun violence.

The 20 women in the U.S. Senate this year is the largest number in history. Female senators also now claim an unprecedented number of leadership positions. And several female senators interviewed say that is causing a change on Capitol Hill in the tone and process of legislating.

Maggie Gallagher is one of the nation's most public opponents of gay marriage. These days, she's thinking more about how to continue advocating for marriage between one man and one woman, even as society's views — and laws — are shifting rapidly.

When the Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996, it had strong bipartisan support. All of the 15 sitting Democrats who voted for it are now against it. But so far, Sen. Rob Portman is the only current Republican Senator to change his mind.

This week scientists announced they have reproduced the genome of an extinct amphibian, the gastric brooding frog. But animals are more than just their genomes, so NPR's Scott Simon wonders if it's necessary — or kind — to bring them back.

One argument used by conservatives in the Supreme Court cases is that gay Americans have become so politically powerful that they don't need special attention from the courts. Whether or not that's true, it's clear that advocacy groups for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community have built a strong network of lobbyists and political activists in Washington.

In The Still Point of the Turning World Rapp writes about caring for a terminally ill child. Phil Spector is based on the music producer, but it's fiction. Philip Roth is the subject of a PBS documentary. Tom Waits, Patti Smith and others appear on a new compilation of sea songs from Hal Willner.