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The costumes onstage in Washington, D.C. might look a bit brighter this opera season. All Things Considered senior host Robert Siegel talks with Alberto Spiazzi, costume designer for Washington Opera's production of Aida, about luminex, a self-illuminating fabric. View the fabric in action.

The Bush administration thinks it might have a treasure trove of information about al Qaeda following the Saturday arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. He's allegedly the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and a man long sought by the United States. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports, and NPR's Melissa Block talks with Tim McGirk who's following the story for Time Magazine.

It's estimated that hundreds of volunteer "human shields" are in Baghdad from the United States and elsewhere. They're placing themselves at installations in an effort to prevent U.S. bombing. NPR's Melissa Block talks to volunteer human shield Ken Nichols O'Keefe, and to Paul Eliopolous, an American who became an involuntary shield when arrested by Iraqis in Kuwait in 1990.

The space shuttle Columbia disaster leaves Russia's space program with the responsibilty of maintaining the international space station while shuttle flights are grounded. Russia says it needs U.S. financial help to achieve that. NPR's Lawrence Sheets reports.

NASA chief Sean O'Keefe tells Congress that while the shuttle fleet is grounded, the agency plans to keep the International Space Station running with the help of Russian spacecraft. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

The tributes continue coming, for Fred Rogers, host -- since 1968 -- of the public television children's series Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Fred Rogers died of cancer on Thursday at the age of 74. NPR's Susan Stamberg worked with Fred Rogers some years ago, and has a remembrance for us.

More than two million people in the United States have schizophrenia, yet the disorder remains a medical mystery. One reason it's particularly hard to study schizophrenia is that it doesn't seem to occur in animals. But as NPR's Jon Hamilton reports, scientists are using genetic engineering to reproduce some of the symptoms of schizophrenia -- in mice.

NASA releases a videotape recorded on the space shuttle Columbia shortly before it broke up over Texas. The portion of the tape retrieved by NASA ends with the orbiter at 250,000 feet, approaching the coast of California. Hear NPR's Robert Siegel and NPR's Melissa Block.

His story in the April edition of the magazine is "A Tale of Two Colonies." Kaplan traveled to Yemen and Eritrea to investigate how the war on terrorism is forcing the United States to be involved with each. Yemen is believed to have the largest al Qaeda presence outside of the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Kaplan is best known for his book Balkan Ghosts, which former President Clinton turned to before the U.S. involvement in the Bosnian crisis. Kaplan's 1990 book Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has just been republished, updating the story.

Across the nation, educators are balancing mandates to improve test scores and a chronic lack of resources with the need for children to have enough time to simply be children. In the third of a four-part Morning Edition series on homework, NPR's Debbie Elliott looks at how one Alabama school is trying to break the cycle of poor academic performance with innovation and hard work.