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Scott talks to writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks about his new book, Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood. Dr. Sacks looks back on his childhood in London, as part of an enormous clan of physicians, chemists and tinkerers of all sorts.

Listeners were asked to write about how they're coping in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. In their letters, many from schoolchildren, they spoke of love of country, worries about the economy and fear of further terrorism.

The diamond industry is facing hard times -- a looming recession, vaults full of gems, and media reports linking the diamond trade to African rebel armies and even Osama bin Laden. The industry is fighting back with ad campaigns touting the gem's priceless emotional value. NPR's Jacki Lyden reports.

Author Jonathan Franzen joins Fresh Air to discuss his critically acclaimed and award-winning novel, The Corrections. It is a saga about two generations of an American family; the parents and their children.

Among some planners at the Pentagon and the White House, the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan is seen as a potential long-term ally, but analysts say the Alliances record in power is marred with corruption and brutality. NPRs David Molpus reports.

Poet Alan Dugan burst on the scene 40 years ago, winning the National Book Award for his very first collection of poems. In Nov., 2001, he won a second time. Dugan talks with host Linda Wertheimer about critics, time and what makes a good poem.

A new 3-D database offers researchers unprecedented details of the human brain. NPRs Michelle Trudeau visits the laboratory of the human brain atlas project in California.

More than bombs are dropping on Afghanistan. Psychological warfare soldiers are dropping leaflets and broadcasting news and music, hoping to frighten the Taliban and foster civilian support. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports on the military's war of words.

Scott Simon talks to Bennett Alan Weinberg, co-author with Bonnie K. Bealer, of The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug. He says more than 90 percent of the world's population drinks significant amounts of caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, tea and sodas, on a daily basis, and that the discovery of caffeine was a revolutionary event.

Host Scott Simon talks with NPR's Julie McCarthy in Durban, South Africa, where the United Nations' Conference on Racism wrapped up today.