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Everyone who has ever pondered whether chicken wings serve a purpose beyond deep fat fryers and bleu cheese sauce will be bowled over by the apparent benefits of wing flapping in flightless birds. NPR's John Nielsen reports on a study in this week's Science magazine showing how true flight may have evolved from these beginnings.

Insects known as "walking sticks" have gained and lost wings several times over the last 10 million years. At least that's what a study in this week's issue of Nature magazine contends. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Michael F. Whiting, professor of evolutionary biology at Brigham Young University and lead author of Loss and Recovery of Wings in Stick Insects.

The Supreme Court upholds a 20-year copyright extension passed by Congress in 1998. An Internet publisher challenged the extension, which lengthens copyrights to 70 years after the creator's death, arguing it threatened the public domain. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards and Rick Karr.

Kevin Whitehead reviews two albums: Gong With the Wind Suite from Lee Konitz and Matt Wilson, and the newly remastered Theme and Variations from John LaPorta.

It's often hard to tell where Nicholson Baker ends, and the characters of his novels begin. NPR's Jeffrey Freymann-Weyr profiles the author, who has a reputation for finding magic in the everyday moments of ordinary lives. Listen to Baker read two excerpts from his latest novel, A Box of Matches.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports the White House plans to push harder to bridge the gap between Venezuela's president and opposition forces that want him out, and end the opposition strike that's paralyzed Venezuela's oil industry. The Bush administration wants Latin American leaders to join the effort. Opposition forces have been striking for more than six weeks against President Hugo Chavez.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case testing whether state employees are fully protected by a federal law that guarantees unpaid leave for workers dealing with family crises. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

The French film noir classic Quai des Orfevres makes a new tour of U.S. theaters half a century after its 1948 release, with a restored print. It features a lost Paris full of music halls, cigarette smoke and a criminal investigation. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan offers a review.

U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq examine the 11 empty chemical warheads they discovered at an ammunition storage area. Iraq insists the weapons are old. NPR's Tom Gjelten and NPR's Mike Shuster explore the significance of the find and the potential for war.

Host John Ydstie talks with Christine Brennan of The Washington Post about the U.S. Figure Skating Championships underway in Dallas.