When it comes to deciding how to solve society’s problems, you probably think the biggest split is between Democrats and Republicans. But it’s really between viruses and beasts.

In a study published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers asked two groups of people to read descriptions of rising crime in the fictional town of Addison. The narratives were identical, except that in one version, the crime problem was described as a beast -- as in “Crime is a beast ravaging the city of Addison.” In the other, it was called a virus.

After reading, the participants were asked what the city should do about the problem – increase law enforcement (i.e. hire more cops) or reform underlying social structures (i.e. hire more school teachers). Nearly three-quarters of those who read that crime was a beast recommended more enforcement. The virus group was split about 50-50 between enforcement and reform.

Everyone knows the Tiger Woods story by now; after a midnight car crash near his home, the world’s most publicized athlete stepped away from the PGA Tour amid a whirlwind of sex and infidelity. Now he’s back, begging the public and his sponsors for forgiveness on all the major news networks.

The Feb. 19 statement that Woods released, in which he proclaimed he was “wrong” and “foolish,” is just another in the long line of “I’m-sorry-but-I’m-really-not-sorry” statements. Yes, Tiger said he was sorry, but words are only words, and a corporate spokesman like Tiger knows that if he says the right words, he’ll get back what he loves the most: money.

While his sponsors may have forgiven him, he has to prove to me and legions of other critics that he will take action against his addiction. If you were keeping score of all the women that came out of the woodwork and claimed they slept with Tiger, you would’ve most likely lost count after a month. There is porn star Joslyn James, who Woods allegedly impregnated twice, stripper Jamie Jungers, who claims she slept with Woods the night his father died, waitress Jaimee Grubbs, whose saved voicemail message started the exposition of his infidelity, Playboy model Loredana Jolie (no relation to Angelina), who is writing a book about Woods’ alleged affairs with men (yeah, you heard that right), and about six other mistresses. Read more...

As heard on WABE and KCBS.

By Kathleen Quillian

I remember in elementary school, we would go around the class taking turns reading aloud from out textbooks. I wished I could speak as clearly and as fast as some of the other students. But each time it was my turn to read, a cold sweat took over my entire body. My jaw would lock and I would get a sharp pain in my teeth. As I forced the words out of my mouth, I would stumble over the sentences. I hated reading in front of others – and I still do.
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Video of Youth Radio interns reacting to President Obama's Education Speech.

President Obama addressed America's students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Va., today, encouraging them to set their own goals for their education, and to not let their failures define them. He told them that the country depended on them and that there is "no excuse for not trying." The speech focused on perseverance and on personal responsibility. Last week, the speech became the target of attack when conservative pundits accused Obama of having political motives.

Before the talk, Obama held a televised meeting with a group of ninth graders and answered their questions. Obama talked about his troubled teenage years. He said that he originally thought he would be a professional basketball player. It wasn't until college that he realized he was good at writing and "analyzing how the world worked." One student asked, "If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?" Obama responded: "I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine. Now, it would probably be a really small meal."

By: Kyle Greenlee

Recently, President Obama gave a speech to the NAACP and said that black kids have no excuse not to get bad grades. He’s right, but that’s sometimes much easier said than done.

By Zaba Rashan

With the results of the Iranian election between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his opponent, former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi, still up in the air it remains to be seen what role that country will play on the world stage and in U.S. foreign policy. Commenting on the election President Barack Obama cited his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo as sending a "clear message" about the "possibility of change" in the Middle East, and lauded what he described as a "robust debate" between opposing parties in Iran. Speaking in terms of potential relations between the U.S. and Iran, Obama stressed that such conversations would "help advance our ability to engage them in new ways." Zaba Rashan reflects on what Obama's speech in Cairo meant to her, a Muslim-American woman of Afghani origin.