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Taipei 101, the world's tallest building, will be officially inaugurated in Taipei, Taiwan, on Dec. 31. Designing the 1,666-foot skyscraper in the earthquake- and typhoon-prone region presented engineers with quite a challenge. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and structural engineering consultant Dennis Poon.

Students in the United States trail many of their peers in Europe and Asia in math and science scores, according to the newly released results of an international standardized test.

President Bush says Social Security is in "crisis," but polls show a majority of seniors think the system needs only minor fixes. Retirees in Arizona and Pennsylvania weigh in on the issue.

In his new book, You Call it Madness, musician and writer Lenny Kaye brings back the forgotten voice of Russ Columbo, one of the great crooners of the 1930s.

With her deep and smoky alto, singer-songwriter Dayna Kurtz defies the boundaries of blues, jazz and folk. Her eclectic new album, Beautiful Yesterday, evokes feelings of nostalgia.

Anger management is a thriving industry in the United States. It is the subject of hundreds of books, workshops and videos. And yet, as NPR's Robert Siegel discovers, there are no national criteria, no oversight and no evaluation of the efficacy of these programs.

India must cut back its imports on Iranian oil by June 28 or face U.S sanctions. A new law targets Iran's central bank, which is used for oil transactions, and it penalizes foreign countries that ignore the sanctions.

The British music press is hailing a new band, the Arctic Monkeys, as being as big as the Beatles — or at least as big as Oasis. The first-week release of the band's debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, sold over 118,000 copies.

Thirty years ago in Paris, a publicity stunt for a wine shop started a revolution for the Napa Valley. In 1976, a blind tasting pitted the best wines from France against wines from California -- and the Californian wines won.

A "super-max" is the highest security prison in the penitentiary system. It's here the worst offenders -- or the most endangered ones -- serve their time in near isolation. There is only one federal super-max in the United States, located in Florence, Colo.