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Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori has expressed his intention to resign. Scott speaks with NPR's Eric Weiner.

Robert Siegel talks with Robert Matthews, a physicist at Aston University in Birmingham, England and the world's foremost expert on Murphy's Law. Matthews is part of a six-week experiment across Britain that begins today. Up to 150,000 primary and secondary school pupils are dropping buttered toast. If the results prove that the toast is more likely to fall butter-side down, Murphy's law will be validated.

Phillip Davis reports that 14 year old Lionel Tate was sentenced today to life in prison without parole. Lionel was convicted in January of first degree murder in the 1999 death of a playmate, who died as Lionel imitated the violent wrestling shows he liked to watch. Broward County judge Joel Lazarus imposed the mandatory sentence after refusing to reduce the verdict to a lesser charge. He described the murder of 6 year old Tiffany Eunick as "callous and indescribably cruel." Defense attorneys said they would ask Gov. Jeb Bush to commute the sentence.

NPR's Ketzel Levine explores the natural beauty of wildflowers in Arizona. Last fall the area got about 4 inches of rain, which made for an early-blooming, and record-setting wildflower season this year. (6:10-6:35) For more, check out Talking Plants.

As the global economy knits countries closer together, it becomes easier for diseases to spread through states, over borders and across oceans doing serious damage to vulnerable populations. American RadioWorks and NPR News present a series on this lethal side effect of globalization.

People waiting for the bus in Madison, Wis., talk about their job security.

Linda Wertheimer talks with Peter Hart, CEO of Hart Research, about a poll he conducted for the Wall Street Journal and NBC News on public opinion about the economy. Hart found that there is only a slight fear of recession.

Hockey is a rough sport, but it's proving to be an effective form of therapy for some recent amputees who grew up playing the game. Hockey therapy started in Russia, with soldiers who lost limbs in wars in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Now it's taking hold in Canada and the U.S. Teams of amputee players will compete in a tournament this weekend in support of a ban on landmines. Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio reports.

On Monday evening, 10 year old Rodney McAllister went to a city park across from his home in St. Louis, Mo. The next morning he was found under a pine tree, mauled to death by stray dogs. McAllister's mother, Gladys Loman, was charged with a misdemeanor for endagering the welfare of a child. Animal control officers rounded up nine stray dogs by late Tuesday. Robert Siegel talks with Greg Jonsson, a reporter for the St. Louis Post Dispatch, about the mauling case and what animal control officials are doing to prevent a similar attack.

Commentator Judith Rich Harris says at times there isn't much a parent can do to prevent a child from using a gun at school and that signs are often not obvious. She says the best preventive measure is simply not to own guns.