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NPR's Michelle Trudeau reports on a new study that shows that the part of the brain responsible for language skills is larger in women than in men. That may explain why baby girls begin to talk earlier than baby boys, and it could account for other language differences between women and men.

Noah speaks with Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of "Certain Poor Shepherds", a fictional account of the first Christmas and the travels of a dog and goat drawn by the star over Bethlehem. The question, "Do animals have a sense of divinity?" was raised, and Thomas, who also wrote "The Hidden Life of Dogs", says they do.

Commentator Ellen Ullman talks about the ups and downs of having a virtual company. Only she and her machines are permament members of the company - the others come and go as needed. She wonders if this is better than the kind of company that her father started in the 1930s. That accounting practice was like a family, with all the loyalties, power-struggles, and problems that happen in families.

Host Bob Edwards talks with Lenny Savino, a reporter and former police officer, about a Drug Enforcement Agency operation last fall that the Agency touted as a "major takedown" against Caribbean and Latin American drug traffickers. There are many questions, however, about the accuracy of the DEA's account of the operation's success.

NPR's Patricia Neighmond reports on racial disparities between African-Americans and whites when it comes to kidney transplants. A new study in this week's New England Journal of Medicine suggests that overuse of transplants in whites, coupled with socioeconomic factors among blacks accounts for the transplant gap. Providing a better social infrastructure for low-income blacks would eliminate much of the disparity.

In an elaborate ceremony, Airbus debuts the A380 jet in Toulouse, France. The super jumbo jet can hold up to 800 passengers and airports need altering to account for its size. Michele Norris talks with BBC reporter Tom Simons.

David Wessel, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, talks about trends in health care spending. A new study published in the journal Health Affairs shows that the government will account for half of all health care spending within a decade.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting starts today in Dallas. Bishops will set new sex abuse guidelines and decide what to do about past cover-ups. Meanwhile, Catholics across the country are wondering how the Bishops Conference will stop church sexual abuse and make their bishops more accountable. NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports.

Everyone who's ever rigged a line seems to have a few fish stories (or dozens). In the last installment of Morning Edition's summer series on fishing in America, NPR's Elizabeth Arnold strings together the best of the accounts for one colossal fish tale.

The strategy for rebuilding Iraq must now take into account the increasingly sophisticated and organized attacks on Americans -- and Iraqis who cooperate with them. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Major General Robert Scales Ret., military consultant to NPR, and Michael Vickers, director of Strategic Studies, at the Center for Stratetgic and Budgetary Assessments.