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As the body of North Korea's "dear leader" Kim Jong-il lies in state at his palace in Pyongyang, his youngest son Kim Jong-un takes control over the country's nuclear weapons program.

The death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has riveted international attention on the threat of nuclear weapons . Kim was widely reported to have been pursuing nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles to deliver them, and he presided over a pair of nuclear bomb blast tests (confirmed by seismograph). No one outside North Korea knows whether the secretive, totalitarian nation possesses an actual warhead.

Northwestern University scientists have developed new materials that can detect hard radiation, a very difficult thing to do. The method could lead to a handheld device for detecting nuclear weapons and materials, such as a "nuclear bomb in a suitcase" scenario.

Global warming is altering--and threatening to erase--much more of the Marshall Islands than the shorelines of this independent Micronesian nation that once served as a Pacific Ocean nuclear weapons test site for the U.S. It is changing the vocabulary and heightening the risk of extinguishing the language and culture of daily life. Locals already have integrated the phrases "climate change" and "seawall" into the nation's two predominant dialects of the Marshallese language, which is unique to this archipelagic country.

Birth certificate, schmirth certificate. The Yale Cultural Recognition Project's theory suggests that die-hard birthers will hold firm to their political philosophies in the face of incontrovertible evidence--until they're given a way to save face. Anyone eager to confront genuine issues plaguing the nation--from staunch lefties to sober leaders on the political right--got a moment of respite today with the release of President Barack Obama's birth certificate.