There is no escaping artificial flavor. It's everywhere, and the people who invent it argue that it will enhance your experience of a food — making it more tropical, more floral, or more bitter, in a good way.

Europe's debt crisis is a huge threat to the U.S. economy. Or is it?

For many months, economists have been warning that Europe's debt troubles could spiral into a massive recession that drags down U.S. growth.

But some analysts say those fears may be wildly exaggerated. The U.S. economy has been "decoupling" from Europe for some time, and wouldn't be significantly harmed by any recession taking shape over there, they argue.

The debate over a math problem at a Georgia elementary school intensified today with parents protesting and the Georgia NAACP calling for the teacher who wrote the math problem to be fired.

At issue is a third-grade worksheet that included references to slaves filling baskets with cotton and this question: "If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in one week? Two weeks?"

If campaigning for Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire sounds like hard work, try going door-to-door before the primary — for Jesus. Ike Sriskandarajah of TurnStyleNews.com, a production of Youth Radio, spoke with two Mormon missionaries in Exeter, N.H., to hear how they ride the line between proselytizing and politics.

As Sriskandarajah reports on All Things Considered Tuesday, most canvassers wear candidates' buttons and carry campaign signs.

Health care reform is no laughing matter, but MIT economist Jonathan Gruber's new comic book on the subject aims to communicate some pretty complicated policy details in a way that, if not exactly side-splitting, is at least engaging.

When the current president of South Korea Lee Myung-bak took office four years ago, he turned a cold shoulder to engagement with North Korea. The conservative wing in South Korea opposed improving relations with Pyongyang. But that has proven to be an unpopular policy, and now Lee finds himself in the difficult position of appealing for closer ties in this unpredictable transition period in North Korea. Lee goes to Beijing Monday to seek Chinese backing for this policy shift.

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Last week in Boston, 7,000 mathematicians, math teachers and math enthusiasts from all over the world converged for something called the Joint Mathematics Meeting. Naturally, there was a lot of this...

UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: C plus S minus two.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Well, S is A plus B and C is two.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN 2: Right.

BLOCK: But reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro also found a lot that he wasn't expecting.

The children of the Republican presidential candidates have been almost as present on the campaign trail as the candidates themselves. Sometimes they just serve as a backdrop on TV, other times as valuable surrogates.

Two Mormon missionaries in their 20s say they have to navigate proselytizing and politics as they go door to door in New Hampshire days before the primary. They are stumping for Jesus as part of their two-year mission for the Mormon Church, but they are sometimes pressed by voters to give opinions on the two Mormon candidates running for president: Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. The experience has them reflecting on religion and politics.

After months of campaigning and millions of dollars in TV ads, the first presidential primary is Tuesday in New Hampshire. Audie Cornish talks with NPR's national political correspondent Mara Liasson about what to expect when the results roll in.