James used to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. When he left, the value of the team fell by tens of millions of dollars — and the value of his new team, the Miami Heat, rose by tens of millions. Planet Money looks at why economists say James should be making closer to $40 million a year.
Gun control advocates acknowledged they'll face big obstacles in Congress to a new ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. But they say the shooting last month of 20 schoolchildren in Connecticut could make a difference.
While Chicago and Detroit are struggling to control rising murder rates, New York City hit a record low number of homicides in 2012. The police commissioner has often pointed to several controversial policing tactics for falling crime, but some analysts say there are many potential explanations.
But Republican leaders say there won't be a sudden about-face in policy, despite recent disappointments at the polls. The party is focusing on message, technology and grass-roots organizing at its meetings in Charlotte, N.C.
Now that Nebraska's governor has approved a new route for the Keystone XL oil pipeline, it'll be up to President Obama to decide whether the controversial project will move forward. The State Department is expected to complete an environmental review in coming months.
The world is full of data — and that's a problem. We have to find a place to store all those digital photos, tax records and unfinished novels. British scientists have demonstrated a possible solution: They've stored all of Shakespeare's sonnets on several small stretches of DNA.
Investors didn't panic after last week's attack, and oil and gas prices held steady. But if the attack on the gas complex signals the beginning of a new phase of terrorism in North Africa, energy companies and governments will need to make new assessments of the risks and benefits of investments.
One new analysis finds female smokers are more than 26 times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmoking women — twice the rate calculated 30 years ago. New data also quantify the surprising payoffs of smoking cessation — especially under the age of 40.
After researchers created versions of the bird flu virus that could spread more easily, critics began to worry that the work could spawn a pandemic if a virus escaped from the lab. After halting their work for more than a year, scientists now say the benefits outweigh the risks, and they are set to restart their experiments.