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The documentary Nuclear Nation follows the lives of displaced evacuees from Futuba, a town no longer habitable after the 2011 disaster at Japan's Fukushima power plant.

Fresh Air's book critic says it's just a fluke that 9 of the 11 titles she picked this year were written by female authors. Her favorites include a jumbo-sized Dickensian novel, a biography of Ben Franklin's sister, a comedy of manners, a stunning Scandinavian mystery and more.

"This is it," Webb said of Fitzgerald. "I have a real singer now. That's what the public wants."

Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are joined by Ann Powers and Stephen Thompson to discuss the themes of the year, the albums that won us over and the musicians we lost.

People who have surgery or are hospitalized for serious illnesses sometimes develop dangerous staph infections. The culprits can be bacteria that were living on people all along. Scientists say the germs thrive in remote parts of the nose that aren't typically tested. Other benign microbes might help keep the bad ones at bay.

Michael Hartnett joined the Marines because he wanted to be a tough guy. But deployments to the first Gulf War and Somalia left him haunted by nightmares. He turned to booze; after a bad-conduct discharge he fell into drugs for more than a decade. Three years ago, he convinced a military board to upgrade his discharge. That change in status gave him the chance he needed. Now he's studying to be a social worker so he can help other vets.

South Africans were given a chance to say farewell to Nelson Mandela in Pretoria, where his body will be lying in state until Friday. He will be buried on Sunday in his home village of Qunu.

Time magazine has named Pope Francis as its Person of the Year. The magazine cited Francis' willingness to take on thorny issues such as homosexuality, the role of women in the church, poverty and the nature of capitalism. At the same time, the pontiff has done so while projecting an air of humility and compassion, which has captured the world's attention in just nine months.

After surviving an icy night of confrontations with riot police, protestors in Ukraine feel that they have won an important round in their effort to force President Viktor Yanukovich to resign. They have gotten strong words of support from U.S. diplomats, but they say it's now time for more than words. They say the next step is to marshal international support for sanctions against the president and his inner circle.

California plans to get 33 percent of its electricity from wind and solar power by 2020. But that will only work if the state can economically store some of the energy for release on cloudy, windless days.