The Obama administration is expected to announce new national standards for car emissions and mileage today. The standards are expected to be comparable to the standards California sought, but were delayed by the Bush administration. Under the new standards, new cars and light trucks will have to get 35 miles per gallon by 2016. This will drive up the price of new cars, but drivers may recoup some of that money through savings on gas. Automakers aren't expected to challenge the new rules — but will the new standards help reduce demand for gas or change driver behavior? Joining The Takeaway to debate the new standards are Lisa Margonelli, fellow at the New America Foundation and author of Oil On the Brain: Petroleum's Long Strange Trip to Your Tank and Robert Farago, publisher of the blog The Truth About Cars.

The Commerce Department says construction of new homes and apartments fell 12.8 percent last month -- the lowest pace in a half-century. Earlier reports had expected the government to announce a small increase in housing starts. To guide us through the numbers, The Takeaway is joined by Nicolas Retsinas, Director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and former Assistant Secretary of Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He has an eye on how housing starts fit into the larger picture of big economic indicators. Also joining the conversation is Mori Hosseini, a homebuilder and CEO of ICI Homes, who sees the housing market first-hand.

Being in the hospital is bad enough. Then to add insult to whatever injury put you in the hospital, sometimes, you get stuck with a stranger as a roommate. Now a growing body of evidence shows that being alone in a single room helps patients get better, faster. This may seem like a no-brainer, yet few private rooms exist in the standard hospital. That could change due to the new field of “evidence-based hospital design”. Here to explain is Carol Ann Campbell, a medical writer whose story on this movement in health care appears today in the New York Times.

For more, read Carol Ann Campbell's article, Health Outcomes Driving New Hospital Design, in the New York Times.

Warren Buffett invests like a girl. He’s patient and does thorough research. He doesn’t take huge risks. He waits for the right price to buy, and he hold onto stock a long time. All of which, according to a survey of financial analysts and investment advisers, is generally how women investors behave. The study found that women felt it was much more important than men did to avoid incurring large losses, falling below a target rate of return or acting on incomplete information. In short, women are more risk-averse than men. And that can make them better investors than men. The study found that women’s portfolios gained 1.4% more than men’s portfolios did. (Single women did even better than single men, with 2.3% greater gains.) Now that the economy is showing some faint signs of recovery and many of us might be considering jumping back into the market, we turn to Dr. Ellen Peters, a psychologist from the University of Oregon, who was involved in the original study, for some ideas on what investment strategies will work for everyone.

The Cold War may be over, but arms control still matters. Russian and U.S. negotiators are beginning talks to make further cuts in nuclear arsenals. The former Cold War rivals are hoping to come to terms on a replacement to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START I, which expires in December. For more, we turn to the BBC's Russia analyst Steven Eke, who's following the story.

Many Wall Street giants toppled during the financial crisis, but a few giants have been created. One is money manager BlackRock. BlackRock manages $1.3 trillion in assets for a range of big private clients, from hedge funds to foreign governments. But it is the company's role as a major U.S. government adviser and contractor that is now drawing scrutiny. They're involved in everything from the rescue of AIG, Bear Stearns and Citigroup to helping the Federal Reserve stimulate the housing market. Michael de la Merced, finance reporter for the New York Times, joins The Takeaway with more of the story.

For more, read Michael de la Merced's and Eric Lipton's article, In Advising U.S., BlackRock Thrives in Uncertain Times, in the New York Times.

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Networking technology has radically changed how we do many things -- including startling other people. The group Improv Everywhere uses it to pull off pranks—or, as they call them, missions. Two of their best known missions are the famous annual no-pants subway ride, and the Grand Central Station freeze. Now the Improv Everywhere guys have a book: Causing a Scene: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordinary Places with Improv Everywhere. It's part a documentation of their work, part a how-to manual. Co-author Alex Scordelis joins The Takeaway to discuss the group and its methods.

Check out Improv Everywhere's "Food Court Musical":

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Yesterday, the Sri Lankan government declared victory in the 26-year civil war against ethnic Tamil rebels. After such a protracted struggle, many Sri Lankans know nothing but fighting; healing the nation will take a long time. Will the thousands who've fled the country come back? Today The Takeaway looks at the Tamil diaspora here in the U.S. We are joined by Ahilan Kadirgamar, a spokesman with the Sri Lanka Democracy Forum, a diaspora network pushing for a political solution in Sri Lanka. He's also a fellow at the Asia Society.

Here's M.I.A., who is probably the most famous Tamil in the world, on the Tavis Smiley show discussing the civil war in Sri Lanka:

President Obama is set to announce today new fuel efficiency standards for American cars. For the first time ever, auto manufacturers will have to meet a national standard. According to the Obama administration, the standards will be the equivalent of taking 177 million cars off the road by 2016. So what is the new standard and how does it compare with other countries are doing? We turn to Matt McGrath, the BBC's environment correspondent.

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Elizabeth Edwards lost her son Wade when he was 16. She is living with terminal cancer. She has been through two presidential campaigns. Now she is, very publicly, coming to terms with her husband’s infidelity. What it takes to get through these tough times is the subject of her new book: Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life's Adversities. Elizabeth Edwards joins The Takeaway to discuss the message of her book and her decision to write it.

Here's Elizabeth Edwards on Oprah: