The U.S. and the United Nations now have to calibrate their reaction to North Korea's recent missile test, while also worrying about Iran's nuclear ambition and fears of proliferation on the subcontinent. The International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, is the international regulatory agency charged with monitoring the use and development of nuclear energy. But the agency is in the middle of electing a new general director. There are five candidates vying for the job and they are officially announcing their candidacies today. How much can the agency do?

Hans Blix knows something about those nuclear politics. He served as Director General of the IAEA from 1981 to 1997 before he was tapped to lead the U.N. committee that was eventually charged with searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He joins The Takeaway to discuss North Korea and the new era of nuclear politics.

A ruling is expected today from the California Supreme Court that will either uphold Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban, or overturn it as unconstitutional. Whatever the California court decides, gay marriage is now legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Iowa, and it will be legal in Vermont and Maine in September. And, inevitably, with marriage comes divorce. As couples and attorneys are learning, same sex divorce is at least as complex and controversial as same sex marriage. Frederick Hertz, an attorney in Oakland California and author of Making it Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnership & Civil Unions joins Farai and John with a look at the issue.

Teenagers send thousands upon thousands of text messages each month (some as many as 24,000!). So researchers are beginning to wonder: what’s the effect of the furious finger work? Reporter Katie Hafner joins The Takeaway with answers.

For more, read Katie's piece on texting and teens in the Science Times section of today's New York Times, Texting may be taking a toll.

North Korea is one of the world's most secretive societies. Curtis Melvin, a PhD student at George Mason University visited the communist nation in 2004 and '05 and was determined to learn even more about the closed kingdom. So he started a hobby, mapping North Korea with the help of Google Earth.

With shrinking budgets and expanding populations, cities across the globe are desperate for cheap mass transit. From Johannesburg to Jakarta to Cleveland, city governments are choosing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)— a bus system that acts like a train but with no tracks or rails. The Takeaway talks to freelance reporter Steven Dudley, who explored the successful BRT system in Bogota, Colombia, and to Dan Moulthrop, reporter for WCPN, Cleveland Public Radio, where the city has been making the transition to a Bus Rapid Transit system.

To see the buses in action, watch the film below:

Just hours after the U.N. Security Council condemned North Korea's nuclear tests, Pyongyang tested more missiles. President Obama criticized the tests, prompting North Korea to respond that its "army and people are fully ready for battle... against any reckless U.S. attempt for a pre-emptive attack."

An American attack is extremely unlikely. But what clout does the U.S. or the international community have? The Takeaway turns to John Bolton: he served as the Permanent U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from August 2005 until December 2006 and is currently a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Click through for transcript

In case you missed the President's remarks on North Korea, here they are:

When it comes to health care, do you get what you pay for? Dr. Atul Gawande wanted to examine costs -- and quality. In the latest issue of The New Yorker he compares McAllen, Texas, one of the most expensive health care markets in the country, to the Mayo Clinic, one of the country’s most effective, low-cost health systems. Dr. Gawande is a surgeon and writer; his most recent book is Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance

For more, read Dr. Atul Gawande's article The Cost Conundrum in The New Yorker.

To answer what makes us human has long been a scientific quest. It’s one that Dr. Richard Wrangham has been wrestling with since the 1970’s, when he started his career, observing chimps with Dr. Jane Goodall. Then about 10 years ago, while sitting in front of his own fireplace, a theory of human evolution came to him. It’s one that he lays out in his new book: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Richard Wrangham is the Ruth B. Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. He joins The Takeaway with his take on human evolution.

Just look how far we have come since our humble beginnings.

Early reports say that President Obama has made his choice for the U.S. Supreme Court. The pick to fill retiring Justice Souter's seat appears to be Sonia Sotomayor. She has been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998. Before joining the appeals court, she served as a United States District Court judge for the Southern District of New York. The Takeaway turns to Columbia Law Professor Nate Persily for more.

President Obama is expected to announce that he will fill retiring Justice David Souter's seat on the high court with Sonia Sotomayor. She would be the first Hispanic member of the Supreme Court. Sotomayor is a self-described "Newyorkican" who grew up in housing projects in the Bronx after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She attended Princeton University and Yale Law School before becoming a prosecutor and a federal judge. She also has a bipartisan background, having been appointed to the bench by George H.W. Bush and then nominated to the appeals court by Bill Clinton. And did we mention that she helped end the baseball strike? For more about the potential Justice we turn to Slate Magazine's Senior Legal Correspondent Dahlia Lithwick.

Several administration officials say President Obama has settled on his pick for the Supreme Court. The name that's being floated is Sonia Sotomayor, who's been a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit since 1998. Joining us to discuss her background and her record as a judge is Adam Liptak, Supreme Court Correspondent for the New York Times.

President Obama will nominate Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as his first appointment to the court. New Yorkers have long known this judge who grew up in the Bronx in the shadows of Yankee Stadium. Back in 1995, Judge Sotomayor issued an injunction against major league baseball owners, effectively ending a baseball strike of nearly eight months. For what the rest of the nation needs to know about this likely pick to fill the seat of retiring Justice David Souter, we turn to New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny.

Here is a clip of Sotomayor speaking at Duke University in 2005, which has stirred some controversy.

In the middle of the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers are making news, and not just for their three-point shots and MVP LeBron James. Over the weekend, the Cavaliers agreed to sell a 15 percent stake in its franchise to a group of Chinese investors. This is the first major Chinese investment in an American sports team. For more we turn to The Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin.

President Obama is about to announce his Supreme Court pick: Sonia Sotomayor, the first American of Puerto Rican descent to be appointed to the Federal bench in New York City, now in the Appeals Court of the 2nd Circuit. Judge Sotomayor earned a reputation as a sharp, outspoken and fearless jurist, someone who does not let powerful interests bully, rush or cow her into a decision. For more about the potential Justice we turn to Jenny Rivera, who clerked for Judge Sotomayor in the Southern District of New York Court in 1992 and is now a professor at the City University of New York Law School and the Director of the Center for Latino and Latina Rights and Equality. We are also joined by Slate Magazine's Senior Legal Correspondent Dahlia Lithwick.