When the Mars rovers were deployed to the red planet in 2003, they were only expected to last three months. But here we are, five years later celebrating Spirit and Opportunity's anniversary. During their adventure, what have the Rovers discovered? How much longer can we expect Spirit and Opportunity to be with us? Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, joins us as we look back at the last five years and forward into the next.

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If you know anything about Macintosh computers, you know that the annual Macworld trade show that kicks off today in San Francisco is one of the biggest events for the Apple community. But in December, Apple stunned its followers when it announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would not giving his traditional keynote speech. Not only that, Apple announced that after 2009, they will no longer be part of the expo. Questions abound: Why is Apple going AWOL? And is Jobs sick, again? WIRED magazine journalist Steven Levy joins The Takeaway from Macworld to discuss.

Steve Jobs' 2008 keynote address in 60 seconds

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Gained five pounds when you wanted to lose ten? Started smoking again after swearing you wouldn't? Not eat vegetables at every meal? Forget to not watch television? Who hasn’t had a New Year's resolution fail? The Takeaway’s science contributor Jonah Lehrer joins the show to tell us why our brain actually prevents us from changing everything at once.

Want more Jonah Lehrer? Read his book Proust Was a Neuroscientist. Guaranteed to make you smarter!

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In 2003, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated in the skies above Texas. All seven astronauts were lost. A 400-page NASA report released yesterday investigates the equipment failures during the final moments aboard the shuttle. New York Times science journalist John Schwartz joins The Takeaway to discuss.

For more John Schwartz, read his article in today's New York Times. He also has an article covering the future of NASA.

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Most pharmaceutical drugs only work for about half the people who take them. Why? Because our DNA can inhibit them from functioning in our bodies. But personalized medicine -- in which each person's individual genes are matched with appropriate pharmaceuticals -- might offer a solution. Joining The Takeaway to explain more is Andrew Pollack, a reporter for the New York Times and author of today's front page story on the topic.

For more on this fascinating subject, read Andrew Pollack's article.

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Feeling a little sheepish because you got your sister socks, and she got you a new purple iPod? Evolution can be blamed for the guilt — if not your poor taste in gifts. Jonah Lehrer, author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," gives us the dirt on why we feel the need to give as much as we receive.

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With a fixed amount of water on earth, a growing population means the competition for water is increasing.

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Psychiatry's number one diagnostic manual is being re-written -- and it's making everyone crazy. Gender identification disorder may be in, while sleepwalking disorder is on the outs. By 2012, the American Psychiatric Association hopes to have published a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) -- the diagnostic manual used to determine if a patient has a mental disorder. Proposed changes are already being challenged by patients, insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. The New York Times science journalist Benedict Carey explains.

For more information, read Benedict Carey's article in today's New York Times.

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It has long been rumored that colonoscopy screening tests are 90 percent effective at locating cancer in your colon. Yet a new study published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicates that the screening method is not as effective as doctors thought, often missing cancers located on a person's right side. New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata explains the study and how it might affect your next doctor's visit. To find out more, read Gina Kolata's article, "Colonoscopies Miss Many Cancers, Study Finds," at the New York Times.

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But will the economic slowdown hamper environmental progress?

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For most Americans, Thanksgiving Day conjures up the collective memory of millions of homes, filled with the warm smells of the holiday feast: turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Jonah Lehrer, author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" and editor at large at Seed Magazine, talks with John Hockenberry about the science behind our nostalgia, mutant mice, and why gravy should be a disgusting addition to the table... but isn't.

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Now that it's possible to program unmanned combat vehicles to make decisions about where (and who) to strike in war situations, new questions of ethics have risen: In which situations can we allow robots to make their own decisions? Can we program robots to follow the Geneva Conventions? There is a more basic question, too: Do we even want robot soldiers?

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» Video: "America's Disappearing Forests" (The New York Times)
» "Bark Beetles Kill Millions of Acres of Trees in West" (The New York Times)

"If you stand on a mountaintop in Colorado you can look in every direction and see dead trees. It is everywhere."
--Jim Robbins on the impact of pine beetle infestations

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"Just looking at a picture of nature was relaxing enough to actually produce some cognitive benefits." -- Jonah Lehrer

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Dead bats in caves all over New England share one common trait: unusually white, fuzzy noses. A new study points to a fungus as the culprit.

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The largest children's study ever undertaken in the United States kicks off in 2009. Researchers plan on tracking 100,000 kids from the womb to the age when they can legally crack open a beer. Scientists hope 21 years worth of hair, urine and environmental samples will reveal why the incidence of childhood disease is on the rise.

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