Biomechanical researchers analyzed 100 years of athletes' heights, weights and running and swimming records, and demonstrated how the placement of one's center of gravity affects one's athletic performance. No big deal, right? People got jumpy, however, when the International Journal of Design & Nature and Ecodynamics published the paper: “The Evolution of Speed in Athletics: Why the Fastest Runners are Black and Swimmers are White.”

For most Americans, getting eight hours of sleep a night tends to fall into the same category as flossing and wearing sunscreen: We know it's a good idea, and we feel vaguely guilty when called on it ... but we still don't tend to do it.  (A recent study found nearly one in five adults feels moderately to excessively sleepy during daylight hours, which is one sign we're not getting enough sleep at night.)

Our sleep and our health are closely related. Do you get enough sleep, most nights? How do you cope when you don't? How important do you find a good night's sleep?

There's good news in the fight against HIV. A new South African study has found that a microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral medication, Tenofovir can significantly reduce the rate of HIV infections. The study included almost 900 volunteers and showed that the gel cut a woman's chances of being infected by 50 percent after the first year.

Today, the widely anticipated sci-fi thriller "Inception" hits movie theaters nationwide.

Directed by Christopher Nolan of “Memento” and “Dark Knight” fame, it’s been the source of buzz and speculation for months – despite the fact that most of us know only three things about the film:

1. That it involves dreams or thoughts being stolen
2. That it has a lot of special effects
3. That it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page

Although gravity has remained an accepted theory and (relatively) free from controversy for centuries, one scientist is rocking the boat when it comes to one of our most basic laws of physics.

There's no shortage of trendy health fads like the "master cleanse," Acai remedies, vitamins and spring waters, but are any of these actually good for you? Newsweek health reporter Kate Dailey sheds light on what works and what trends you should avoid.  

Do you have questions about a health fad? Let us know and Kate will answer your questions later this week.

Boston University scientists believe they may have uncovered the secret to why some people live to be 100 years old. According to a new report, published in Science by the New England Centenarian Study at Boston Medical Center, scientists may have have pinpointed the gene for long life. Researches found that 40 percent of those who live to be at least 110 shared three genetic signatures. The director of the study, Dr. Thomas Perls, talks to us about the findings and how they may change medicine.

In California, an outbreak of whooping cough — a bacterial infection that results in fits of coughing — has reached epidemic propotions. Five infants, all of them Latino, have died this year. California health officials are urging residents to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, in Colorado, an outbreak of meningitis has killed two Fort Collins residents. The two diseases aren't connected, but their appearance is raising questions about whether we've become complacent about getting vaccinations — or whether lack of access to health care is to blame.

Immortality has always been a dream of humanity, though in movies and books, we are often told that our mortality is somehow integral to the human experience. If you could live longer – much, much longer than our expected 79 years — would you want to?  Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jonathan Weiner examines the science of longevity in his new book, Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality.

Archaeologists have discovered what they say is the world's oldest leather shoe, dating back to around 3,500 B.C.  The shoe has laces, is approximately a woman's size 7, and is an orphan: no left shoe was found.

• North Korea/South Korea: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the situation between the North and South "precarious" and has expressed support for measures to punish North Korea for its attack on a South Korean warship. BBC correspondent, John Sudworth reports from Seoul.
• Listeners Respond: We brought you a story Friday about how a team of scientists in Maryland had developed the first synthetic living cell, new living bacteria created from non-living parts. Today we hear what you think of the issue. Is this science or science fiction? 

A team of scientists have successfully developed new living bacteria from non-living parts, which they’re calling the first “synthetic cell.”

NASA has begun counting down to its last scheduled launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. We wanted to know: Do all the shuttles have the same type of cup holders and is taking off on Atlantis any different from launching in Discovery?

Last week’s oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico has resulted not only in lost lives, but in a steady flow of leaking crude oil that could threaten coastal areas, wild life, and marine life. The well head continues to leak about 42,000 gallons of oil per day, or roughly the volume of seven tanker trucks. The slick has spread out over the water and still threatens to drift into Louisiana's marshland. We look at the technologies being enlisted to combat this enormous oil slick. 

Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at whether people really get wiser with age. We'll be talking about whether you think this holds true in your life and we want your input. Do you think you're wiser now than you were when you were young? And what is wisdom anyway?

In the 1920s, developments in physics from relativity to quantum mechanics were front page news stories. Only today have scientists been able to build machines able to test theories thought up decades ago that predict what matter and energy look like in extreme states. Scientists in Switzerland came a small step closer to testing some of those theories, as the Large Hadron Collider started smashing particles yestserday.

A story published this week reports that Chinese archaeologists have found nearly-intact mummies of people who lived in a desolate desert in Northwestern China nearly 4,000 years ago. But they were not Chinese. DNA evidence from these long dead people shows that they were in fact of European descent. Also this week, geneticists announced that man's best friend split from the wolves about 15,000 years ago in the Middle East.

Inspired by the blizzards hitting much of the country, we’re dedicating this week's tech segment to a timely topic: the weather. Scientists are developing new and innovative ways to predict it... and one of the tools they’re enlisting is your car.

• Washington Takeout: Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich says that the feet of snow that blanket Capitol Hill isn't the only thing slowing Congressional appointments to a halt
• Health Takeout: Brazillian health officials are distributing 55 million condoms during Carnival. We talk with BBC reporter Paulo Cabral about the efforts to combat HIV and AIDS during the annual festival.
• Beetles Takeout: A species of beetles is eating away at trees, leaving them dead in forests around the country. We talk with Richard Hofstetter, a forest entomologist, about the noisy techniques he's using to save the trees.

A few weeks ago, Roz Chast, esteemed New Yorker cartoonist, created a cartoon that had us all charmed. It depicted an imaginary "Google Magazine" with story titles like "Capitol Nebraska What" and "Parakeet Molasses Safe." For this week's tech segment, we talk with Roz about how she came up with her cartoon, and how Google has become a regular part of her life.