Tiger Woods tries to get a grip…on physics?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The fallout from Tiger Woods’ car accident continues. One of the stranger wrinkles in the tale can be seen at left. That’s Woods’ wrecked SUV, and that book on the floor is an out-of-print work entitled Get a Grip on Physics, by British professor John Gribbin. Global demand has spiked since the book was photographed in Woods’ SUV. Marco Werman hears from John Gribbin. Download MP3(Photo: Handout/Getty Images)

• Get a Grip on Physics on Amazon
• John Gribbin’s homepage
• Article on sales of the book in The Guardian newspaper

US women’s colleges appeal to Muslims

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Many colleges and universities in the US compete fiercely for foreign students. But there’s one group of potential students that until recently went largely untapped: women from the Arab and Muslim World. More of them are now attending women’s colleges here, as The World’s Katy Clark discovered. Download MP3 (Photo of Mount Holyoke freshman Lubna Saqran by Katy Clark)

• Web extra: Katy Clark gets an earful from two Mount Holyoke freshmen about the thing they hate most about life at an American college.
• More of Katy’s photos

Barack Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the BBC’s Duncan Kennedy, who covered the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway today.

Israelis protest construction freeze

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
The World’s Aaron Schachter reports on growing anger among Jewish settlers over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to temporarily freeze construction in West Bank settlements.

Geo Quiz

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Our daily geography quiz.

Geo answer

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
For today’s Geo Quiz, we asked what Canadian city is looking to America for police recruits. The answer is Edmonton, Alberta. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Constable Geoff Hood, who’s in New York City today on a recruitment drive for the Edmonton Police Service.

Lollywood

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Music from 1970′s Lahore, Pakistan is the focus of our Global Hit today. It’s music originally recorded for Lahore’s music industry that’s fondly dubbed “Lollywood.” Music critic Tom Schnabel tells us more. Download MP3

• Sound of Wonder on Amazon
• Tom Schnabel’s page at KCRW

Chilly city in Canada

For today’s Geo Quiz we’re looking for help. Are you fit? Healthy? Interested in a career in law enforcement? And do you have a high tolerance for the cold?

Music Heard on Air for December 10, 2009

Tunes Spun On The Word Between our reports for December 10, 2009. Artists featured are Kila, Hasso Akotey, Ali Farka Toure, Ry Cooder, Tinariwen, Burhan Ocal and Istanbul Oriental Ensemble.

Entire program – December 9, 2009

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Today on The World: Divisions emerge among developing countries at climate summit, Three women challenge Ireland’s strict abortion law in a European court, and Arab comedians gather in Jordan for an international comedy festival.

Campaigning for Kiribati on climate

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

At the UN climate talks in Denmark small island states and poor African nations vulnerable to climate impacts have laid out demands for a legally-binding deal tougher than the Kyoto Protocol. This is opposed by richer developing states such as China, which fear tougher action would curb their growth. One of the concerned island nations is Kiribati. Its Copenhagen delegation is getting some help from British environmental campaigner Alex Randall, who offered his services to poor nations most affected by climate change. Marco Werman talks with Randall. Download MP3 (AP Photo: Katsumi Kasahara)

• BBC coverage of the Copenhagen conference
• Environment coverage on The World

Ireland’s abortion law in court

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

The Irish Republic’s strict abortion law is being challenged in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Three Irish women, all of whom traveled to Britain to have an abortion, say the effective ban on abortion in Ireland violates the European Convention on Human Rights. A referendum to make Ireland’s abortion laws even more strict failed in 2002 (PA photo). Jane Little reports. Download MP3

• BBC coverage
• Religion coverage on The World

Sapporo’s space barley beer

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Talk about a beer that’s out of this world. Japanese brewer Sapporo is introducing Space Beer. It’s produced using malt made from barley seeds that spent five months aboard the International Space Station. Anchor Marco Werman talks about Sapporo’s new offering with “The Beer Goddess,” Lisa Morrison. Download MP3

• Lisa Morrison’s radio show: Beer O’Clock
• BBC Video: ‘Out of this world’ Japanese beer

… you’ve been a beautiful audience!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Did you hear the one about a stand up comedy festival in Amman, Jordan? The World’s Aaron Schachter did and he brings us the story. Download MP3 (Photo of comedian Dean Obeidallah by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images for Doha Tribeca Film Festival)

• Info about the Amman Stand Up Comedy Festival

A Taste of Japan’s Winter Radish Festival

No joke… a giant white radish figures in today’s Geo Quiz. This Asian root vegetable goes by a couple of names: Daikon or the winter radish.