NPR News

Last week, we discussed state-by-state differences in online conversations around the issue of unemployment. That analysis of millions of words from news posts, blogs and user comments showed how the conversation in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Virginia varies greatly because of cultural and socioeconomic factors.

We learned two things this morning: First, experts from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission believe that the softball-sized eyeball that washed up in Pompano Beach, Fla. belongs to a swordfish.

Supertasters are the Olympic athletes of gastronomy, able to detect subtle differences in flavors that other people never register. That talent may make for more than a discriminating palate, though. It may also warn them about attacking germs, and help them defend themselves against sinus infection.

This notion isn't as bizarre as it may seem. Bitter tastes have long been considered a danger signal in foods, warning about potential toxins in potatoes and other vegetables. If the potato's bitter, don't eat it.

In what's being called a "historic agreement," Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond have hammered out a deal will allow Scotland to decide if it wants to secede from the United Kingdom. The question will be settled in a 2014 referendum.

The AP reports:

"Officials from London and Edinburgh have been meeting for weeks to hammer out details of a vote on Scottish independence. Sticking points included the date and the wording of the question. ...

I can't speak to the innermost thoughts of this attendee at New York Comic-Con, but I have to imagine that his conversation goes something like this:

More than 7 million people were watching as Felix Baumgartner sat at the edge of his space capsule yesterday 24 miles off the ground and got ready to jump, in what was known as the "Red Bull Stratos" project, better known as the "space jump." I saw it myself; he opened the door, and there was something there that certainly seemed to be space.

You may know that there's a Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. show in the works for ABC, but there was some very big news over the weekend about who might take the lead in it. If you've seen The Avengers, you know that this is kind of a surprising development — if you haven't seen it, be cautious about reading about this news quite yet. [Deadline]

Malala, the 15-year-old shot in the head by the Taliban, has been airlifted to Britain, the Pakistani government said in a press release today.

The government said that they were "pleased with her present condition, which has been described as optimal."

Which fundamental questions in physics get your imagination soaring most? Is it the structure of matter? The nature of Space and Time? The possibility of life in space?

After days of rumors, the Japanese telecom Softbank announced it would buy a 70 percent stake of the American mobile carrier Sprint Nextel.

Two reasons this is important: Sprint had been overshadowed by mega companies Verizon and AT&T. When T-Mobile announced a merger with Mobile PCS, Sprint was left in a kind of nowhere land.