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He maintains that he is NOT Japhy Ryder in Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums"...and that he is NOT a nature poet. But the Zen woodsman is a hero to the back-to-nature movement. He's also been criticized for being an out-of-touch environmental purist. On the other hand, his poetry has been praised and honored, including a 1975 Pulitzer. Catherine Stifter visited Snyder at his home in the Sierras.

Robert talks with Paul Umbanhower, one of the trio of scientists who found surprising results from an experiment in which tiny bronze spheres were vibrated. The spheres...through collisions with each other only...organized themselves into patterns that resembled atomic, molecular, and crystal structures. Caught by the stroboscopic camera - they pose a question that physicists cannot answer. Umbanhower says he stumbled on the phenomenon by accident & that anyone could repeat it at home using sand and a loudspeaker.

Author Patrick Chamoiseau's (sham-wah-ZOHZ) home island of Martinique was irrevocably changed by the abolition of slavery over a century and a half ago...and the migration of former plantation slaves to the city is the focus of his novel. Originally written in a mixture of French and Creole, it won France's most prestigious literary award--the Prix-Goncourt (PREE-gonn-CORE) --in 1992, and has just been translated into English. Alan Cheuse has a review. (STATIONS: "Texaco" will be published at the end of February by Pantheon.)

NPR's Lynn Neary visits with writer Alice McDermott at her home in Bethesda, Md. Her latest book is Child of My Heart. In 1998, McDermott won the National Book Award for Charming Billy. McDermott talks about writing and raising a family. McDermott also talks about using an Irish Catholic setting in her novels.

In his early twenties, Brad Newsham took off to see the world. In the midst of his travels, he had a kind of epiphany: he would offer someone else the opportunity he had... to travel to the U.S., on his tab. The story of how Newsham fulfilled that promise is the subject of his new book, Take Me With You: A Round The World Journey To Invite A Stranger Home.

Two hundred years ago this week, a horse-drawn carriage arriving from Quincy, Massachusetts, pulled up to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., delivering President John Adams into the home then known as the President's house. Over the years, the White House has survived a fire and numerous renovations. Host Lisa Simeone talks with Gary Walters, Chief Usher of the White House.

Mexico's Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda wants out. He's told President Vicente Fox that he wants to resign and Fox is considering the request. It's not clear why Castaneda wants to leave his job as foreign minister. But he has been frustrated by slow progress on migration reform with the United States and constant clashes with opponents at home. NPR's Gerry Hadden reports from Mexico City.

Los Angeles city leaders consider whether police should stop responding to most home and office burglar alarms that have not been verified by an eyewitness. Homeowners and alarm companies say that would-be burglars will get the wrong signal. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on the case of a Rhode Island man who wants to build seaside homes on his land there. Most of the property is tidelands, and the state says he can't build there. Now the case is going before Supreme Court, and some say the decision could be an important one in the battle between property rights advocates and conservationists.

Maine's York County has long been a favorite home for deer ticks and the vector-borne diseases they carry.