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Iran is facing its most serious challenge since the war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney discarded his increasingly inert better-safe-than-sorry campaign strategy Saturday when he named budget hawk and Democratic bete noire Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as his running mate. But the pick has handed Democrats a trove of material to use in an effort to weaken the GOP ticket's appeal among independent voters, women and senior citizens.

The gun-control debate has been framed as one between those who want to ban all guns and those who want to protect the right to own them. But digging into the numbers shows a complex relationship between ownership and crime. But some studies suggest stricter gun laws have not had a significant effect on crime rates.

The London 2012 Olympics are officially over, but people are still buzzing about Sunday's closing ceremony. It included many of the highlights of British culture and history that weren't in London's opening ceremony. And in America, some viewers are angry about what was left out of the U.S. feed.

It's been many years since political conventions offered any real drama or suspense. Still, they're a nonpareil opportunity for partisans to unite and try to win over voters who are largely uninterested in the parties.

Just how do trees die? It seems like a simple question, but the answer still eludes scientists. And understanding forest ecology is increasingly important as the effects of climate change begin to take root.

Climate change is exaggerating the normal swings in weather. For the American Southwest, that means more intense waves of heat, drought and fire that could wipe out trees that have stood for centuries. It's already revamping the ecology of the landscape.

Since Republican Rep. Todd Akin first said the words "legitimate rape" last weekend, just about everyone in the Republican Party has condemned those comments. That includes vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. But it's also put a spotlight on Ryan's anti-abortion legislation and voting record.

With dense forests and rugged beauty, Grindstone Island is a favorite summer getaway for visitors — and some of them never want to leave. The island near the Canadian border has one official cemetery, but locals say that hundreds of people are buried there, in unofficial gravesites.

Host Scott Simon catches up on the week in sports with Howard Bryant of ESPN. They cover the findings of the independent investigation on the cover-up of child sexual abuse at Penn State.