NPR News

You may have heard that dollar bills harbor trace amounts of drugs.

But those greenbacks in your wallet are hiding far more than cocaine and the flu. They're teeming with life.

Each dollar bill carries about 3,000 types of bacteria on its surface, scientists have found. Most are harmless. But cash also has DNA from drug-resistant microbes. And your wad of dough may even have a smudge of anthrax and diphtheria.

In other words, your wallet is a portable petri dish.

The latest word about the teenager who survived a ride Sunday from California to Hawaii in the frigid wheel well of a jet is that he may have hoped to eventually get to Somalia to be with his mother.

Washington is just starting to rebuild.

Much of the central Illinois town was wiped away by a half-mile wide tornado last November. In all, 1,108 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable — a huge share of the housing stock in a city of 15,000.

"Early on, people were asking me how long it was going to take to rebuild the city, and I said we'll do it in a year," says Mayor Gary Manier. "That was wishful thinking."

Residents in Ontario called police when they spotted a bear bumbling down the street. It was unable to see where it was going because of a large birdseed jar stuck on its head.

Students at a Melbourne, Fla., elementary school were offered trail mix and Mountain Dew on the morning of standardized tests. A grandmother got the school to stop.

After 6 1/2 weeks of false leads and conflicting information about what may have happened to the jet and the 239 people on board, Wednesday's headlines about the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 need to be viewed with considerable caution:

-- " 'Object of interest' found on Western Australian coast." (CNN.com)

Next month in Japan, Haagen-Dazs will debut vegetable-flavored ice cream. Each carton will contain about half the fat content of regular Haagen-Dazs.

Steve Inskeep talks to Lee Bollinger, a former president at the University of Michigan, about Tuesday's ruling. Bollinger was president during two earlier landmark affirmative action cases.

Research finds when hospitals initiate rapid response programs to treat stroke victims, response time is cut and fewer patients die. The stroke patients also have fewer significant disabilities.