This Saturday Texas Governor Rick Perry is holding a call to prayer in Houston. This is the just latest in a series of steps that seem to put Perry in line for a presidential run in 2012. Need to Know Host Alison Stewart talks to Ken Herman of the Austin American-Statesman about Governor Rick Perry's accomplishments in Texas and his national ambitions.

A report on the leading cause of food choking incidents among children, and efforts by the American Association of Pediatrics to get government and industry to address the danger.

Guest essayist Tricia Rose of Brown University talks about how the growing inequality of wealth distribution in America is defining who we will become as a nation in the coming years.

When we think of autism, we tend to think of children, but what happens to those children when they grow up and leave the educational system where federal law requires they get the services they need? And what happens to them when their parents are gone? Need to Know looks at two families struggling to provide a future for their adult sons with autism.

Alison Stewart sits down with author and anthropologist Gabriella Coleman to discuss the tricky and complicated world of hackers.

As the world steadily marches toward record-breaking population figures, Need to Know time travels to the late '60s/early '70s, a small window of time when "overpopulation" was a frightening issue that occupied a substantial slice of the American psyche.

Alison Stewart interviews reporters Phillip Longman and Julia Whitty to discuss how the challenges of population control can be met, and just how serious they are.

Could a Fukushima-style disaster happen at one of California's nuclear power plants? The Diablo Canyon nuclear plant is near two California fault lines, and at least one critic, a Republican state senator, is questioning whether the utility that owns the plant, PG&E, is doing all it needs to to ensure that it can safely withstand the kind of earthquake some seismologists believe is possible.

The news we get out of Africa is almost always bad. From drought in Ethiopia to mass rapes in Congo to corruption in South Africa, this never-ending litany of problems makes many Americans think Africa is only a continent in trouble. While those problems are worth reporting, it's important to remember that they don't give us the whole picture of life in the over fifty different African nations.

As South Sudan prepares to become the world's newest nation, Need to Know reports on the election and the subsequent violence in the region through the eyes of Salva Dut, a so-called Sudanese "Lost Boy."

Activists in San Francisco have created a new way of getting companies to do good: the anti-boycott.

While the media and political junkies are following the candidates every move and statement, the real action is happening out of the public eye, where congressional districts are being redrawn, and some of the most familiar members of Congress risk losing their seats before a vote is cast. But the state of California is blazing new ground with a radical approach to statewide redistricting.

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, talks with host Alison Stewart about how debt on both sides of the Atlantic will shape our economic futures for many years to come.

Need to Know interviews a Center for Public Integrity contributing reporter about his investigation into the Department of Defenses's little-known organization, the Joint Improvised Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO), and its $17 billion effort to combat IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The city of Norfolk, Virginia, is already experiencing the effects of sea-level rise. Streets that used to flood only occasionally now fill with sea water every time there's a full moon. We explore how one American city is dealing with a problem that may soon be on all our doorsteps. (Originally aired Feb. 15, 2011)

Need to Know presents the latest research on the health benefits of a good marriage. Mixing the most intriguing studies by the experts with the observations of two couples who between them have experienced 112 years of wedded bliss, we uncover some unexpected findings about what makes a happy marriage happy.

With nearly a dozen states rewriting their voting laws, Need to Know examines the potential impact on voter turnout in Ohio.

A new alternative therapy is proving to be as effective as medication in treating the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome. Need to Know meets a 12-year-old boy showing marked improvement since he began the therapy.

Charmaine Yoest, head of Americans United for Life, talks about how the strategy of the anti-abortion rights movement has changed in recent years, and what the movement has achieved by focusing on changing law at the state level.

Correspondent Win Rosenfeld talks to science journalist Chris Mooney about the extent to which our pre-existing beliefs, far more than facts, color our conclusions about the world.