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Melissa Block profiles several of the newly announced 2012 MacArthur Fellows. In this segment she speaks with Laura Poitras, a documentarian who is making a trilogy of films about the post-Sept. 11 world.

November marks the deadline for states to decide how they'll participate in health insurance exchanges. Those exchanges come from the federal health care law passed in 2010. To find out how much progress the states have made toward their decisions, Audie Cornish talks with Alan Weil, executive director of the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has conceded defeat in parliamentary elections in the former Soviet republic, clearing the way for the opposition Georgian Dream party to form a new government. The country's new ruling party says it will continue a pro-Western stance but also seek to restore ties with Russia.

Crowds of anxious Iranians are flocking to foreign exchange offices as the rial continues to plummet; it lost about one-third of its value in just a day. Tough economic and banking sanctions, and an oil embargo, are at the heart of the crisis. Tehran is blaming outsiders, and seems unable to stop the free fall.

Public health experts have gotten better at detecting new diseases and figuring out their cause since the SARS outbreak nearly 10 years ago. Advances in communications and genetics mean information about new microbes is more accessible.

U.S. auto sales last month were the best they've been in more than four years, according to numbers compiled by an industry group. Toyota led the way with more than a 40 percent jump from a year ago. Experts give credit for the boost in sales to cheap financing for car loans, and growing consumer confidence.

Buyers from all over the world still come to vendors in Manhattan to buy cheap toys and tchotchkes. We find out why.

The debut novel of Robin Sloan, a former Twitter and Current TV employee, tells the thoughtful, magical story of Clay, a worker in a mysterious literary emporium. Aside from the occasional groaner insight, the buoyant narrative demonstrates Sloan's gift of charismatic prose.

Novelist Don DeLillo collects his short stories, retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens reflects on his career, Lawrence Lessig looks at money and power in politics, and comedians Ellen DeGeneres and John Hodgman poke fun at life's sunny and gloomy sides.

As President Obama and Mitt Romney finalize preparations for tonight's debate, some historical reminders — thanks to YouTube — of what can go right, and what can go wrong.