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SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In a couple weeks, the prestigious Nobel Prizes will be announced. But this week, the Ig Nobels honored the silliest discoveries of 2012. A study on the physics of the ponytail; a paper on why coffee spills when you walk; and a prize for a group of psychologists who scanned the brain of an unpromising patient: a deceased Atlantic salmon. Even more unlikely were their findings: the dead fish had thoughts. Who knows - maybe dreams. Craig Bennett did the experiment and accepted the award with good humor, and a couple of fish jokes.

President Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney have made multiple trips to the battleground state of Nevada this year. Romney was there again Friday. Nevada has the worst jobless rate in the nation, and it's a place where recent distractions from Romney's economic message could hurt his chances of winning. NPR's Don Gonyea reports.

Only 12 days left of Major League Baseball. Host Scott Simon looks at the numbers with baseball historian Bill James.

In South Africa, thousands of mineworkers have embarked on industrial action that began with a deadly pay strike by platinum workers. They've agreed a wage deal with their management, this week, but the labor unrest is spreading to other platinum and gold mines in an industry that's the engine of South Africa's economy. NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton discusses the repercussions with host Scott Simon.