All Things Considered on KCCU-HD2

The Senate easily confirmed the nomination of John Brennan as CIA director, that following the dramatics of Sen. Rand Paul, who filibustered against it for nearly 13 hours on Wednesday night. Is this the dawn of a new era of these, old-school, "talking" filibusters? Tamara Keith talks to Audie Cornish.

The first major gun bills in nearly two decades had their first hearing in the Senate on Thursday, including an assault weapons ban and a ban on so-called "straw purchases." Still, even in the aftermath of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., the legislation faces an uphill battle. Ailsa Chang talks to Melissa Block.

Boeing's Dreamliner 787s remain grounded. And neither investigators nor Boeing can say exactly what caused a battery fire on a Japan Airlines jet. Nevertheless, Boeing thinks it has a fix, and while the Federal Aviation Administration is poised to allow Boeing to begin proving the redesign will be effective, the planes won't be back in service anytime soon.

For more than a century, neurons have been the superstars of the brain. Their less glamorous partners, glial cells, can't send electric signals, and so they've been mostly ignored.