People in 2011 have more ways to communicate now than ever before, and how we communicate says a lot about who we are. We tweet, we text, we chat online. And every word has a particular significance — maybe even more than we often realize.

It's been a whirlwind week in Libya. On Monday, Libyan rebels stormed into Tripoli, effectively taking over the capital city and inciting celebrations and battles with Gadhafi loyals. Gadhafi's forces were holding foreign journalists under lock and key in the Rixos hotel, but finally freed them on Wednesday, as rebels surrounded Gadhafi's compound. As the rebels continue to search for the missing leader, the Transitional National Council is preparing to govern a post-Gadhafi Libya. What’s next for Libya?

Between the earthquake on Tuesday and the hurricane heading our way, the East Coast has been suffering at the hands of Mother Nature this week, and it's only going to continue through the weekend. Hurricane Irene hammered the Bahamas and Florida on Thursday, and the Category 3 storm is set to hit North Carolina on Saturday before blasting up the East Coast through the weekend. North Carolina has already issued evacuation orders for residents along the coast.

Pat Summitt has had a successful career, leading the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols to eight NCAA championships. Yesterday, the 59-year-old legendary coach announced that she has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. WNBA player Tamika Catchings played for Coach Summitt at the University of Tennessee for four years. She said she was shocked by the news, but, she explained, "When you think about all of the things Pat’s been able to accomplish, a lot of it has come from her determination and she’s had so many trials and tribulations throughout her life, but look at her. You know, she’s still standing strong." Despite her fighting spirit, Summitt's diagnosis raises questions about Alzheimer's disease, particularly because Summitt is younger than most who suffer from Alzheimer's.

Many U.S. cities that once depended on manufacturing — cities like Detroit, Cleveland and Binghamton, N.Y. — experienced job loss and a decline in population years before the Great Recession began. John Hockenberry grew up outside of Binghamton and watched a great, vibrant city fall. IBM, once a major employer in the area, moved its factories overseas, and other businesses followed. Today, downtown Binghamton is filled with empty storefronts and houses.

Formula One racing attracts fans all over the world, and back in the '80s and '90s there was one man who everybody wanted to see race: Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna. Known for being a charismatic risk taker on and off the track, Senna's legions of fans were shocked when he was killed in a crash during the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. A new documentary called "Senna" tells the story of his life. The film won the World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary at this year's Sundance Festival.

As the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, our host John Hockenberry decided to focus his summer reading on novels about 9/11. This week's pick touches upon how we memorialize a tragedy, which can be extremely political.

This week we're talking about ways to fix the economy. President Obama is currently on a bus tour, talking to voters in Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota about his plan to boost the economy. Back in Washington the Congressional "super committee" has begun talks over how to find $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. And here on The Takeaway, we're asking listeners to share their ideas.

Our summer book club continues today with host John Hockenberry's first pick for August. John sees summer reading as an opportunity for challenge. He spent one summer reading the Russian literature, and the following summer he devoted his reading to Charles Dickens. This summer, as the tenth anniversary of September 11 approaches, John decided it was time to tackle a few of the recent novels that deal with that tragic day. His first pick is Jonathan Safran Foer’s "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close." The novel follows nine-year-old Oskar Schell in the years after his father dies in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Foer sat down with John to discuss his 2005 novel.

Babies start to smile at around five weeks old; an ability that can influence many things they'll do for the rest of their lives. Social psychology research finds that the way we smile seriously affects how we're perceived by others. Jurors are more likely to believe smiling defendants. Smiling waiters get more tips. And parents are likely to pay more attention to smiling children.

Three days after Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S.'s credit rating, local small business owners fear a return to the Great Recession.

Every Friday, Movie Date podcast co-hosts Kristen Meinzer and Rafer Guzman talk about the weekend's new releases. The biggest debut this weekend is a remake of a film that comes from a long line of remakes: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" opens today. (The movie’s director and unconventional star, Andy Serkis will appear later this morning on the program.) Also opening this weekend is "The Change-Up" a new bro-mance starring Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds, and "Magic Trip," a documentary about Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster’s drug-filled road trip in 1964.

Does unemployment affect males and females differently? The economic downturn has been called a "mancession." Are we now in the midst of a "he-covery?" According to the Pew Research Center, men lost more than twice as many jobs than women during the Great Recession, but the recovery has reversed that trend. Between June 2009 and May 2011, men gained jobs while women continued to lose them. What accounts for the unemployment gender gap, and will the trend continue?

The federal government plans to release new unemployment figures on Friday. Will July's numbers be as dismal as June's? All week, The Takeaway is speaking with experts, employers, and out-of-work Americans about unemployment-related issues. Today, we're discussing foreign workers. With unemployment hovering around 9.2 percent, why do so many seasonal employers choose to hire workers from outside the U.S.?

These days, almost every computer and cell phone has software to download or record and save our favorite songs. Of course, it wasn’t always so simple. Thomas Edison created the first phonograph in 1877, an invention that recorded sound on tinfoil-covered cylinders. But many of the recordings from Edison's day were lost to history — until the founders of Archeophone Records stepped in. 

When times are tough, Americans often turn to comic books. The so-called Golden Age of Comics in the U.S. began with the Great Depression, when out-of-work Americans were desperate for superheroes and role models. Our appetite for Superman and the Green Lantern only grew as Hitler marched across Europe. And Americans aren’t the only ones who need superheroes in difficult times. Our guest for this segment is the author of "The 99," a comic book series published in Kuwait and translated into nine languages. "The 99" follows Islam-inspired superheroes as they fight evil dictators and extremists.

Partisan fighting over the debt ceiling on Capitol Hill has affected more than just the markets. Over the weekend, Congress failed to pass a funding extension for the Federal Aviation Administration, following a disagreement over cuts in subsidies. As a result, the U.S. government was forced to suspend collection of federal airline taxes, at a loss of approximately $200 million per week. The F.A.A had to furlough 4,000 employees, and airport modernization projects worth billions of dollars are now on hold.

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center will close its doors, after more than a century of care. The historic medical center first opened it's doors to offer care to soldiers and their families in 1909. The hospital treated Presidents Nixon and Eisenhower. and housed a number of other Washington notables. But it also had its share of scandals. In 2007, a Washington Post investigation uncovered appalling conditions there, including neglected patients, unsanitary living facilities, and what the paper described as "a messy bureaucratic battlefield."

The space shuttle Atlantis returned this morning, marking the end of an era. The space shuttle program began with the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981. The program advanced space exploration into the twenty-first century. Contrary to the Apollo missions, which sparked fierce competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, the space shuttle program existed mostly in an era of collaboration and cooperation between nations.

Many of us trace the Civil Rights movement back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks' arrest in 1955. But the true beginning may have been during the summer of 1919, remembered as "Red Summer," when race riots erupted across the country. At that time, NAACP membership grew exponentially, as black World War I veterans returned from fighting for democracy abroad and demanded freedom at home. Despite President Woodrow Wilson's promise to further human rights in the U.S., the federal government turned a blind eye and did little to even to protect African-Americans from racial violence.