The lust that once lured prospectors to California is today drawing countless thousands to remote tropical rainforests on a quest for gold. It’s a valuable source of income in developing nations. But Smithsonian scientist William Laurance says the thirst for gold and other metals is fueled by both illegal and legal trade that carries heavy social, environmental and public health costs.

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Moreno, a bioethicist and professor of medical ethics at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of “Mind Wars: Brain Research and National Defense.”

Agriculture is a $31-billion industry in California — no state is bigger for farming. But with California in a drought, state-enforced water rationing is forcing farmers to abandon fields and lay off workers. The Takeaway talks to the mayor of Mendota, California, where hundreds have been left hungry, and with Sacramento Bee reporter Matt Weiser about the difficult choices the state is facing.

Guest: M.J. Gohel, director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based international affairs think tank

Guest: Evan Kohlmann, a self-made international terrorism consultant. Evan wrote, produced and narrated "The al-Qaeda Plan," which was used as evidence in the Hamdan Trial.

Sorting through the proliferation of nuclear confusion

It's the 50th anniversary of a great proxy battle fought in outer space. In 1958, President Eisenhower created NASA so the United States could compete with the USSR in space technology. Today, there’s a new space race on — between China and America. The finish line, 50 years later, is still the moon.

President Bush summed up America's recent economic woes this week with four cool words: "Wall Street got drunk." The Takeaway asked you for more catchy crisis slogans.

Federal Reserve Board chair Ben Bernanke is bursting through longstanding boundaries between the Fed and the federal government, some which could fundamentally change the Fed’s place in the American economy. Is this a good thing for the independent Fed?

Today, Christie's auctions a memento from John Lennon: his scrawled lyrics for “Give Peace a Chance.” Lennon gave the page to then-16-year-old Gail Renard in 1969 after she and a friend climbed up a fire escape to see him and Yoko Ono during their Montreal “bed-in.”

The California Public Health Department has halted the work of 13 genetic testing companies, barring them from selling tests without a doctor’s orders. Today the companies must detail how they’ll “prevent further violation of California state laboratory law” to the health department. The Takeaway talks with Wired's Alexis Madrigal about the intertwined issues of privacy and public health, and whether there’s a potential health benefit from barring individuals from their own genetic information.

The signs are all around us: salmonella outbreaks; riots over food shortages; fears over mad cow disease; water shortages; skyrocketing global food prices. These are portents for the end of easily accessible food. Paul Roberts, author of "The End of Food" and "The End of Oil" sees the potential cataclysm ahead.

Saudi Arabia wants to call a meeting between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries to discuss record high prices. President Bush has called for the United States to be less dependent on hydrocarbons. The Takeaway speaks with Lisa Margonelli to discuss the persistent high price of energy and its social and cultural effects.

This week, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama travel to Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico. Though the three states account for 19 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House, they’re likely to be pivotal in the November presidential election.

Chicago residents are now paying the highest gas prices in the country - an average of $4.07 per gallon. You might think that gas stations are thriving with high gas prices, but gas station owners are actually losing money.

For the first time in almost 50 years, West Virginia matters. The polls already foretell West Virginia primary’s likely outcome — a victory for Hillary Clinton — but the Democratic nomination race continues to energize young voters across the state.

The earthquake that struck China’s central region yesterday is the deadliest the country has seen since 1976. We talk with Roger Bilham, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, about how both natural and man-made factors created such devastation.

The fight over voter identification requirements has heated up after the Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law. Nineteen states are considering new voter ID measures, but we focus on Missouri, which The New York Times' Ian Urbina tells us is the only proposal that could become law in time for November’s presidential election.