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Serena Williams will take on Victoria Azarenka in the U.S. Open final. Host Scott Simon talks to NPR's Tom Goldman about tennis, as well as the season opener of the NFL.

It smells like vinegar and tastes like spoiled cider. But fans of the fermented tea say that kombucha helps fight off diseases and aging. Sounds fantastical? Well, it probably is. At this point, scientists still know little about kombucha's health effects.

Norman Rush's newest novel takes a geographic hiatus from Botswana, his usual literary location. Instead, reviewer Drew Toal says the book is instead full of irritating intellectuals, postmortem scandal, and a group of collegiate clowns who come together after the death of an old friend.

One word: oversupply. Too many ships were built before the 2008 global economic crisis. This drove down shipping rates, forcing the industry to scale back. The effects are still being felt. This week, a Finnish shipbuilder said it would close a yard that employed 700 workers.

The charter school movement turns 21 this year and the latest study shows kids in most charter schools are doing as well or better in reading and math than their counterparts in traditional public schools. But now, leading charter school supporters are questioning that study.

The star of Saturday Night Live, Bridesmaids and now Girl Most Likely joins NPR's Melissa Block to talk about lost characters, loud characters, and how shy she is in real life.

Some retailers have experimented with using signals from customers' smartphones to track them as they walk through a store. But a new facial recognition system is helping luxury shops give the VIP treatment as soon as big spenders walk in the door.

The U.S. cross-country ski team is in the best position to win an Olympic medal in more than a quarter century. Its secret weapon? A pristine glacier — only accessible by helicopter — in the mountains high above Anchorage. It allows the skiers to train on snow throughout the summer.

Maj. Nidal Hasan conceded on the first day of his trial that the evidence will show he killed 13 people and wounded others. Now, it looks like he'll try to use the trial to "vent his religious or ideological beliefs," reports NPR's Martin Kaste. So far, the judge has kept that from happening.

Many people who die of venomous snakebites never make it to a hospital. A San Francisco doctor came up with what he thinks may be a workaround to save those lives. But he had to test it first.