ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
Let's read from your email now. Yesterday, I interviewed George Charumba. He is the spokesman for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. I talked to Charumba in the wake of news that the Zimbabwe opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, dropped out of this week's runoff election.
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
Well, a lot of listeners wrote with a praise for that interview. Chicago's David Futer (ph) is one. I really felt like you were my advocate, my advocate. You did it like I would done it myself or rather would have wanted to do it myself. I wouldn't have been able to a get a word in edge wise. I would have stumbled or fumbled. You were outstanding.
SIEGEL: Thank you. Earlier this week, we interviewed Henry Lee, director of the Environment and Natural Resources Program at Harvard University. We talked about drilling for oil off of U.S. shores.
NORRIS: The interview prompted this email from James Lima (ph) of Anchorage, Alaska. Your interview implied that domestic off-shore oil production would not make a difference in domestic supplies because, as Mr. Lee stated, oil is fungible, meaning it can be shipped anywhere in the world in response to market demands.
Oil produced from the United States outer continental shelf cannot be exported under federal law. As such, it is destined for the domestic, not foreign market. After that email, we called back Henry Lee at Harvard to chat.
Mr. HENRY LEE (Director, Environment and Natural Program, Harvard University): The point that I was trying to make there was not that the domestic oil wouldn't come to the U.S. market, but that it would not have a major difference on total supply and total price. And if we produced another half a million barrels off shore, yes, the oil will be used here, but the world price would not change significantly.
SIEGEL: Yesterday, I spoke with Dr. Atul Gawande. He is a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a writer for the New Yorker.
NORRIS: The interview focused on Dr. Gawande's latest article on itching.
SIEGEL: I warned the people at the outset, I said not to itch - not to itch during this interview. And one of the things, as you write in the article, that's I think unique at the itching is we could be talking about wild fires in California, and people wouldn't start to feel burning sensation. We can talk about all kinds of pain, and we wouldn't feel pain. But itch is something that you can start feeling based on the power of suggestion.
Dr. ATUL GAWANDE (School of Medicine, Harvard University): Yes, sir. If I just describe to people the feeling of an ant crawling along at the back of their neck and up their scalp, you can't help it. You start to feel itchy, and you wonder if that thing is there.
NORRIS: Apparently, we left many of you with the creepy crawlies.
SIEGEL: It has often been a question of mine, what makes an itch, well, itch, writes Crystal Padar (ph0 of Heath, Ohio. It was nice to know I'm not alone in my quest for that answer. Actually, I found the story rather ironic, as was the challenge not to scratch. You see, I currently have poison ivy from wrist to elbow. So thank you for the story, and thank you for challenging me to not scratch. You may have inadvertently help hasten my recovery.
NORRIS: Finally, a story about Hillary Clinton's return to the Senate brought an avalanche of mail.
SIEGEL: Specifically, it was this phrase of David Welna's that did it.
DAVID WELNA: A big crowd of mostly interns and Senate staff broke in to applause as the broadly smiling Senator Clinton climbed out of a big black SUV and strolled purposefully toward the Capitol in a resplendent turquoise pantsuit.
SIEGEL: Every time a reporter mentions a politician's dress in the first paragraph of the story, you only foster the rampant sexism that already exists in our society. This is from Bobby Embadi (ph) of Manhattan, Kansas. Why should it matter that Hillary was resplendent in her turquoise pantsuit?
NORRIS: Robert, may I just say you look resplendent in that jacket and Naru collar. Well, keep those emails coming. You can write to us by going to npr.org, click on the contact us tab that's at the top of the page.
SIEGEL: And don't forget, we need to know where you from and how you pronounce your name. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.