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The oPhone device (the "o" is for olfactory) will be able to send and receive whiffs of preprogrammed aromas remotely. Created by a Harvard professor, it's intended to add the sense of smell to the way we communicate.

Serving chicken, pigeon or duck for the holiday may be harder this year for some families in China and Hong Kong. As the deadly H7N9 virus continues to spread, officials in China have closed many live poultry markets, while agricultural workers in Hong Kong plan to cull thousands of chickens this week.

Guests who get an invitation to the annual State of the Union address tend to reflect the personal and political aims of the president. Some have won notice during important news events that define the times — like the Boston Marathon bombing.

Out of Cairo on Monday came new indications that Egypt's military chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, will run for president in an election expected within the next three months. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Egypt's highest military body, disseminated a message praising Sisi and endorsing him for a presidential bid.

Alan Cheuse reviews Roddy Doyle's latest novel, The Guts. The book revisits some of the characters from Doyle's debut hit, The Commitments.

Weeks after he turned 19, Jason Brown placed second at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships with an electrifying performance that became a YouTube sensation. "I'm so blown away and so shocked — beyond shocked. It's so surreal to me," he says.

Cokie Roberts' new children's book tells the stories of women who contributed to the success of the American Revolution — women like Martha Washington and Abigail Adams. She tells NPR's Steve Inskeep, "These were very, very politically passionate women. ... They were utterly devoted to the patriot cause."

In softcover nonfiction, the four-star general describes a culture gap between the military and civilian worlds, and Bridges explains how The Dude – of The Big Lebowski – is a kind of Zen master. In fiction, James Salter chronicles betrayal, Taiye Selasi looks at a grieving Ghanaian family and Philipp Meyer delivers a multigenerational family saga.

On a distant, watery moon, three civilizations clash in James Cambias' debut novel A Darkling Sea: human explorers, native scientists, and a self-styled intergalactic police force determined to make the humans go home. Reviewer Annalee Newitz says while flawed, Sea has "the gee-whiz wonder of a classic space opera."

Pete Seeger was an activist for many causes, but among them was a passionate belief in the importance and value of public singing.