From NPR News

Between the resident emu and the newborn goats, Harvard's Concord Field Station, located in Bedford, Mass., has a menagerie feel. The lab researches how different animals move--which requires lots of animals, and gadgets to facilitate and document their motion.

Reporting in the Astrophysical Journal, scientists write of a massive collision between two galaxy clusters. By studying the cosmic remnants of that smashup, they say leftover dark matter isn't behaving as current theory predicts. Astrophysicist Andisheh Mahdavi discusses this dark matter mystery.

It's been an unusually warm winter in some parts of the country, with springtime temperatures and very little snow. How is nature responding? Purdue entomologist Tom Turpin and horticulturalist Kristin Schleiter of the New York Botanical Garden discuss how an early spring affects flower buds, beetles and bees.

The New Horizons Mission blasted off toward Pluto in 2006; it's on course to arrive in Pluto's neighborhood in 2015. Mission leader Alan Stern discusses the journey of the spacecraft, and why he thinks Pluto is still a planet. Plus, the mission to get Pluto on a commemorative stamp.

The Department of Education's top civil rights official, Russlynn Ali, speaks with host Michel Martin about a new report. It finds students of color have less access to high-level classes, their teachers are often paid less than those of white students in same district, and suspension rates for black students are disproportionately high.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People announced it will appear before the United Nations' Human Rights Council in Geneva next week to seek support for its fight against voter identification laws enacted in U.S. states.

The civil rights organization says the laws are among several measures adopted by some states that violate the human and civil rights of minority voters by suppressing their participation in elections.

The solar storm that swept over Earth Thursday didn't seem to cause any major problems, as some had feared.

But the prediction that it would create some beautiful Northern Lights has proved to be quite true. The Associated Press has moved a quite striking photo taken Thursday on the east coast of Iceland.

If you see others, and good videos as well, share any links in the comments thread.

For America's agricultural biotech companies, the corn rootworm is threatening to turn into their worst nightmare.

There are stark words this morning from the U.N.'s top humanitarian affairs official about what she saw this week during a two-day visit to Syria. In a statement sent to reporters, Valerie Amos says, in part:

In another sign that the economic recovery is deepening, the U.S. economy added 227,000 jobs in February, according to the Labor Department, more than what many economists had expected. Meanwhile, the jobless rate of 8.3 percent remained unchanged from the prior month even as more workers entered the workforce. The news kept alive a trend helpful to President Obama re-election chances.

Up next in the Republican presidential race is Kansas, which holds its caucuses Saturday.

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas — the 1996 GOP presidential nominee — is urging the state's Republican electorate to back Mitt Romney.

Dole, who had endorsed Romney months ago, called the former Massachusetts governor "a main street conservative" in a statement Thursday, released by the Romney campaign.

There were 227,000 net jobs added to private and public payrolls last month and the nation's unemployment rate remained unchanged, at 8.3 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported.

We'll have more from the report shortly. And watch for the Planet Money blog to add its take later.

Update at 8:50 a.m. ET. Some Comparisons:

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Unemployment Rate Likely Held Steady At 8.3 Percent, Economists Say.

-- Deal To Hand Over Prison To Afghans Is Key To Transition, U.S. General Says.

Here's what to expect at 8:30 a.m. ET when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its much-anticipated February jobs report, economists say:

-- "The economy probably created 210,000 jobs last month, according to a Reuters survey, following January's tally of 243,000. The unemployment rate is expected to have held at a three-year low of 8.3 percent."

Afghan and American officials today signed an agreement that will hand over control of the main U.S. detention center in that country to the Afghan government.

And the American commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan called the agreement "another example of the progress of transition, and our efforts to ensure that Afghanistan can never again be a safe haven for terrorists."

When Oregon police stopped Jose Romeo-Valenzuela the first time, he was driving 105 mph. The second time he was driving 98 mph. And the third time, 92 mph. He faces $2,000 in tickets. He was trying to get to court to face drug possession charges.