Seven employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission have been disciplined, but no one has been fired, after investigations into how the agency failed to stop Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme despite repeated warnings that he was stealing billions of dollars from investors, The Washington Post reports.

All the attention this week on the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, the protests afterward by many of the school's students and the actions or inaction of school officials when they learned that a former assistant football coach might have been sexually abusing young boy

The art of the piano is a study in evolution — of both an instrument and of human talent. Among us there have been a rare few whose gifts included the physical dexterity, the innate musicality and the creativity to make the instrument sound brilliant.

Veteran's Day is the day when Americans remember and thank members of the armed forces who fought in foreign wars. Nearly 1.4 million men and women have left the service since serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. A group of musicians in San Marcos, Tex., just down the highway from Austin, has started a songwriting workshop especially for returning veterans, believing that composing music can help a person heal from the wounds of war.

The man known as Italy's Great Seducer may have finally lost his charm.

Silvio Berlusconi, the country's scandal-plagued prime minister, survivor of some 50 confidence motions over the years and twice thrown out of office, says he will exit from the Italian political scene now that the nation's parliament has passed an austerity package.

That resignation could come as early as this weekend, although there has been speculation that Berlusconi could hang on until as late as February, when new elections are expected to be held.

Mexican authorities say Secretary of the Interior Francisco Blake Mora, "the highest ranking official in the country after the president" and the person in charge of the fight against drug cartels, has been killed in a helicopter crash, The Associated Press reports from Mexico City. Seven other people also died, according to the Mexican government.

Reuters says that local media are reporting that the minister's helicopter went down south of Mexico City.

In the 1960s, the Zombies enjoyed success as one of the most popular bands of the British Invasion, releasing the enduring and beloved hits "Time of the Season," "Tell Her No" and "She's Not There." Although the group initially split amicably in 1968, the Zombies returned to making music in various incarnations in the early '90s. This year, two of its founding members, Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent, released Breathe Out, Breathe In, which the veteran musicians say is the first album that makes them feel truly together again as a band.

How important are museums, TV shows and after school clubs to teaching kids science? Ira Flatow and guests look at "informal science education" and what researchers are learning about learning science. Plus, what's the best way to keep undergraduate science majors in science?