San Francisco's new $63 million SFJAZZ center opens its doors on Monday. We take stock of the jazz scene in the Bay Area, and preview some of the upcoming acts at the new jazz center.

Oakland schools have launched programs to help students manage their emotions, establish positive relationships and resolve conflicts. One of the programs, Roots of Empathy, brings infants and their mothers into school to help students recognize emotions and experience empathy. We discuss the social and emotional learning movement, which aims to teach fundamental life skills in schools, and how it's being used in Oakland.

Are you using your brain to maximum advantage? In his new book "Super Brain," physician and prolific author Deepak Chopra posits that we are living in a golden age for brain research, which provides a roadmap for boosting productivity and happiness. Chopra joins us to discuss "Super Brain," co-authored with Harvard neurologist Rudolph Taniz.

Governor Jerry Brown says online college courses could help solve one of the problems facing the state's education system: overcrowded classrooms. The governor is fostering partnerships between online learning programs and higher education, including a newly inked deal between San Jose State University and the startup Udacity. Can low-cost online classes help keep education affordable? Can online classes maintain the quality of a university lecture?

He made scientific history when he discovered a fossilized fish that was the "missing link" between land and sea creatures. Now paleontologist and popular science writer Neil Shubin is focusing his attention on the links between humans, rocks and plants -- and how clues to the universe's 14-billion-year history can be found in our bodies. Shubin joins us to talk about his new book, "The Universe Within."

After years of denial, Lance Armstrong reportedly admitted to doping this week during an interview with Oprah Winfrey. The confession by the seven-time Tour de France winner further opens the door to public scrutiny, lawsuits and millions in lost endorsements. Sources say Armstrong came clean because he wants to continue competing. Should athletes who doped be allowed to participate in the world of competitive sports? We'll also consider the case of Barry Bonds, who was the center of a baseball steroids scandal, and whether he should be admitted to the Hall of Fame.

A spate of new gun control bills are being introduced in the California Legislature, in the wake of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. California already has the strictest gun control laws in the country. The new laws, if passed, would further regulate the sale and purchase of ammunition, ban mentally ill people from purchasing guns and impose other restrictions. We discuss California's new approaches to gun control. Have such laws been effective in preventing violence?

Last year, the California Department of Parks and Recreation solicited hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to help save parks which were allegedly in dire straits -- until a $54 million surplus was found hidden in the department's budget. The scandal prompted then-director Ruth Coleman to resign in July. Now, retired Marine Corps major general Anthony Jackson has taken over her post and hopes to set the 280-park system back on the right path.

Are extroverts more persuasive than introverts? Does commission motivate good workplace performance? Daniel Pink examines the science of sales including a variety of everyday tasks that involve what he calls "non-sales selling." The author and former speechwriter for Al Gore joins us to talk about his new book, "To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth about Moving Others."

After NPR's coverage of President Barack Obama's news conference on the national debt limit, we get analysis from Marc Sandalow, associate academic director at the University of California's Washington Center and Washington editor of the California News Service.