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Universal Pictures put a woman in charge when it hired Sam Taylor-Johnson to direct Fifty Shades of Grey. It also got an art world star nominated for such prestigious awards as Britain's Turner Prize. Truth be told, Taylor-Johnson sounds slightly relieved to discuss her photography and videos instead of the movie she's in the thick of promoting.

"It feels so far away from me right now," she says, in her plummy London accent. "And it's so nice to talk about again — gives me a bit of a breather."

Accent aside, Taylor-Johnson is hardly from a posh British background. Her father was a biker. Her mother was a hippy who meditated in orange robes before abandoning the family when Taylor-Johnson was only 15. She went on to attend Goldsmiths College, a school that forged a movement known as the Young British Artists.

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"They were just a most raucous, rebellious group of artists in revolt," says Margo Crutchfield. Now curator-at-large for Virginia Tech's Center of the Arts, she organized Sam Taylor-Johnson's first major US solo show back in 2008. Crutchfield says the YBAs, as they were known, were exuberant post punk troublemakers.

"Probably some of the most provocative work made in recent times," she says.

Exhibit A: Damien Hirst, who suspended sharks and sheep in formaldehyde. Exhibit B: Tracey Emin, best known for displaying an unmade bed surrounded by underwear, empty liquor bottles and condom wrappers as something of a sarcastic monument to an ex-lover. Comparatively, the artist then known as Sam Taylor-Wood was understated. Still, themes of sex and sensation surfaced in such work as her recreation of the Last Supper that imagined Jesus as a topless woman.

"There was a lot of experimentation in the early days," Taylor-Johnson dryly concedes.

Throughout her career, Taylor-Johnson's work has explored vulnerability, passion, performance, celebrity and control. Take her series of portraits of leading Hollywood men such as Paul Newman, Laurence Fishburne and Dustin Hoffman. All of them, crying.

"I didn't want to do something where it's just a projection of ego and a big smile and, you know, 'Here I am, at the top of my game,'" she explains.

Taylor Johnson's video portrait of soccer star David Beckham, commissioned by Britain's National Portrait Gallery, shows one of the world's most famously active bodies sleeping — for an hour and seven minutes. At the time, says Crutchfield, she was married to another art world celebrity.

"Probably the most powerful art dealer in Europe if not the world at the time," Crutchfield notes. But Taylor-Johnson left him soon after directing her first feature film, 2009's Nowhere Boy. It's about the Beatles' early years in Liverpool, before they became famous, and Taylor-Johnson married the actor who played John Lennon. He was 19. She was 42. She'd already had two children and had two more with him — even after surviving cancer twice. Not long ago she directed her husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who she describes as a muse, in a music video for R.E.M. He's dancing down a city street in a faded yellow T-shirt.

"I can't wait for us to work together again because he's so talented," she says. "And that R.E.M video is, I think, one of the best things I've done. It was so much fun."

It was admittedly less fun, she says, to film Fifty Shades of Grey.

"I mean, the thing is ..." she pauses. "I'm an artist and I had lots of sort of wild ideas about how to do this. And wildly off-the-wall ones."

For example, a sequence she fought for showing jellyfish as a sensual metaphor for the heroine's state of mind ended up on the cutting room floor. The movie Fifty Shades of Grey ended up as a straightforward, respectful adaptation of the book, but critics still mostly praise it as more sophisticated than its source material, from the Helmut Newton-inspired cinematography to the female-dominated soundtrack, with powerful singers such as Beyonc, Sia and Anne Lennox. It's a woman's journey, says Taylor-Johnson, that ends with the male lead vulnerable and emotionally exposed.

And the movie Fifty Shades of Grey teases the fundamental idea of who holds power — from the woman who tells the story, to the women readers who enjoy it, and the woman director who put it on the screen.

Scientists are warning that construction of a $50-billion interoceanic shipping canal through Nicaragua could spell an environmental disaster, threatening nearly two-dozen endangered species and jeopardizing Central America's largest source of drinking water.

An article published in the latest issue of Scientific American reports that the Hong Kong-backed Nicaraguan Grand Canal project, which would be deeper and wider than the existing shipping canals through Panama, could destroy millions of acres of rainforest and contaminate Lake Nicaragua. The project has already raised concern over the displacement of communities in its path and, as NPR's Jasmine Garsd reported last week, the company building it has also unearthed tens of thousands of pre-Columbian relics.

Even before the project's official start, protests broke out from those who would be displaced by it. Managua insists that the canal could help lift the country out of poverty.

In December, President Daniel Ortega announced that construction on the project had already begun, although a consultancy hired by the backers Hong Kong Nicaragua Canal Development (HKND), has denied that.

Scientific American reports that consultants doing the environmental impact assessment, British-based ERM, noted "the potential for fuel spills to affect freshwater fish in the area, interrupt agricultural activity and impact cultural heritage on native reserves as a result of work that disturbs the soil. The report also stated 'the acquisition and compensation for the land deal...do not meet international standards.'"

The magazine also notes that scientists around the world, including those belonging to the Humboldt Center of Nicaragua, have warned that the habitat for 22 species would be placed in jeopardy and that by 2039, climate change will result in a 3 to 4 percent deficit in the water needed to run the canal.

Many have also questioned the economic viability of the project.

In 2013, The Economist wrote: "The economic case is not easy to make. And if the engineering challenges are too severe, even some supporters of the project say it may be impossible to raise the billions of dollars necessary to go any further. HKND argues that large volumes of globally traded goods are being carried on ships already too big for the Panama Canal, even after its current expansion. Nicaragua's canal, with twice the draught of Panama's, would aim to accommodate such giants. But world trade is sluggish; and meanwhile, new routes may develop through the Arctic."

Last year, National Geographic said:

"[Many] economists, scientists, and sociologists say that the time for a Nicaraguan canal has long since lapsed, that the waterway—if it's ever completed—will end up being the world's costliest boondoggle.

"The Panama Canal, they say, which has gigantic new locks scheduled to be operational next year, is more than capable of meeting future demand. They also cite projections for global warming that suggest ships could traverse an ice-free Arctic by the middle of the century, further reducing demand for passage through Central America."

And, there are also doubts about the financing of the project too. As The Washington Post wrote last month:

"Ground was broken only after a deal hatched last year between Nicaragua's Sandinista government and a consortium led by Chinese telecoms billionaire Wang Jing. Critics wonder how the little-known Wang came to win the bid, which gives his Hong Kong-listed company, HKND, a 100-year-long concession over the canal's operation. There was next to no transparency in the process. Wang is exempt from local taxes and commercial regulations, and has been granted hiring and land-expropriating powers, according to The Guardian.

"There are already doubts about Wang's ability to finance the project, and some speculate that it will never actually be completed, leaving perhaps at best some ports and container facilities but no canal in between."

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China

Anyone who has pulled up to a gas station this winter knows oil prices have fallen — down roughly 50 percent since June.

But it's not just oil. Prices for many commodities — grains, metals and other bulk products — have been plunging too.

Here are a few of the changes since many prices peaked in recent years:

- Copper is $2.59 a pound, down from $4.50 in 2011.

- Corn costs $3.85 a bushel, compared with about $8 at its 2012 peak.

- Iron ore pellets go for about $104 a metric ton, down from nearly $220 four years ago.

The list could go on and on. Soybeans, tin, sugar, wheat, cotton — all are much cheaper than a few years ago. The changes have been putting a squeeze on farmers and miners, but so far at least, most of these commodity plunges haven't done much to help U.S. shoppers.

With the exception of gasoline, "the price changes are not being immediately passed through to consumers," said Sean Snaith, an economic forecasting professor at the University of Central Florida.

Snaith said U.S. companies know global commodity prices can be very volatile, so they are afraid to cut consumer prices — at least not until they are sure that cheaper raw material prices are here to stay.

"There's an old saying: Prices go up like an arrow and come down like a feather," he said.

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But eventually, even a feather does float down. So some economists believe that later this year, retail prices for groceries and goods may start to decline.

Let's look at what's been happening with crops, like corn and wheat, and consider where we might be going this year:

Over the past decade, many people around the world, especially in China, kept getting richer and buying more food. That encouraged farmers everywhere to plant more seeds.

Global food output rose, but so did prices as demand continued to shoot up. By 2011, many people around the world were experiencing food shortages and steep price increases.

But the market adjusted and production improved. A recent report by the USDA said world wheat and soybean production are at record highs. The huge harvests are helping push down prices.

And it's not just grains. In Florida, the mild hurricane season helped send orange juice futures down to about $1.35 a pound, compared with their 2012 high of more than $2.

Looking ahead to this year's growing season, harvests may again be huge. That's because cheap energy is making it easier to plant more. Farmers who are paying a dollar-a-gallon less since a year ago for diesel fuel can run their tractors longer.

If the weather is good this summer, corn silos will be bulging by fall. That means ranchers and farmers will have cheaper corn to feed livestock, helping restrain meat and poultry prices.

At the same time, the global economy is running at a sluggish pace, so demand for food is not growing the way it had been a decade ago.

Also, the value of the dollar is now at a 10-year high. That means Americans will be able to purchase foreign foods, like cheeses and fruit, for less. Also, foreign customers won't be able to buy as much from U.S. farmers, allowing more U.S.-grown food to remain at home with U.S. consumers.

So put all of these factors together: the potential for huge harvests; cheaper food imports; and reduced foreign competition for food and cheaper energy costs for farmers. That sounds like a great formula for bargains at the grocery store later this year.

And a price downdraft may hit manufactured goods too. That's because raw materials — tin, nickel, lead and so on — keep getting cheaper too. U.S. coal prices have tumbled back nearly to the lows set in early 2009 during the worst of the Great Recession.

Economists say these across-the-board price drops in industrial commodities largely reflect the dramatic economic slowdown in China, Europe and other regions. When they are growing more slowly, then they don't need as many raw materials.

"The risk of deflationary pressure is much higher than the inflationary pressure or stable price scenarios for the global economy in the near term," Wells Fargo Securities' economic team wrote in a special report on deflation.

But any American who has been out shopping lately may be thinking: huh? What price breaks? New cars cost more. Meat prices have remained stubbornly high. Eggs are expensive. When exactly will these lower commodity prices translate into relief for U.S. consumers?

"It depends," Snaith said. "If these factors persist through 2015, we would expect to see these price declines make their way to consumers. But it's a waiting game."

food prices

Anyone who has pulled up to a gas station this winter knows oil prices have fallen — down roughly 50 percent since June.

But it's not just oil. Prices for many commodities — grains, metals and other bulk products — have been plunging too.

Here are a few of the changes since many prices peaked in recent years:

- Copper is $2.59 a pound, down from $4.50 in 2011.

- Corn costs $3.85 a bushel, compared with about $8 at its 2012 peak.

- Iron ore pellets go for about $104 a metric ton, down from nearly $220 four years ago.

The list could go on and on. Soybeans, tin, sugar, wheat, cotton — all are much cheaper than a few years ago. The changes have been putting a squeeze on farmers and miners, but so far at least, most of these commodity plunges haven't done much to help U.S. shoppers.

With the exception of gasoline, "the price changes are not being immediately passed through to consumers," said Sean Snaith, an economic forecasting professor at the University of Central Florida.

Snaith said U.S. companies know global commodity prices can be very volatile, so they are afraid to cut consumer prices — at least not until they are sure that cheaper raw material prices are here to stay.

"There's an old saying: Prices go up like an arrow and come down like a feather," he said.

Economy

Oil Price Dip, Global Slowdown Create Crosscurrents For U.S.

The Salt

Cheap Crops Mean Tight Times For Midwest's Fledgling Farmers

The Salt

No 'Misteak': High Beef Prices A Boon For Drought-Weary Ranchers

But eventually, even a feather does float down. So some economists believe that later this year, retail prices for groceries and goods may start to decline.

Let's look at what's been happening with crops, like corn and wheat, and consider where we might be going this year:

Over the past decade, many people around the world, especially in China, kept getting richer and buying more food. That encouraged farmers everywhere to plant more seeds.

Global food output rose, but so did prices as demand continued to shoot up. By 2011, many people around the world were experiencing food shortages and steep price increases.

But the market adjusted and production improved. A recent report by the USDA said world wheat and soybean production are at record highs. The huge harvests are helping push down prices.

And it's not just grains. In Florida, the mild hurricane season helped send orange juice futures down to about $1.35 a pound, compared with their 2012 high of more than $2.

Looking ahead to this year's growing season, harvests may again be huge. That's because cheap energy is making it easier to plant more. Farmers who are paying a dollar-a-gallon less since a year ago for diesel fuel can run their tractors longer.

If the weather is good this summer, corn silos will be bulging by fall. That means ranchers and farmers will have cheaper corn to feed livestock, helping restrain meat and poultry prices.

At the same time, the global economy is running at a sluggish pace, so demand for food is not growing the way it had been a decade ago.

Also, the value of the dollar is now at a 10-year high. That means Americans will be able to purchase foreign foods, like cheeses and fruit, for less. Also, foreign customers won't be able to buy as much from U.S. farmers, allowing more U.S.-grown food to remain at home with U.S. consumers.

So put all of these factors together: the potential for huge harvests; cheaper food imports; and reduced foreign competition for food and cheaper energy costs for farmers. That sounds like a great formula for bargains at the grocery store later this year.

And a price downdraft may hit manufactured goods too. That's because raw materials — tin, nickel, lead and so on — keep getting cheaper too. U.S. coal prices have tumbled back nearly to the lows set in early 2009 during the worst of the Great Recession.

Economists say these across-the-board price drops in industrial commodities largely reflect the dramatic economic slowdown in China, Europe and other regions. When they are growing more slowly, then they don't need as many raw materials.

"The risk of deflationary pressure is much higher than the inflationary pressure or stable price scenarios for the global economy in the near term," Wells Fargo Securities' economic team wrote in a special report on deflation.

But any American who has been out shopping lately may be thinking: huh? What price breaks? New cars cost more. Meat prices have remained stubbornly high. Eggs are expensive. When exactly will these lower commodity prices translate into relief for U.S. consumers?

"It depends," Snaith said. "If these factors persist through 2015, we would expect to see these price declines make their way to consumers. But it's a waiting game."

food prices