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Brooks explains that Baxter is a robot that learns, versus robots designed to do specific tasks, like ones that might be seen on an automotive production line.

Brooks says that as oil becomes more expensive and the cost of shipping products manufactured abroad increases, Baxter is the kind of tool that could help bring factory jobs back by increasing productivity on the production line.

As The Washington Post's Cecilia Kang notes, Baxter is one of a new generation of robots being deployed by U.S. companies:

"General Electric has developed spiderlike robots to climb and maintain tall wind turbines. Kiva Systems, a company bought by Amazon.com, has orange ottoman-shaped robots that sweep across warehouse floors, pull products off shelves and deliver them for packaging. Some hospitals have begun employing robots that can move room to room to dispense medicines to patients or deliver the advice of a doctor who is not on site."

As winter wanes into spring, flu season wanes, too. But while people get the flu when it's cold in the United States, in Senegal they're getting sick when it's hot.

It's a puzzle that's baffled scientists for decades. Now, they think they might be have an explanation, though it's not a straightforward one.

Places where humidity and temperature drop seasonally, like North America in the winter, have flu outbreaks then. But in the tropics, where the air stays hot all year long, flu season tends to peak with the heavy monsoon rains.

Over the years, scientists have come up with lots of theories as to why influenza outbreaks are so strongly tied to the calendar.

Maybe it's because people are inside more in cold weather, one theory holds, so the virus spreads more easily. Or maybe it's because people aren't out in the sun making Vitamin D, and their immune systems are weak. Or maybe it's because people travel for holidays at certain times of years, helping spread the virus. So far, not one of these theories has proved a winner.

To find out if weather is a factor, a group of scientists stitched together data from 78 different studies of flu outbreaks and climate. They found that in temperate zones, lower humidity and temperature mean flu. And it doesn't even have to be that cold — they set the threshold at about 70 degrees. So people in Tunisia and Texas get the flu when it's cooler, even though they're not shivering.

But in the tropics, the scene is more complicated. Humidity remains a driver, but rainfall enters the picture, too. In places like the Philippines and Vietnam with intense monsoon rains (averaging more than six inches a month), flu season peaks when it's hot and rainy.

And in subtropical lands like Senegal, the flu seems driven less by rainfall than by high humidity (that's absolute humidity, not related to temperature).

If you enjoy having a good argument, Friday's report on the labor market gives you plenty to chew over. Find a good debate partner and let's get started.

First, these are the facts: The Labor Department data showed February was a good period for job creation. During the short, cold month, employers added 236,000 jobs — far more than the 160,000 most economists had been predicting. And the unemployment rate fell from January's 7.9 percent to 7.7 percent — the lowest level since December 2008.

OK, we have our facts. Now let's start debating the five points that economists are mulling today.

1. Across-the-Board Cuts Haven't Hit — Yet

One Side: The White House noted the employment numbers were collected before Feb. 16. That was before Congress allowed dramatic, across-the-board budget cuts to launch on March 1 under the "sequester" process.

Liberals fear that as the federal spending cuts fully come into play this spring and summer, job growth will suffer. "Unfortunately, the heavy-handed budget cuts forced by the sequester threaten serious harm to our economy and to our nation's long-term unemployed workers, who are among the Americans who'll feel these stupid and senseless cuts most deeply," said Christine Owens, head of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers.

The Other Side: Conservatives say the sequester is reassuring businesses that this time, House Republicans will reign in federal debt and get government out of the way of the private sector.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, released a statement saying "our spending-driven deficit threatens our economy, and responsible spending cuts are needed."

2. High School Dropouts Are Doing Better

One Side: Finally, the unemployment rate for people without a diploma is dropping — down to 11.2 percent last month from January's 12 percent. In February 2012, that rate was 14.8 percent.

More About Jobs

The Two-Way

Pleasant Surprises: 236,000 Jobs Added; Jobless Rate Dips To 7.7 Percent

Here's the challenge: Build a rocket engine. Don't worry, you don't need much.

At the SXSW festival in Austin on Saturday, startup companies DIYRockets and Sunglass are launching a competition to create 3-D-printed rocket engines with open source (read: free) technology.

Sunglass co-founder Nitin Rao says they want to make space travel "less expensive, more global, more transparent."

DIYRockets is packing the space chops: The group wants to find ways to lower costs and expand the knowledge base of the space industry. Sunglass has the tools to help. It allows people around the world collaborate on 3-D design projects, without the need for expensive software. The work can be shared through a Web browser.

The designs will be judged by a panel of scientists and inventors from NASA, MIT, TED and others. Sunglass is giving out $10,000 in prizes, and 3-D printing company Shapeways.com will provide $500 to help create the top two designs.

The goal of all of this is not to actually build a rocket and send it to space — yet.

"We hope to showcase what people can do on the platform," says DIYRockets co-founder Darlene Damm.

As far as applying the relatively new tools to the space industry, Rao says, "There's enormous inspiration value." If people are literally building rockets, how hard could designing a chair be?

That's in the short term.

"Over the long term, we want to help people become involved in the [space] industry," Damm says. The talent is out there, she says: "There's so much untapped potential around the world."

As NASA hands the reins of space travel over to the private sector, the space industry is evolving. Retired astronaut John Grunsfeld told NPR in February that the change was natural: Private companies are building off knowledge that NASA has spent decades cultivating.

All Tech Considered

As 3-D Printing Becomes More Accessible, Copyright Questions Arise