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When it comes to keeping off fat, protein sounds to some like a magic bullet.

For decades, people have been making the case that eating a lot more of it, as in the Atkins diet, or lots less of it, will change the body's metabolism, spurring weight loss.

But alas, it ain't so easy.

Year over year, the number of Spanish-speaking kindergarteners at Vardaman Elementary School in northeast Mississippi has been on the rise.

Census numbers show the South has the fastest-growing Hispanic population in the country. Now, Vardaman Elementary is about to become Mississippi's first predominantly Latino primary school, and that's posing special challenges when it comes to finding teachers who can help Spanish-speaking students adapt to the American classroom.

Vardaman Takes Its Own Approach

After Mitt Romney's narrow win in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, the GOP presidential hopefuls move on to New Hampshire, where voters cast their ballots in a primary next week. For more on the Republican presidential race, Steve Inskeep speaks to NPR's Brian Naylor, who is in New Hampshire.

The AP is reporting that Rep. Michele Bachmann has cancelled a campaign trip to South Carolina. Bachmann ended last night with just five percent of the vote, ahead of only Jon Huntsman, who didn't compete in the state.

Bachmann campaign manager Keith Nahigan would not tell the AP whether Bachmann intends to drop out.

NBC News' James Novogrod reports on Twitter that Bachmann has also scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. ET.

We've been helping our friends at It's All Politics on the big story of the morning, which, as you've no doubt heard, is that after a nail-biter of a night, Mitt Romney took the Iowa primary by eight votes. Rick Santorum pulled a surprising turn around to end up second.

Here's some of the territory we've covered on IAP:

Several news outlets, including the AP and The New York Times, report that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will endorse Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum's impressive turnaround in Iowa has given him a slight boost in New Hampshire, according to a "flash" poll conducted last night.

The CNN/ORC International poll talked to 554 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire first in December, and then last night. It found that Mitt Romney's sizable lead remained the same: 47 percent of those polled said they'd vote for him, followed by Ron Paul at 17 percent.

NPR News has prepared a special podcast on the first presidential contest of the year — and where the race goes from here.

The podcast includes highlights from NPR's reporting from the Iowa caucuses as well as analysis of the potential impact. You'll hear from the candidates — several of whom count themselves among the winners — plus others who are reassessing their chances. Republican caucusgoers weigh in on how they made up their minds, and we hear from Democratic caucusgoers preparing for battle in the fall.

At the start of his show yesterday morning, MSNBC's Chuck Todd could not contain his glee: "It's caucus day. Finally! I've been waiting for this day for 3 1/2 years."

Speak for yourself, Chuck.

In the build-up to the Iowa caucuses, we heard about the ground game, the expectations game, the endorsement game, and the super PACs. And we get the justification: It's blood sport, it's a vetting process, it's a surge, it's a generous slathering of awesome on an Iowa corn dog.

Erik McBee, 15, faced a test of his survival skills. He was traveling on Southwest Airlines, and fell asleep. He slept through the landing at his destination, Tulsa. KPHO TV says he woke up in St. Louis with no contacts, no money and no phone.