A new, highly efficient system is being used by San Francisco and New York City to detect the presence of toxins in a city's water supply, a possible sign of a terrorist attack. They have found that the best tool for monitoring such threats are bluegills, those little fish so many catch on a lazy summer afternoon.

According to an article by the Associated Press, a small number of bluegills are kept ...

Scotland Yard recently conducted a private exhibition of forged paintings for art dealers. The objective was to send a warning to their select audience about the sale of forgeries, which some experts estimate make up 40 percent of the art market. The sale of these fakes can undermine the value of the genuine articles.

The forgeries at the exhibit were created with remarkable proficiency. Reliance on ...

Radical Islamic clerics are undermining the World Health Organization's efforts to vaccinate children in Pakistan. Whenever vaccines are handed out to aid the country in its fight against disease, clerics spread rumors that the medicine is actually an effort to sterilize children. They call the medicine "infidel vaccines." The idea fashioned in the minds of whoever will listen is simple: "The health ...

In the fall of 2005, Oprah Winfrey entered her 20th season as the celebrated host of The Oprah Winfrey Show. In those two decades, she has amassed over $1.4 billion, assembled a U.S. television audience of more than 49 million viewers each week (not including her broadcasts in 122 other countries), and informed her viewers on matters ranging from genocide in Rwanda to the best-tasting oatmeal cookies. ...