Anti-war protests in all 50 states and in front of the hated King Bush II's Texas ranch were a fixture in American life and newspapers from 2003 through mid-2008. The protests seem to have disappeared yet the ills of war remain.

A Presidential advisory group of the nation's leading scientists and engineers today released a new report assessing the Obama Administration's preparations for this fall's expected resurgence of 2009-H1N1 flu and outlining key steps officials can take in the coming weeks and months to minimize the disease's impact on the nation. The report concludes that the 2009-H1N1 flu is unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19.

I remember back in the good ol' days of 2005 and 2006 when being against the wars was not only politically correct, but it was very popular. I remember receiving dozens of awards, uncountable accolades and even was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yesterday's report on residential construction provided more evidence that step one of a housing bottom is underway " and that step two may be beginning. Total housing starts fell slightly in July because of weakness in multi-family. But starts of single-family homes increased to 490 thousand (at an annual rate), the fifth straight monthly increase and the highest level since last October.

In an effort to bring improved accuracy to lung cancer diagnosis, researchers at Vanderbilt University have been looking for ways to identify lung cancer earlier. As a result of these efforts, two new approaches show promise in accelerating lung cancer diagnosis and giving patients a better chance for survival.

Throw out everything you know about alien movies, especially everything you think you know about alien living amongst humans movies. Ready? Genre pallet cleansed? Good. District 9 is not your typical aliens-come-to-earth movie.

The open-access Public Library of Science (PLoS) has launched PLoS Currents, a website for the rapid communication of research results and ideas. The first research theme at PLoS Currents is influenza. The opening of PLoS Currents: Influenza was announced by Harold Varmus, Chairman and Co-Founder of PLoS.

Yesterday marked a new record in the divergence between oil and natural gas prices. As noted in a small item in the Wall Street Journal, the ratio of oil prices ($ per barrel) to natural gas prices ($ per million BTU) hit a record 24.5 at yesterday's close.

A new type of vaccine against influenza, made with virus-like particles, has been shown to protect ferrets from infection with the 2009 H1N1 swine-origin strain. What is a virus-like particle, and how is it produced? If you have been taking influenza 101, you know that new virus particles are produced in infected cells by budding.

I learned of the Bartimaeus trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud, from a list of ten fantasy series to get you over Harry Potter Withdrawal. The author of the list claims Stroud's series is actually better plotted than Rowling's, so this week I picked up The Amulet of Samarkand from the local library. It is certainly well written and nicely paced.

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