During the end-Permian mass extinction 250 million years ago, nearly 90 percent of life on Earth was extinguished, and everything from magnetic field reversals to supervolcanoes has been invoked to explain it.

The simplest way to write a journalistic profile is to present its subject as either a giant or a dwarf. New York Times Publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. gets the dwarf-standing-in-a-ditch treatment in Mark Bowden’s feature in the May Vanity Fair, as named and unnamed sources freely slag Arthur Jr. in the piece.[more …]

When losing the Super Bowl can kill a fan, the solution is to stay as far away as possible.

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland has parted ways with Columbia Records after recording two solo albums for the label.

More heavy rain was forecast Tuesday for the already soggy Southeast, worrying residents still recovering from a weekend soaking that flooded hundreds of homes, washed out roads and forced evacuations.

A potential blockbuster diabetes drug from Novo Nordisk appears to work, federal health officials said, but questions remain about its effect on the heart and other organs.

The National Institutes of Health this month launched its
“Rethinking Drinking” program, which pairs a free, 16-page booklet
with an interactive web site.

Gold Rises First Day In Three As Dollar Weakens

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court yesterday threw out a cigarette maker’s appeal of a $79.5 million award to a smoker’s widow, ending a 10-year legal fight to keep her from collecting.

On June 12, 1933, more than a thousand of the world’s top finance and government officials squeezed into London’s stuffy Geological Museum to hear a speech from Britain’s King George V — broadcast live by radio to underscore the gravity of the meeting — and set about trying to save the world from the Great Depression.