Safeguard Your Retirement in Hard Times

Take these steps to protect your golden years: Cut expenses, consider refinancing, and make yourself indispensable at work

Stocks: 11 Innovation Plays

S&P looks for stocks in BW's Most Innovative Companies list that carry its highest investment rankings. Among them: Apple, GE, and Toyota

RIM BlackBerry 8820 (T-Mobile) PDA/Cell Phone

This solid business phone gets a boost from the addition of voice over Wi-Fi.

RIM BlackBerry 8820 (T-Mobile) PDA/Cell Phone

This solid business phone gets a boost from the addition of voice over Wi-Fi.

Scoring a Private Loan for College

Thanks to the subprime mess, the market is drying up. Here are some tips for finding student loans at banks

Closing the Achievement Gap in Math and Science

The latest results from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program show not only improved proficiency among all elementary and middle school students, but also a closing of the achievement gaps between both African-American and Hispanic students and white students in elementary school math, and between African-American and white students in elementary and ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111514&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Top Science and Math Teachers Receive Presidential Award

Excellent teaching in math and science can make a crucial difference to students' mastery of these subjects, and to decisions about future study and careers. Teachers who bring such teaching to their classrooms are being honored by President Bush as winners of the 2007 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST).The PAEMST is administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on behalf of the White House. Each year, state officials are asked to ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111502&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Vital Signs: Will Economic Growth Hold Up?

On deck: April ISM nonmanufacturing index, first-quarter productivity, and March reports on pending home sales and international trade

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams wrote smoldering, passionate, conflicted dramas that attracted top actors and gave 20th-century American theater and film some of its ... more

Analyst Actions: Clorox, JDS Uniphase, Elizabeth Arden

Daniela Pestova

A lanky blonde from Czechoslovakia, Daniela Pestova has gotten her greatest American exposure as a regular in the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. She has also modelled for the ... more

S&P Picks and Pans: Exxon Mobil, Home Depot, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, General Motors

Analysts' opinions on stocks in the news Thursday

Astronomers Discover New Type of Pulsating White Dwarf Star

University of Texas at Austin astronomers Michael H. Montgomery and Kurtis A. Williams, along with graduate student Steven DeGennaro, have predicted and confirmed the existence of a new type of variable star, with the help of the 2.1-meter Otto Struve Telescope at McDonald Observatory. The discovery is announced in today's issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Delaware Asteroseismic Research ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111513&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Stocks Rise on Economic Data

Some positive readings on consumer spending and a better-than-expected read on manufacturing conditions boosted sentiment

Movers: Exxon Mobil, Adobe Systems, Kodak, Comcast

Thursday's stocks in the news

Topher Grace

Topher Grace was a high school thespian when he was discovered by the creators of the TV sitcom That '70s Show for the plum role of the central character, Eric Forman. The show ran from 1998 ... more

Ashton Kutcher

Ashton Kutcher is a lanky comic actor and the executive producer of wacky TV "reality" shows, including MTV's Punk'd. Kutcher, a former model, got his big break on TV when he was cast as a ... more

Research Team Is First to Model Photochemical Compass for Bird Navigation

A team of researchers at Arizona State University and the University of Oxford are the first to model a photochemical compass that may simulate how migrating birds use light and Earth's weak magnetic field to navigate. The team reports in the April 30, 2008, online issue of Nature that the photochemical model becomes sensitive to the magnitude and direction of weak magnetic fields similar to Earth's when exposed to light. The research funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111509&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Global Warming Affects World's Largest Freshwater Lake

Russian and American scientists have discovered that the rising temperature of the world's largest lake, located in frigid Siberia, shows that this region is responding strongly to global warming.Drawing on 60 years of long-term studies of Russia's Lake Baikal, Stephanie Hampton, an ecologist and deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara, Calif., and Marianne Moore, a biologist at Wellesley College in Wellesley, ... More at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111511&govDel=USNSF_51 This is an NSF News item.

Randy Quaid

Randy Quaid's acting career started with a bang: a small role in the Oscar-winning drama The Last Picture Show (1971, directed by Peter Bogdanovich) ... more