By Andrea Pyka Napkins sure have come a long way. No longer just collectors of grease smudges and food crumbs, napkin surfaces are now being reinvented to fight infectious diseases. Researchers at Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology have created a napkin that can identify…

By Kate Ayers It has been called the biggest breakthrough in women’s health since the birth control pill. Others think of it as just another excuse for teens to have premarital sex. Whatever you call it, Gardasil, the new immunization for the human papillomavirus, or…

By Ian Sherr Joseph Wilson’s belt buckler reads, "Baghdad, Iraq" across the top. He wears it like a badge of honor now, joking that the first line of his obituary would have said that he was the last American diplomat to meet with Saddam Hussein…

By Jeremy Spitz Last Friday, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a bill extending and legitimizing presidential power to deal with "alien unlawful enemy combatants." The bill gives the president the authority to identify enemy combatants, set up military commissions to try those…

By Nick Winnie The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland was a packed house on Monday night, filled to the brim with musicians, poets, and progressive politicians looking to push for social reform. A shared sense of excitement and outrage infused the room as the lights…

By Sam Laird Last Thursday, dozens of customers lined up at the door of Noland’s on the Wharf, a local swim and sportswear shop, clamoring to be among the last to buy T-shirts depicting a surfer catching a wave amidst the words declaring Santa Cruz,…