Featured Articles From the Los Angeles Times

The science of aerodynamics tells us that air is a fluid with its own viscosity and inertia. When an object such as an automobile moves through it, the object is enveloped in a thin layer known as a laminar flow. Where the laminar airflow shears away from the surface it quickly degrades into a chaos of disordered air, or turbulence, which results in energy-sapping drag.

It's not even 10 inches tall, it's just one-third of an inch thick, and it costs nearly $500. But Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle DX, unveiled Wednesday, has already been assigned a huge job: reversing the fortunes of the struggling newspaper industry. After announcing the features of the new device, which include a bigger-than-ever screen and a PDF reader, the Seattle company also revealed a partnership with Washington Post Co. and New York Times Co.

More than 20 years after tourist destination Marineland of the Pacific shipped off its whales and closed its gates, a noticeably more refined attraction is about to open atop the same ocean bluffs in Rancho Palos Verdes. The first official overnight guests at Terranea Resort, a 582-room luxury hotel and spa meant to compete with California's most upscale coastal inns, will check in today.

Kang Il-chul rides in the back of a van packed with gossiping old women. The 82-year-old girlishly covers her mouth to whisper a secret. "We argue a lot about the food," she says, wrinkling her nose. "To tell you the truth, some of these old ladies are grouchy." There are eight of them, sharing a hillside home on the outskirts of Seoul, sparring over everything from territory to room temperature. Some wear makeup and stylish hats; others are happy in robes and slippers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has approved two major initiatives that will require utilities to pay consumers for generating extra power and will boost the payoff for certain solar facilities. Homes, businesses and schools that have solar panels or wind turbines previously had no financial incentive to use less electricity than they generated. But AB 920, written by Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), will encourage efficiency, supporters say. SB 32, by state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino)

While the rest of California struggles with joblessness and budget woes, this high desert city is proof of the power of government spending. Uncle Sam has helped turn it into a modern-day boomtown. A hospital, three hotels and a pizza restaurant are under construction on the main drag, where heavy equipment clears land once covered by sage and creosote bushes.

It's a kitchen degreaser. It's a window cleaner. It kills athlete's foot. Oh, and you can drink it. Sounds like the old "Saturday Night Live" gag for Shimmer, the faux floor polish plugged by Gilda Radner. But the elixir is real. It has been approved by U.S. regulators. And it's starting to replace the toxic chemicals Americans use at home and on the job. The stuff is a simple mixture of table salt and tap water whose ions have been scrambled with an electric current.

In years past, the nation's attempts to prevent flu-related deaths have focused on limiting transmission of the virus through widespread vaccination programs. This year, with school starting up well before a vaccine for the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus will be available, there will be little that can slow the spread of the virus for the next few months.

Men who need prostate-cancer surgery are increasingly choosing minimally invasive techniques because such surgeries typically lead to shorter hospital stays and a reduced risk of some types of complications. But a new study suggests that the risk of the most serious complications may be higher with the new technology. Minimally invasive forms of radical prostatectomy (in which the prostate gland is removed), often including the use of a robot, are heavily advertised. Procedures relying on robotic surgery have increased from 1% to 40% of all radical prostatectomies from 2001 to 2006 and may be as high as 75% of all prostate cancer surgeries today.

When she was 7 years old, Rahila Muhibi was engaged to her 8-year-old first cousin. The betrothal was arranged, in the Afghan custom, by her father. When Muhibi was ready for high school, her father fended off relatives who demanded that the marriage take place. He thought she was too young, and instead helped her win a scholarship to attend school in Canada. Last month, Muhibi, 24, graduated from tiny Methodist University here.

Amid an aggressive push to bolster its ranks with thousands of new deputies, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department loosened its hiring practices and gave jobs to recruits who in the past would have been rejected, according to a department watchdog report released Thursday. Among those hired were applicants with criminal records, drug and alcohol problems and financial woes. One recruit, for example, had been released from another police agency after using excessive force.

With its longtime afternoon staple "Guiding Light" set to go dark, CBS is hoping to make a new deal with daytime viewers this fall by reviving an old favorite -- "Let's Make a Deal." The daily one-hour game show on which contestants in kooky costumes trade for hidden prizes is presumably the network's replacement for its veteran soap opera, which is being pulled off the air after more than a half century because of declining ratings.

Pumpkin pie lovers be warned: You may not find your favorite can of pie filling at the supermarket. There's a national shortage of canned pumpkin and pie filling, a result of poor weather that reduced last year's crop. Shoppers report finding bare shelves, and the supermarkets say they have been put on an "allocation," or quota, system by Libby's, a division of food giant Nestle that controls more than 80% of the canned pumpkin market. Libby's typically uses surpluses from the previous year to stock store shelves during September and October, when the annual pumpkin harvest gets underway.

All you need to do is turn on the television, listen to the radio or walk past a jewelry mall to know. "The scrap jewelry market is huge, huge, huge," says Reyne Haines, an appraiser who specializes in 20th century decorative arts. Have an old wedding band or other valuable (though no longer worn) piece cluttering up your jewelry box?