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A local company has developed a scanning system that allows physicians to more accurately detect and treat prostate cancer, a leading cause of death among men. The new technology, introduced by Envisioneering Medical Technologies of Overland, allows physicians to generate a full 3-D image of the prostate, manipulate the image and take precise biopsies of targeted tissue. With TargetScan 3D, physicians can obtain a better view of the prostate and more-accurate biopsy results in less time than with traditional equipment, said Robert Mills, the president of Envisioneering. Several academic medical centers, including Washington University's School of Medicine and New York...

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., has opened up a fundraising lead of more than 2-to-1 over his likely Democratic rival, state Auditor Claire McCaskill. The latest campaign reports, filed Monday, showed Talent with $7.12 million in the bank as of June 30, compared with $2.78 million for McCaskill. Such an edge gives Talent far more cash for television ads, which both need to define themselves and each other in the final 16 weeks before the Nov. 7 election. < snip > But the Senate contest also could be affected by the hefty spending already under way by the coalition seeking...

By itself, the number 115 isn’t all that intimidating. But tack on one simple, little word and you’re asking for trouble. It’s all a matter of degrees: 115 degrees, that is. So read the thermometer on July 14, 1954, a scorcher of a summer day that remains St. Louis’ hottest. Ten Hottest Days in St. Louis History Hottest Days Date Degrees Fahrenheit July 14, 1954 115 July 18, 1954 112 July 24, 1934 111 July 12, 1954 110 August 9, 1934 110 July 20, 1934 110 July 28, 1930 108 August 8, 1934 108 July 23, 1934 108 July 14,...

Seen through the eyes of the media, the world appears an ever more dangerous place. Iraq is sliding toward civil war, the slaughter in Darfur appears unending, violent insurgencies are brewing in Thailand and a dozen other countries and terrorism strikes again in Bali. It is not surprising that most people believe global violence is increasing. The reality is that, since the end of the Cold War, armed conflict and nearly all other forms of political violence have decreased. The world is far more peaceful than it was.

As state Sen. Bill Alter sees it, a cold beer can be dangerous. And he's got 11-year-old Kristen Bogert to back him up. Alter, R-High Ridge, introduced a bill in the Missouri House this week that would bar groceries and convenience stores from selling beer "that is refrigerated below 60 degrees." Alter said Friday that his aim is to discourage drunken drivers - although the bill doesn't restrict cold beer sales at liquor stores. Alter deferred questions regarding that omission to the person he said was the real author of the bill: Kristen, a fifth-grader at Cedar Hill Intermediate in...

In this year's presidential election, there's no mystery about which candidate will carry the city of St. Louis. The only unknown is how many city Democrats will show up at the polls. It's the volume that counts. A huge St. Louis margin for Democratic Sen. John Kerry - say, an edge of 90,000 votes or more - could help him eke out a win in Missouri, political experts say. If the city's overwhelmingly Democratic turnout is low, he's likely toast. The Republican dream is to keep Kerry's margin below 70,000 votes. The Democratic need for a large city turnout is...

A report that set off alarms nationwide when it said Missouri lost 51,800 jobs from June to July is being revised by the U.S. Labor Department because of inaccuracies. The statewide report, released last month, said Missouri lost more than twice as many jobs as any other state. < snip > The day the report was released, a Labor Department economist said it was misleading. Now, the agency says Missouri made an error when it failed to include teachers on summer vacation among the employed, as Labor Department policy states. < snip > The report seemed especially odd, given the...

JEFFERSON CITY - If bureaucracy hadn't got the better of her plans, Peggy Slater says, the two bedrooms she just added to her home would have been filled with foster children weeks ago. < snip > Instead, she and dozens of others wishing to become foster parents in Missouri are enduring weeks, if not months, of delays with their applications. Standing in their way is a backlog of fingerprint checks caused in part by a new state law demanding more rigorous screening of foster parents. < snip > But the fingerprint checks have been delayed further by the rush of...

Evolution via polyploidy is different. "It's instantaneous, - - - " Instant Evolution by Mary Aegerter If Charles Darwin were writing now, he'd title his book "Origins of Species" rather than "Origin of Species." Current evidence suggests that a large percentage of all land plant species have originated not just once but several times. "We may have to fundamentally change the way we view evolution," says Professor of Botany Doug Soltis. Evolution has been studied most thoroughly for species we humans consider "normal," those with two copies of each of their chromosomes. It's what we have. "Normal" evolution usually takes...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- It's tough for scholars to be taken seriously when their subject is a TV show about a California blonde fighting evil in a high school built on a gateway to hell. Particularly when the title is as campy as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." But enough professors and writers study the comedic drama and its spinoff, "Angel," to hold a deadly serious academic conference here this weekend attracting more than 325 people. Buffyologists from as far away as Singapore were presenting 190 papers on topics ranging from "slayer slang" to "postmodern reflections on the culture of consumption"...

The subject of President Bush's National Guard service and how it compares to John Kerry's service record in Vietnam is relatively quiet right now, though there were a couple of relevant threads as recently as a week ago: Bush's flights of fantasy fail to crack Kerry's rep [Guard Service = Draft Dodger!] and Gaps remain in Bush Guard Service (Barf Alert! CBS tries to help Kerry) . However, I think it would be too good to be true to think we have heard the last of this subject. This "vanity" is something I put together for my own benefit to...

<p>It's happening in an aging factory in south St. Louis, and it's taking shape in a shiny glass office building in Town and Country.</p> <p>In these places and others, the economy - after inching along, sputtering and then flashing some promise late last year - is finally showing signs of producing what many Americans care about most: much-needed new jobs.</p>

<p>Talk radio and cable news have eaten up hours in chewing over Bob Woodward's "Plan of Attack," debating its insider look at the decision-making before the war in Iraq - who said what, and when.</p> <p>Less energy has been spent on a more basic issue: Can a book that reconstructs events without naming its sources be trusted as real history?</p>

<p>HUSAYBAH, Iraq - As Marines commemorated the lives of five of their fallen comrades Thursday, some say that they may have turned a corner in their relationship with residents of the troublesome city of Husaybah.</p> <p>Marines say formerly truculent residents have begun waving and greeting them cordially, just days after some of the fiercest fighting and after Marines conducted harsh door-to-door searches of homes.</p>

<p>Listening to comedian, best-selling author and, as of last month, radio talk-show host Al Franken describe a comedy skit has to be nearly as funny as listening to the real thing.</p> <p>The skit, produced for one of the outspoken liberal's shows last week, was based on a hunting trip involving Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that critics maintain was a conflict of interest. According to Franken, the bit went something like this: Cheney and Scalia are together in a duck blind awaiting their prey. Every once in a while, a few ducks happen by, prompting extended bursts of automatic gunfire. When the noise subsides, there's a pause before one of the two mutters, "Crud."</p>

<p>Simon Sebag Montefiore has written a supremely important book about Joseph Stalin, a biography that other scholars will find very hard to equal.</p> <p>There is a bit about Stalin's life before 1932, setting the stage for the years when he became, as the author remarks, a "red tsar." The story really begins when Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (the dictator's birth name) had climbed to the top of the greasy pole (to use Benjamin Disraeli's wonderful analogy), having pushed aside Vladimir Lenin's expected successor, Leon Trotsky, and then cleverly defeated first the leftist group and then the rightist group. He was the No. 1 man, but Montefiore shows how he was still merely first among equals, a leader but not the leader.</p>

<p>I appreciate the recent attention the Post-Dispatch has given to the importance of election reform in our state and nation, particularly in light of the fraud and irregularities that plagued Missouri in the November 2000 election.</p> <p>I have been working on a bipartisan basis on changes to state laws that have made the ballot more accessible to registered voters than at any other time in our state's history. At the same time, there are now more stringent anti-fraud measures in the law to combat those who attempt to manipulate the process. Through the administrative rules process, I set uniform voting standards for all three kinds of voting systems used in Missouri to prevent a Florida-style election crisis from occurring here.</p>

<p>James and Suzanne Butler had retired for the night Friday when a man who they say had been harassing them for a year kicked in their back door and rushed into their bedroom, armed with a rifle and a handgun.</p>

<p>In the next few days or weeks, one of the world's most comprehensive online reference sites will publish its 200,000th article. More accurately, one of the site's contributors will publish the article.</p> <p>Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), an encyclopedia created and operated by volunteers, is one of the most fascinating developments of the Digital Age. In just over three years of existence, it has become a valuable resource and an example of how the grass roots in today's interconnected world can do extraordinary things.</p>

<p>There is a huge opportunity to improve costs and care during routine patient visits.</p> <p>"When the guy who was making the first drawing board got it wrong, what did he go back to?"</p> <p>Play along with me here. Picture a 1950s television set. Next, a 1950s shopping center. Now the old 1950s computer, the Univac. Picture a '50s telephone in its "phone niche," then an old grocery store. Quaint, no? OK, now for the point: Picture a 1950s doctor's office.</p>