Headlines from October 8, 2009

Cities hit hard by H1N1 in the spring now see little evidence of the virus.
Tehran claims U.S. played a role in the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear scientist.
A proposal for Chicago 2018, or the first wholly urban Winter Olympics.
Prolific, celebrated photographer Irving Penn dies at age 92.
This week a WWII GI returned two rare books he pilfered from a German archive mine in 1945.
Video: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says cultural understanding comes from hearing many stories--not just one.
I suppose setting books in Africa--that is a good thing. But often there still is a formula. Robert Birnbaum chats with Adichie.
Related to today's feature: dates for frequent TMN contributor Philip Graham's tour for his Portuguese travel book.
How gross domestic product reflects nothing of a society's well-being.
The best lives in the world are lived in Norway.
The Mexico portrayed by the media is far from reality.
The new face of Christian rock is part Kerouac, part Animal Collective, part Pat Boone.
Giraffes don't read the newspaper while sitting on the toilet. The ugliest tattoos.
Abu Mazen agreed to wait on the Gaza war-crimes news, and now his people are fulminating.
Nothing, obviously, on the Bhutto assassination. Notes from a candid dinner discussion with Pervez Musharraf.
Interactive passage through Michelle Obama's family tree.
Where French elites see "the victim" in Polanski's case--it does not have much to do with child rape.
What it's like to be hypnotized, even one of the "hypnotic elite."
In person, Dawkins fails to live up to the "aggressive" label.
Detailed, absorbing layman's account of the neuroscience behind out-of-body experiences.
Harnessing energy from algae is not as green--or kosher--as it seems.
Profile of Linda Bean, granddaughter of L.L. and emerging lobster baron.
Dispatch from the Annual Marine Aquarium Conference of North America.
Astonishing pictures of giant puppets roaming Berlin (see video).
Berlin these days, it's just so very Weimar.
Chinese media awash with stories about a secret women-only Swedish town.
Sicha: We are all retailers now; see also, the best day and time to book a flight.
How art was chosen to hang in the Obama White House; much wit made of Ruscha's "I Think I'll..."
Twenty famous performers who appeared on Law & Order before becoming well known.
Video: How to jam with your cactus.