How did the West conquer the world? The secret, says California Institute of Technology economic historian Philip T. Hoffman: technological innovation.

In the latter half of 1920, Albert Einstein faced a series of increasingly acrimonious public attacks against his recently confirmed theory of general relativity. He considered leaving Berlin, which would have deprived Germany of its most famous scientist. Colleagues, friends, and unknown admirers offered support, while Einstein worried about the care of his two sons and ex-wife in Switzerland, and his new family in Berlin.

Judith Hall, a lecturer in creative writing at the California Institute of Technology, is the recipient of a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has announced. Hall joins 186 other scholars, scientists, and artists this year in receiving the prestigious honor, now in its 81st year. The Guggenheim Fellowships total $7,500,000 for 2006.

Ever wonder why gas prices can vary by 15¢ --or more-- over a two-mile drive, or why an airline will change the cost of fares 500,000 times per day? Curious about what determines prices in the first place?

Those who think that philosophy is about a bunch of dead guys with names like Plato and Kant and Hume will be surprised to learn that the philosophy of science is active and vibrant these days. What's more, some of the work currently being done in the field is as relevant to our daily concerns as the question of whether a certain new cancer drug is being tested properly in clinical trials.

"[Cousin] Bobby's arrests . . . angered rather than surprised my relatives. In half a century of racketeering, he was the first member of the family to be arrested, let alone convicted. The first, that is, if you excluded Tilly's husband, sweet-talking Uncle Charlie, who did two years for setting fire to his failing upholstery business in order to collect the insurance . . ."

Do you have second thoughts when ordering a strange-sounding dish at an exotic restaurant? Afraid you'll get fricasseed eye of newt, or something even worse? If you do, it's because certain neurons in the brain are saying that the potential reward for the risk is unknown. These regions of the brain have now been pinpointed by experimental economists at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Iowa College of Medicine.

A historian with interests as wide-ranging as entomology and Greek astronomy has become the first-ever Eleanor Searle Visiting Professor in the History of Science, a newly established joint program between the California Institute of Technology and the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

The November 8 special election will allow California voters to decide on a number of initiatives rather than elect new people to statewide offices. But even though votes for a candidate will not be counted this time, the possibility of "lost" votes still exists, says an authority on voting at the California Institute of Technology.

Are you disgusted when you hear about Elvis Presley's fried peanut butter 'n 'nanner sandwiches? A new study shows that it could all be in your head. In fact, our taste preferences may have little to do with whether we can even recognize the substance we're eating or drinking.