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Robert Siegel looks at his own neighborhood in Arlington County, Va., to figure out why what you can put into the recycling bin is different depending on where you live. While most counties have different rules, one expert says the best policy is one that gets you to recycle as much as possible.

Taliban militants are gaining strength and power around the northern Pakistan city of Peshawar. As the group expands its control, it is having a direct impact on U.S. and NATO military operations in Afghanistan.

The debut, self-titled album from Oklahoma City-based band The Uglysuit is refreshingly bright and cheery, replete with huge spirit-raising piano and guitar anthems. With a blend of spacey dream pop and a few alt-country flavors (lead singer Israel Hindman's voice mimicks Jeff Tweedy one minute, Conor Oberst the next), the group's sound draws comparisons to the Flaming Lips and the Shins, but the grandiosity of the music is that of space rock proportions.

Could porous rocks deep in the ocean floor be a place to stash unwanted carbon dioxide? Scientists at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory suggest that undersea basalt formations 8,000 feet below the ocean on the Pacific Northwest coast could absorb up to 120 years worth of U.S. CO2 emissions.

Depression is said to affect more than 20 million people in the United States, but psychiatrist James Gordon argues that it's not disease. In his book, Unstuck, Gordon makes the case that most people don't need drugs to feel better.

Researchers report that they've been able to use tobacco plants as biological factories to manufacture specialized proteins needed for an experimental individualized cancer therapy. The researchers are studying a potentially fatal form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The National Institutes of Health has decided to cancel a large-scale test of an experimental AIDS vaccine, saying that more focused research is needed on the way such vaccines interact with the immune system. The trial, known as PAVE 100, was designed to include more than 8,500 people.

In the past, scientists discounted the importance of the spleen, a five-ounce organ located in the upper left abdomen. Now, there's an increasing understanding of the spleen's importance as a part of the immune system, filtering blood and removing old blood cells.

Technology?s answer to smoking bans helps filter out harmful chemicals.

On Saturday, the Senate is expected to lend its approval to a major bill aimed at bolstering the battered U.S. housing market. Economists dislike the bill. Many fear this short-term legislative fix will not address a longer-term problem.

As a young woman, Betty Jenkins received a gift from her mother that was meant to attract the attention of young men. But as Jenkins tells her niece, the attention she got wasn't the kind she was expecting. The gift was an inflatable bra designed to enhance its wearer's figure. It worked well until she got on a plane.

The Monty Python funnyman is back with Not The Messiah, an adaptation of the 1979 film Life of Brian. He reprises some of the original songs and characters, and laments that the sheep get more applause than he does.

Radovan Karadzic's arrest on war crimes charges was met with a burst of celebration in the streets of Sarajevo, which suffered a brutal siege at the hands of Bosnian Serb militias loyal to Karadzic during the Bosnian war. But many citizens of Sarajevo are bitter that he was able to live on the lam for 13 years.

Teitur Lassen originates from the Faroe Islands in Scandinavia which translates to Sheep Islands. But despite Teitur's quiet, sparse musical arrangements, it would be hard to call his sound at all sheepish. Teitur sings with such confidence and fervor on his third album, The Singer, that the effect is at times gripping. Songs such as "Guilt By Association," a story about an accidental murder, can be as thrilling with dramatic lines like "Run away, they are coming to get us now" as any film depiction. That isn't to say Teitur moves worlds with his words, but when he gets it right, his upfront vocals and bare instrumentation can certainly grab your attention.

A legendary French winery is purchasing a famous winemaker in California. The deal comes decades after the same California winery beat French wines in a blind taste test. Vic Motto, a wine industry investment banker, says it's "a very important merger of two great wine estates."

It's easy to get lost in the eclectic soundscapes of Ohio-based band Trouble Books' fourth self-released album, The United Colors of Trouble Books. The album plays out like a wandering trip through a 13 year-old's subconscious, set to beautifully unique experimental music. The gorgeous mix of meandering instrumental arrangements, expansive ambience, and wonderfully earnest vocals creates a sort of spacey chamber pop that seems to float wherever the wind may take it.

Before he was old enough to say "embarrassing," millions of people saw Spencer Elden in his birthday suit on the cover of Nevermind. Now a teenager, he's trying to make sense of his very public image.

Leaders of the world's Anglicans are meeting in London amid speculation that the church might split. Conservatives argue that there is no place for practicing homosexuals in the church.

The rescue plan for giant mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac promises credit and possible stock purchases. It might cost the U.S. nothing or it might cost $25 billion. Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd says balancing investor confidence and taxpayer exposure is a fine line, but "doing nothing is not an option."

When Cpl. Jason Bogar was killed in action in Afghanistan, he left behind a family in Seattle and a wide-ranging record of his tours of duty. Bogar took numerous photos and videos of families he met in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There's a chance Sen. Barack Obama would still be on the road to being the Democratic presidential nominee if it weren't for the acceptance of black athletes and coaches in American sports. But Frank Deford thinks it's a slim chance.

Columnists and pundits in the United States are grading Barack Obama's trip to the Middle East, questioning whether the trip will help or hurt his campaign. Support for him as a person is strong, though some are dismayed by what they view as his sharp right turn on Mideast policy.

At first listen, it's hard to tell if Great Plains, the third album from Chicago-based band Head of Femur, is wildly ambitious in its eccentric, incredibly catchy sound, or is simply a good, old-fashioned pop and rock record. The songs sound new and energetic while taking enough cues from the past to sound like a tribute album. The result is a record that is recognizable, but fresh and surprisingly accessible, despite offering plenty of surprises.

Things are not as bad as they were 30 years ago, says our personal finance expert. Making sure your house is energy-efficient and shopping smarter are two ways to defend against recession and inflation, she says.

The Senate brings up another bill aimed at lowering gas prices Tuesday, as Republicans tout a new slogan: "Find more. Use less." It's a paradox because finding more oil drives the price down, which encourages consumption. Efforts by Congress to lower gas prices may actually diminish incentives to lower oil consumption.

A jazz fan visiting the desert city might equate the chances of seeing great live jazz there with the chances of getting caught in a rain shower. But since the 1970s, a devoted group of musicians and educators has turned the area into a hotbed for jazz performance.

Writer Melody Serafino recently found that most of her post-college peers in New York City live off their parents. In her Newsweek op-ed "Subsidized In The City" she writes, "Financial independence means social freedom and absolute control over my own life. Yet among my peers, I seem to be the only one who feels this way."

Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic has been arrested after a decade-long search. Serbia's president said Karadzic was arrested Monday. The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted him for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

The Movie, the debut album from New York-based band Clare & the Reasons, is quirky, to say the least. The record is an 11-track foray into theatrical, space-themed chamber pop that falls somewhere between the score of a Broadway musical and a collection of sweet and playful nursery rhymes.