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Sixteen cases of a new flu in China have touched off a major effort to determine what kind of threat it might be. Flu experts want to know where the H7N9 virus is coming from and how it gets around.

Author Jesse Walker argues that believing in shadowy cabals and ominous secrets isn't just for people on the margins — it's as American as apple pie. He says that our nation's paranoia stretches back to the colonial era, and that some conspiracy theories are believed by a majority of Americans.

Anya von Bremzen's new memoir is a delicious narrative of memory and cuisine in 20th century Soviet Union. She writes about her family's own history and contemplates the nation's "complicated, even tortured, relationship with food."

The musician, songwriter, composer and producer has made a name for himself by playing with the likes of Amanda Palmer.

In Who Could That Be at This Hour?, a prequel to A Series of Unfortunate Events, Daniel Handler satirizes pulp mysteries and uncovers the parallels between detective fiction and childhood. In both, he says, an outsider is trying to make his way in a mysteriously corrupt world.

For years, salmon farming has gotten a bad rap from marine biologists, who say the fish grown in open-ocean net pens generate pollution, disease and parasites. But now, a few salmon farms have moved on land. From an environmental standpoint, some scientists say, that's "a huge step forward."

The Food and Drug Administration will take a second look at a weight-loss drug it rejected in 2010. The decision to review Qnexa comes as the agency is rethinking how it judges weight-loss drugs. Though obesity is at epidemic levels, the FDA hasn't approved any new weight-loss medicines since 1999.

Last month, scientists around the world agreed to temporarily halt controversial scientific research with bird flu viruses. Some experts say too little is known about how infectious this virus could be to humans, but other experts think those risks have been blown a bit out of proportion.

Heather Shkliarov warns that her Belarusian American husband's health is in "immediate danger" following his late-July arrest by security forces of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks to the Guardian's Sirin Kale about her investigation into where cats go when we're not looking.