Life after Earth: Imagining survival beyond this Terra Firma. What kind of feeble doomsday would leave London safe and sound? Cue the Alliance to Rescue Civilization, a group that advocates a backup for humanity by way of a station on the Moon replete with DNA samples of all life on Earth. [News Source]

Bird flu discovery could ease fears of pandemic. A bird flu pandemic may not come as soon as some public health experts have feared. [News Source]

Bird flu pandemic may be less likely. An experiment combining bird flu with a common human strain failed to create a pandemic virus, suggesting that it may be more difficult for bird flu to mutate into a form that is easily transmissible among humans. [News Source]

Avian-flu study reveals hurdles for a pandemic. A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that it might be more difficult for the deadly avian-flu virus to spark a pandemic than originally feared. [News Source]

Researchers explore ways bird flu may spread. A new study addresses the most urgent public health question about bird flu: what would it take to make the virus more contagious in people? [News Source]

Pandemic viruses hard to make, US scientists say. Scientists who spliced a common flu virus together with the H5N1 avian influenza virus failed to make an infectious strain and said on Monday their experiment showed pandemics may not arise as easily as had been feared. [News Source]

New virus less than pandemic. Using a new method to test potential pandemic flu strains, scientists have created a virus that contains genes from human and bird flus and found it lacks what it takes to cause a pandemic. [News Source]

Winnipeg animal disease lab named reference centre for avian influenza and BSE. The centre is the first OIE reference laboratory for BSE and the second for avian flu in North America. [News Source]

Bird flu transferred by ducks differs from deadly Asian strain. The bad news is that a recent study shows that people can catch bird flu from waterfowl. The good news is that it won't hurt. [News Source]

Mixed viruses are contained in study. Scientists combined genes from the notorious Asian bird flu with human flu but weren't able to create a strain that could be easily spread. [News Source]

O.C.’s 1st mosquitoes of year with West Nile found. Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been found at a Fullerton park, prompting health officials to increase spraying in the area while warning residents to take precautions. [News Source]

Navigating the guilt in the grocery aisles. Shopping is not simply a case of taste or price. Now we have to ask ourselves: Is this good for my health? Have animals suffered? Is it local? Organic? Bad for the planet? Harvested by child workers? [News Source]