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Search technology, once relegated to library science departments and remote corners of computer science labs, went mainstream with the Internet, spawning such once-giant brands as Lycos, AltaVista and Yahoo. These engines proved that the Web could be indexed, but they failed when it came to giving users what they wanted.

Scattered clashes are reported in the region around Fallujah, though a cease-fire declared over the weekend is largely holding. Iraqi officials report 600 civilians have died in Fallujah since U.S. Marines launched an offensive there last Monday. Those fleeing the city accuse U.S. forces of firing randomly, causing numerous civilian casualties. Hear NPR's Philip Reeves.

A day after the White House released a briefing document on the al Qaeda threat that President George Bush received a month before the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush says the brief lacked "actionable intelligence." Security experts say the paper leads them to question the Bush administration's judgment of the information. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly reports.

Apple retail employees in Towson have formed CORE, the Coalition of Organized Retail Employees. They sent a letter to Apple's CEO saying the majority of employees at the store support forming a union.

An increasing number of federal agencies are following the lead of the Department of Homeland Security in hiring privacy officers to oversee the use of personal information collected from citizens. NPR's Larry Abramson reports.

Barry's new book is The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History. In 1918, the influenza virus emerged, and in the next year killed millions of people. He writes "before that worldwide pandemic faded away in 1920, it would kill more people than any other outbreak of disease in human history." Scientists are still trying to figure out why the virus spread so rapidly and killed so efficiently. The story has relevance today as scientists believe we are due for another flu pandemic. Barry is the author of four other books including Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America.

NASA has successfully launched a satellite designed to examine the nature of space and time. The $750 million Gravity Probe B satellite will spend the next 18 months testing the fabric of space surrounding the Earth. Scientists first proposed the mission in 1959. NPR's David Kestenbaum reports.

Though winding at times, Sam Knight's book is thought-provoking and deeply researched, presenting the oddity of realized premonitions while allowing readers to come to their own conclusions.

NPR's Bob Edwards speaks with Peter Douglas, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, about the current poor health of oceans and how a proposed Oceans Policy Office might manage ocean health while balancing economic and environmental interests.

"Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure" opened recently in New York City. It features 200 never-before-seen and rare paintings, drawings and artifacts from Basquiat, who died in 1988 at age 27.