An annular eclipse, in which the Moon does not fully block out the light from the Sun, begins across east Asia, and is due to reach the western US later.

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Sun starts ‘ring of fire’ eclipse

The New England Journal of Medicine has just released a study indicating that increased coffee consumption is linked to longer lifespans. The Intramural Research Program of the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics funded the research, which tracked 400,000 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 71 for up to 13 years. Researchers found that people who consumed two or more cups of coffee a day are less likely to die from certain diseases than people who drink little or no coffee. But before you grab your mug and fight off the hordes stampeding to the break room, here are a few things you should consider. Q: What about coffee did the researchers find beneficial? A: Researchers didn't actually figure out what the specific benefits of coffee were – though it does contain unique compounds and antioxidants that may defend against various diseases. The big news was that coffee drinkers didn't die as early from heart or respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes, injuries, accidents or infections. Once researchers adjusted for bad habits – coffee drinkers tend to smoke and drink more – they found that coffee drinkers lowered their risk of death from these factors by 10 to 16 percent. Q: If you drink six cups a day, are you getting greater health benefits than someone who drinks just two? A: Women who drank two or three cups of coffee a day were 13 percent less likely to die at any age than those who drank no coffee at all. Bump that up to four or five cups, and the percentage jumped to 16. Male coffee drinkers seemed to decrease their risk by 10 percent. The research indicates that every cup – and they studied people drinking up to six a day – upped the chances of living longer. Q: So, if I hook up an IV bag of coffee to my veins under the light of a full moon, will I cheat death and transform into a coffee vampire, impervious to death and decay? A: Yes. That is exactly what will happen. Okay, no. The study didn't definitively prove that coffee will extend longevity – just that there seemed to be a link. It was observational rather than clinical, but it definitely gives researchers reason to delve further into the causality. It's also worth noting that coffee should be filtered rather than boiled because the process strips out compounds that raise the “bad” LDL cholesterol that increases risk of heart attacks from sudden blood clots in narrowed arteries. So make sure there is at least one outlet for your coffeemaker in your crypt or coffin. Q: Are researchers indicating that this study suggest that benefits outweigh the negative effects of coffee? A: There is risk in overconsumption of anything, and the high blood pressure associated with caffeine is still a risk. Luckily for caffeine-averse immortality seekers, decaf coffee was just as effective. People also increase their dairy and sugar intake when they're drinking coffee, and that packs its own risks including obesity and stupidity. Q: Uhhh…stupidity? What the what? A: In a recent UCLA study , researches studied two groups of rats, trained on a maze twice daily for five days. Then one group consumed a fructose solution as drinking water for the next six weeks, and the other ingested the same – with the addition of omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). DHA is crucial for essential for synaptic function, or making brain cells communicate with each other, learn and remember. After the feeding cycle, the rats that had consumed the omega-3-amped diet navigated the maze much faster than those that hadn't. The non-DHA group also developed signs of resistance to insulin, which regulates blood sugar. This may disrupt learning and cause memory loss, and the researchers believe that fructose is the culprit. A: But I'm not pouring sugar into my 57 cups of coffee per day, so I should be good on that front, right? Q: Sugar is a sneaky critter. Even if you're not chowing down on little chocolate donuts or mainlining jelly, you may be taking in more than you bargained for – especially if you eat a lot of pre-packaged food. Many low-fat and fat-free dressings, canned soups, jarred sauces, those supposedly healthy smoothies and even breads are loaded with fructose. It's up to you, the consumer, to stand in the aisle and squint at the labels. A: The omega-3 stuff sounds like a sweet deal, then. How might I ingest some? Q: : Flax seeds and oil, beans, mustard greens, wheat germ, olive and canola oils and winter squash are all smashing sources of omega-3, but the very best dish is fish. Mackerel, lake trout, herring, bluefin tuna and salmon contain the greatest amount, while haddock, red snapper, swordfish and sole are better than nothing, but don't boast much of a benefit. So consider having a butternut squash and walnut muffin with your deep, dark, sugarless cup(s) of coffee. And some garlic to ward off the vampires.

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FAQ about coffee, longevity, sugar and stupidity. And also vampires.

Dramatic scenes from the final whistle at both the Stadium of Light and Etihad Stadium where Manchester United hear the news that rivals City have scored two late goals against QPR to snatch the Premier League title from their grasp.

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VIDEO: The moment City won the title

Thomas Kinkade , the “Painter of Light” whose collectible works were beloved by fans and bemoaned by critics, died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. A combination of Valium and alcohol was the cause of the painter’s April 6 death , the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday. Read full article > >

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Thomas Kinkade’s death ruled an accidental overdose

Thomas Kinkade , the “Painter of Light” whose collectible works were beloved by fans and bemoaned by critics, died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. A combination of Valium and alcohol was the cause of the painter’s April 6 death , the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday. Read full article > >

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Thomas Kinkade’s death ruled an accidental overdose

Thomas Kinkade , the “Painter of Light” whose collectible works were beloved by fans and bemoaned by critics, died of an accidental overdose of alcohol and prescription tranquilizers, officials confirmed to the Associated Press. A combination of Valium and alcohol was the cause of the painter’s April 6 death , the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner-Coroner’s Office said Tuesday. Read full article > >

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Thomas Kinkade’s death ruled an accidental overdose

AUGUSTA, GA. — Phil Mickelson has risen on a Sunday morning here, drawn in his first breath of the day, and all but smelled the hem of a green jacket waiting for him as the light finally fades over Augusta National Golf Club . Nowhere is he more comfortable. Nowhere is he more confident. Nowhere does he relish every shot, every stride, than he does right here. Read full article > >

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Masters 2012: Peter Hanson takes one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson after three rounds

Ray Isle ( @islewine on Twitter ) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. If you want to get a sense of the scale of Italian wine, you could do worse than to go to VinItaly, the annual wine-related trade fair in Verona, Italy. I was there a few days ago, along with, according to the VinItaly press office, more than 140,000 other people – roughly the population of Fort Collins, Colorado, if every inhabitant of Fort Collins were obsessed with Italian wine. Regardless, being in Italy means the opportunity to eat, regularly, platefuls of fantastic pasta. Since I’ve got pasta on the mind – in fact, since I’m mostly composed of pasta at the moment – here are some thoughts about pairing wine (Italian wine, of course) with some classic pasta dishes. Of course, the actual pasta itself doesn’t make much difference: When it comes to wine-pairing, a rigatoni is a penne is an orecchiette. Pasta alone is the ultimate blank food canvas; what matters is the sauce. Pinot Grigio Like other light-bodied white wines, Pinot Grigio pairs well with lighter foods (for an analogy to “light-bodied” or “full-bodied” in wine, think of milk: skim milk, light-bodied; 2 percent milk, medium-bodied; whole milk, full-bodied). It’s also light in terms of attitude – there’s none of the aggressive citrus-pepperiness of Sauvignon Blanc here, for example. So, for pasta to serve with Pinot Grigio, skip cream sauces, skip the rich meat sauces and concentrate on delicacy: olive oil, white wine, fresh herbs, possibly some shellfish. One classic possibility: linguine with white clam sauce. Sangiovese The principal grape of Tuscany (and so Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, etc.), Sangiovese leans towards crisp acidity and bright berry fruit. Much in the way that a tart white like Sauvignon Blanc is actually an ideal partner for an acidic salad dressing, Sangiovese’s fresh acidity makes it a good match for anything involving tomatoes, from a simple marinara sauce (or the classic Tuscan tomato-and-bread soup, pappa al pomodoro) to sauces like puttanesca, amatriciana, alla norma…the list goes on and on. Generally speaking, foods with high acidity are apt to overwhelm wines that don’t have a complementary level of acidity. Nebbiolo Nebbiolo – the Piedmontese grape of Barolo and Barbaresco, as well as the red wines of Gattinara, Ghemme and Carema—tends when young to be firmly, even ferociously, tannic, with bright acidity and seductive aromas (violets, roses, truffles, cherries). In Piedmont, you might drink it with agnolotti del plin, the tiny “pinched” ravioli filled with a mix of pork, beef or veal, or rabbit served with butter and sage, that are native to the region. And for me, Nebbiolo and truffles – or mushrooms, particularly porcini – are meant to be married. Think pasta with a wild mushroom cream sauce, enhanced with a little fresh thyme. Think pasta with butter and white truffles. Lots of white truffles. Lots and lots of white truffles. But that someone else is paying for. Primitivo To my mind, the emphatic red varieties of southern Italy, such as Primitivo, Negroamaro or the intensely tannic Aglianico, ask for equally emphatic foods. This is because wine pairing, to me, goes by feel or sensibility as much as it goes anything else. A pasta that is hearty and earthy and meaty wants a wine that’s hearty and earthy and meaty, too (possibly eaten by someone hearty, earthy and meaty, like Shrek). Sauces with sausage; with hot peppers; with sausage and hot peppers; or with pork, veal, sausage, tomatoes, hot peppers and onion, which would be the Basilicatan lu’ntruppc, and lord knows how you pronounce it, but it does sound good, doesn’t it? More from Food & Wine : 50 Best Bars in America Fast Pasta Recipes Best Pizza Places in the U.S. Italian Food Recipes Easter Recipes

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Beyond Chianti – a guide to pairing wine with pasta

The American Museum of Natural History is opening an exhibition, “Creatures of Light,” that looks at the strange world of bioluminesence.

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Exhibition Review: ‘Creatures of Light’ at American Museum of Natural History

Click to watch video Cassandra Lawson admits that beekeeping wasn't popular and was considered “a little eccentric” when she first started. “Most people thought that it was weird,” the Decatur, Georgia, beekeeping teacher says. “Why would you want bees and you live in the middle of a city?” But Lawson's not the only one fascinated with bees these days. Interest in beekeeping, or apiculture, has been on the rise in the United States. Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture Magazine , estimates about 150,000 noncommercial beekeepers are in the United States – up from 110,000 in 2008. Read the full story on CNN's Light Years blog: “Backyard beekeeping creates buzz”

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Growing number wax poetic on beekeeping

Doug Wheeler, a founder of the so-called Light and Space movement, constructs his first Manhattan “infinity environment” at the David Zwirner gallery in Chelsea.

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Doug Wheeler Builds ‘Infinity Environment’ at David Zwirner

STOCKHOLM — Three U.S.-born scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for overturning a fundamental assumption in their field by showing that the expansion of the universe is constantly accelerating. Their discovery created a new portrait of the eventual fate of the universe: a place of super-low temperatures and black skies unbroken by the light of galaxies moving away from each other at incredible speed. Read full article > >

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3 U.S.-born scientists win physics Nobel for revealing universe’s expansion is getting faster

What does the Devil watch on TV? Reality shows, of course, chortling at the mayhem as foul-mouthed, amoral youngsters compete to be “interesting.” “It’s my fast food,” Satan grins in “Something Past in Front of the Light,” a brave and breezy new play by Kathleen Akerley that gives us the Devil we know and — more interestingly — the Devil we don’t. Of course Beelzebub giggles at the no-rules squalor on the tube. But did you know the poor fellow had a hard time growing up in the suburbs? He shows us his home movies, effectively staged by Akerley (who directed, with assistance from Michael Glenn) inside a big fake screen at the far end of the small Callan Theatre stage at Catholic University. Read full article > >

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Theater review: ‘Something Past in Front of the Light’ at Catholic University

A 21-year-old aviation student from Scotland is killed along with her brother when the light aircraft she was piloting crashes in central Florida.

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Siblings killed in US air crash

FINALE WATCH: “Traffic Light” (Fox at 9:30 p.m.). Status: Canceled. This couples comedy didn’t make it to Season 2. In the series finale, Mike and Lisa hope for a break with a babysitter — but wind up getting involved in lots of teen drama. If you’re sick of those singing and dancing reality show competitions, “America’s Got Talent” (NBC at promises a little something for everyone — jugglers, impressionists, contortionists and ventriloquists, in addition to singers and dancers. Season 6 kicks off Tuesday night with auditions in front of judges Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan, and host Nick Cannon. Read full article > >

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TV highlights: ‘America’s Got Talent’ premiere; ‘Traffic Light’ finale