The Bear Traveling to see the world can provide fresh perspectives, especially if one’s view is less than two inches from the ground. Artist Witold Riedel brings us a gallery of a very small friend abroad in the world.

An Ounce of Prevention We don’t yet know whether the avian flu will become a pandemic. So why are we preparing for a plague instead of fighting the virus where it currently rages—in the animal kingdom? Conflicting reports and strategies still march on, but time may be running out.

The Art of The Cure Using salt to preserve meat goes back to the Egyptians, but curing pork in a small New York apartment? Food writer Josh Friedland takes us through the steps of making guanciale—including, do not plan to hang your jowls at your mother-in-law’s—with recipes for the finished product.

Birnbaum v. Charles Baxter Covering topics such as his new book Saul and Patsy, Chekhov’s medical career, politics, Minnesota, and what it’s like to have your work made into film, author Charles Baxter talks to the intrepid Robert Birnbaum.