Over the last year the powerful, sumptuous vineyards of Northern California, the Napa and Simi estates that have poured the Golden State’s vinous nectar across the globe, have been the scenes of viticultural carnage of …

Captain Jack Shale is a Navy psychiatrist who occasionally is called upon to administer truth serum. That’s the outdated lay term for Amytal, a central nervous system depressant derived from barbituric acid. Shale estimates that …

Dear Matthew Alice: How do they get the lead into a wood pencil? And how come we don’t get lead poisoning as children by doing all that schoolwork in pencil? — J.H., El Cajon Where …

I remember when the seals would follow me like a band of dogs. I would swing my kayak in by the Children’s Pool at La Jolla, or past the rocks off Rosarito, and see the …

The cloud-mantled planet Venus reflects 76 percent of the sunlight falling on it. Less than one-billionth of the light that bounces away is intercepted by Earth. Most strikes Earth’s day side, but some falls on …

Dear Matthew: My face has dimples, and that makes me wonder where they come from. My mom said I should ask you. — Christopher, age 8, San Diego Tired of all those adults pinching your …

Dear Matt: I know this question is probably not very P.C., but I’ve got to ask it anyway. I think I have a pretty good idea of what the Third World is. And I think …

Titillated and heartened by the sexually ambigous rough-housing attendant to a performance by the Fastbacks in a Chula Vista Garage.