Silvia Caballero, Shoa Clarke, Alejandra Figueroa-Clarevega, Daniel Gilmer, and Betty Mbom are not your average twenty-somethings. Their paths through life have already taken them to Africa and Central and South America; to disaster relief efforts, clinics, and leading research labs. They have helped create support networks for minority students, studied tropical diseases at the Pan-American Health Organization, and investigated how HIV suppresses the immune system. Along the way, they have each developed a common passion: a desire to improve their world through science.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has selected these five young scientists as recipients of this year's Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study. The competitive fellowships, offered to outstanding students from groups underrepresented in the sciences or from disadvantaged backgrounds, provide full support for up to five years of study toward a Ph.D.

Eli Lilly considers $1 billion fine to settle U.S. case

Eli Lilly and U.S. prosecutors are discussing a settlement of a civil and criminal investigation into the company's marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa that could result in Lilly's paying more than $1 billion to federal and state governments.

Zyprexa has serious side effects and is approved only to treat people with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. But documents from Lilly show that between 2000 and 2003, Lilly encouraged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to people with age-related dementia, as well as people with mild bipolar disorder who had previously been diagnosed only as depressed.

Edwards John

America's next President needs fire in his belly. Edwards is on fire. Obama's just on simmer.

The Watch: Closed strip mall black eye in West Side neighborhood

Is there a problem in your neighborhood? Tell The Watch. Each Tuesday, The Dispatch features a problem from Columbus, its suburbs and surrounding counties and explains how officials are working -- or not working -- to fix it. Then we'll keep watch to make sure they keep their word. Call The Watch hot line at 614-461-8731 or send an e-mail to thewatch@dispatch.com.

"If this place was in (Upper) Arlington or Grandview (Heights), it wouldn't even be here," said Don Fritch, who lives nearby.

Dreaming of a 'green' Christmas: Real or fake, potted or cut - in ...

Take your family out to cut a tree at a local tree farm," advises Woodrow Nelson of the Arbor Day Foundation, an organization dedicated to celebrating trees. "Those folks do a good job of replanting their crop every year. You get native trees that are local - find the nearest one, and make it a family outing."

Of course, greenest of all would be an outdoor tree: a newly planted Colorado blue spruce, say, just outside the biggest north-facing window of your home (to block winds and help lower heating bills), Nelson says. He did that at home, and instead of papier-mache bird ornaments, the tree attracts real feathered friends, as well as neighbors' compliments.

But, Nelson acknowledges, it might not be the towering holiday symbol most people are looking for.

For indoor trees, there are "green" arguments for both real and fake.

Film listings

Director Joe Wright's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice with Knightley proved he can do the literary English costume piece in a faithful but not stuffy, handsome but not coffee-table-tome beautiful, emotionally vivid without straining for a modern sensibility way. He and scenarist Christopher Hampton have a trickier time with this novel, however; those who haven't read the book may appreciate their mostly on-the-mark, sometimes-off effort, being engrossed by narrative turns that readers will already know. The casting is fine, and some scenes (often the simplest ones) are memorably good; but there are also moments that cave to schmaltz and stylistic excess (one cast-of-thousands Steadicam shot goes on forever simply to prove it can). There's also an irritatingly gimmicky, intrusive score. Overall, Atonement is worthwhile — but that deathless phrase "the book was better" duly applies.