This region is noted for cutting-edge science and technology. These two industries distinguish the Triangle and are key drivers of our economy.
They employ tens of thousands of our brightest and most creative residents at our top-flight universities and in the private sector. Their work reaches into our homes and across the world.
Starting today, The News & Observer and our sister newspaper, The Charlotte Observer, will publish two pages of science and technology coverage every Monday.
Each week, we will present an extended story that focuses on science or technology at work in North Carolina. We will take you into laboratories, classrooms, field sites and businesses as we report on what's happening now and what's on the horizon.
We will provide a color graphic to help explain scientific principles and breakthroughs. We will excerpt a blog or publication. And we will publish the best of national and world coverage on these subjects.
Sarah Avery, N&O veteran reporter and editor, will work with our colleagues in Charlotte to plan and edit our coverage.
She is well-suited for the job.
She has covered medicine for us for six years and also spent three years supervising a team of reporters that included a science writer. She wrote our 2008 Tar Heel of the Year profile on chemist Joe DeSimone, who won the prestigious Lemelson-MIT Prize that year.
Avery will work with editors and reporters to explain science and technology to all of our readers, not just insiders. Please send your comments and suggestions tosavery@newsobserver.com, or call her at 919-829-4882.
Duke Energy has agreed to purchase an exclusive ad at the bottom of these pages. Duke Energy will not be involved in planning coverage and will have no control over the content.
The N&O believes science and technology are part of what makes this area special. I hope you will enjoy this added coverage.
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Richard Morgan looks at old photos of himself from when he weighed 265 pounds and sometimes cries. 
Bob Morrison didn't want to return to Haiti. His previous visit five years ago did not end well. 
In Sunday's profile about our Tar Heel of the Year, education reporter Jane Stancill writes that the honoree has "serious credentials and the exuberance of a schoolgirl." 
Robert Willett, a veteran photojournalist at The News & Observer, was cooking dinner for his wife and two daughters recently when he heard from Scott Sharpe, our director of photography. 
Tony Debo, a former WTVD sports reporter and anchor, survived a helicopter crash nearly 20 years ago after a Friday night high school football game in Wilmington. 
When Chapel Hill police officers handcuffed and detained a News & Observer reporter last weekend, their actions were rare for the Triangle - and unnecessary. 
