Vampires

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. -- Last Halloween, Ryan Murphy, the TV producer who helped bring "Glee" into the world, enjoyed what he calls "the greatest viewing experience" of his life. And it had nothing to do with bubbly song-and-dance numbers.

A passionate scary movie junkie, he cleared his schedule and rushed home to catch the premiere of "The Walking Dead," AMC's ghastly drama about a plague of flesh-eating zombies.

PULLMAN, Wash. -- A team of Pullman Christian School students has accepted a Washington State University challenge to lead the world to a brighter future -- but with a lower wattage.

Under the Imagine Tomorrow program, WSU's problem-solving competition that asks high school students to use innovation to lead the transition to alternate energy sources, the Pullman Christian team decided to share some of what they had learned with children and parents at the Palouse Discovery Science Center Saturday.

The topic they chose was vampire or parasitic power -- the power consumed by electronics when they're not even being used -- and how preventing unnecessary energy consumption can save big bucks for parents.