Many of us have certain mental images that spring to mind when thinking of the effects of radioactive contamination: mutated animals, children with deformities and birth defects, for example.

CNN: 26 years on: helping Chernobyl's children

As Lyndon Johnson escalated America's involvement in Vietnam in spring 1965, he was already thinking about how any sign of "weakness" would benefit Richard Nixon, who was starting to publicly criticize LBJ for not doing enough to achieve victory.

CNN: Commentary: Palin, Gingrich, Romney and 2012

That data has some investors thinking that stocks may be able to avoid the kind of spring slump that has bedeviled the market in recent years.

WSJ: Dow Closes Above 15000

Outside the front door, the air was New England chilly, fresh with the beginning of spring, and I wheeled my chair through the big door, down the ramp onto the sidewalk, thinking of Joey Buckley's brown eyes, deep and dark as winter ponds.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Warm Springs'