Source: Forbes | Author: Scott Woolley | Date: 20 May 2008

The television wars, and the billions in profit monopolized by cable and satellite companies, are upon us. Woolley explores Semzi, Philip Wiser’s innovative broadcast system. Services like Amazon Unbox and AppleTV feature an a la carte format; Semzi's set top box will provide full on-demand access to favorites like ESPN, CNN, and HBO at half the monthly cost of cable. How? Semzi has sublet digital broadcasting capacity from TV stations around the country and negotiated network programming contracts. Though Woolley is optimistic about Semzi's prospects, the headline "Cable Killer" may be a bit much -- the space is very competitive, a fact under-emphasized by the author.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: William Yardley | Date: 14 May 2008

The people of Juneau, Alaska have cut their electricity use by 30 percent in the past month -- not through environmental conscientiousness, but because prices rocketed after an avalanche wiped out the hydroelectric dam that provided four-fifths of the town's power. With only diesel power available, the price of electricity is nearly five times higher than before, and everything from a public sauna to drying laundry by machine is a target for savings. Yardley's piece is a powerful demonstration of environmental change, though there's surprisingly no mention of whether climate change itself could have contributed to the avalanche.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: David Brooks | Date: 13 May 2008

Scientific revolution can change public culture, Brooks writes, and the atheism debates from Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and others highlights the effect neuroscience research is having on belief in God and religion. Some would argue that people perceive God's existence because their brains have evolved to confabulate belief systems, but as neuroscience advances, meaning, belief, and consciousness remain mysteries. A human's sense of fairness, empathy and attachment are based on deep instincts yet to be explained. As science gains respect for spiritual states, God may become more personal and religion less integral to spiritual experience, Brooks writes in this well-developed, engaging essay.

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Source: Fortune | Author: Andy Serwer | Date: 13 May 2008

Though he commands quite a broad body of workers as president of Google, Larry Page recognizes the power of the individual, noting that "small groups of people can have a really huge impact" on making the world a better place. In this wide-ranging interview, he discusses how to motivate people to become less risk-averse so that they can embrace bigger opportunities, as well as the alternative energy options of the future. In this interesting interview, Page says he favors geothermal and solar thermal energy, arguing that "either one could generate all the energy we need," but it will take a bold, risk-taking spirit to set the movement in motion.

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Source: Commentary | Author: Kevin Shapiro | Date: 13 May 2008

Nobel laureate James Watson may have infuriated the world with apparently racist comments late last year, but Shapiro wonders what took the world so long. In reviewing Watson's latest memoir, Shapiro summarizes bits of Watson's life story, from his early love of bird-watching to his only-slightly-later interminable search for "a suitable blonde." But while Watson seems an unsympathetic character -- for example, he uses his first memoir to insult Francis Crick, with whom he unraveled DNA -- his behavior rarely seems outrageous. Shapiro argues, reasonably enough, that Watson wanted the last word on DNA (now that all his colleagues have died), but few of his other arguments rise above insinuation.

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Source: Digg | Author: Jonathan Leake | Date: 13 May 2008

While many Western governments view Africa as a charity case, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking along with a group of high-tech entrepreneurs are looking to the continent as a source of untapped scientific minds. The group is funding the first post-graduate mathematic and science centers to explore talent that until now has gone unnoticed. Leake's brief but well-written article encourages the British government to redirect some of its already well-funded African aide programs to higher education.

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Source: The New Yorker | Author: Bee Wilson | Date: 13 May 2008

The global food market, which has supported a worldwide population boom largely by virtue of innovative chemistry, seems to have reached its limits. While chickens are brought to slaughter a mere 40 days after hatching, and pools of animal feces create dead zones in nearby rivers, Wilson delivers a sobering look at an industry that might not be able to maintain itself, let alone the populace with a bottomless appetite for cheap food. Advocating a sustainable, more traditional model of agriculture, Wilson, in an allegory to Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic novel, The Road, manages to be both insightful and darkly humorous.

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Source: Digg | Author: ScienceDaily | Date: 13 May 2008

By turning protein folding into a video game, scientists hope to tap the masses of gamers who might find themselves being considered for a Nobel Prize. Developed by doctoral student Seth Cooper and postdoctoral researcher Adrien Treuille working with two University of Washington professors, the game aims to use the intuitive skills of some humans to save the time that would be spent by a computer trying every protein folding combination. Certain protein combinations have applications in everything from absorbing carbon dioxide from the air to curing HIV. The "protein folding" aspect isn't satisfactorily explained, but the game sounds exciting.

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Source: The New Yorker | Author: Sue Halpern | Date: 13 May 2008

Soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following service in Iraq are being treated with video games. Psychiatrists use the games as a kind of exposure therapy to re-immerse the soldiers in their traumatic experiences, hopefully allowing the memories to remain without their devastating associations. Although the treatment is still in its infancy, it seems to have great potential, as soldiers are much more willing to participate in a virtual reality program than in "therapy," which shows weakness in a masculine culture. The piece is well-written and interesting throughout, though at times it moves slowly, bogged down by anecdotes.

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Source: Time | Author: Michael Kinsley | Date: 13 May 2008

Congress recently passed a bill forbidding employers and insurers from discriminating against individuals based on genetic test results. Kinsley says the law's a good thing, but worries it could go too far. Some, like musically gifted Yo-Yo Ma, simply have better genes than others. To deny that, Kinsley argues, would smack of communism -- a governmentally enforced equality amounting to oppression. But he misses the point; the new law doesn't champion second-rate cellists gunning for Yo-Yo's orchestra seat. Rather, it protects average workers who have, for instance, a greater chance of developing cancer sometime in the future from being denied insurance or a job.

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Source: Time | Author: Sue Halpern | Date: 13 May 2008

Scientists are learning more about how the brain works, and it turns out memory loss really is a normal part of aging. It's a function of the hippocampus, the part of the brain that physically forms long-term memories by strengthening the synapses; it shrinks gradually from around age 60, or more rapidly in Alzheimer's cases. To make things worse the prefrontal cortex, which controls planning and organization, shrinks throughout life -- and falling attention levels further limit memory formation. Halpern gives a highly readable explanation that helps explain why drugs and diet can each combat memory loss.

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Source: The New York Times Magazine | Author: Lisa Sanders | Date: 12 May 2008

Readers will sympathize with the 20-year-old subject of Sanders' medical mystery of the week, who suffers spells of debilitating abdominal pain that always resolve by the time he's X-rayed. His doctors (including his own father, a gastroenterologist) are baffled. Finally, a CT scan and an attack coincide, revealing an intussusception, a telescoping of one part of the small intestine into another. Intussusceptions are often cancer-related, but fortunately this patient suffers from a congenital condition that is easily treatable with surgery. This concise case study is no substitute for a weekly dose of CSI, but it will appeal to readers who enjoy doing their own medical research online.

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Source: Slate | Author: Sudhir Venkatesh | Date: 12 May 2008

The article praises the new hit video game Grand Theft Auto IV for the surprisingly nuanced portrait it paints of life in gangland. Turns out, dealing drugs isn't all about shooting everyone up -- the game requires you to build alliances and develop trust with fellow criminals. Though Venkatesh's writing flips between a video game review and a sociological study, he straddles a thoughtful line between the two. Find a better review before buying the game, but use this article to turn gaming into an intellectual exercise.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 12 May 2008

Carnegie-Mellon University's Christopher Weber explains his finding that buying local foods does not reduce carbon footprints nearly as much as reducing the methane and nitrous oxide due to cows and other ruminant animals, their natural gases, and their manure management. Weber recommends continuing to buy locally, but becoming more aware of cutting down on non-energy-related greenhouse gases, finding out how local farmers deal with these gases, and eliminating red meat even one day a week to cut greenhouse gases. Weber's perspective on eating responsibly can be translated easily and immediately into everyday habits.

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Source: The New York Times Magazine | Author: Virginia Heffernan | Date: 12 May 2008

The Oxford English Dictionary has long reigned as the ultimate authority on the English lexicon, but now this most bookish of reference books is abandoning the book format altogether. Heffernan reports the OED's next edition -- the remaining revisions will take at least 20 more years -- will be digital. Given the dictionary's scope -- it spans 20 volumes, and the compact version includes a magnifying glass -- a digital OED offers distinct advantages. But Heffernan is crushed and launches into a wistfully unfocused critique of online dictionaries, noting, for instance that Dictionary.com's quotations are much more limited than the OED's.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 12 May 2008

The University of California's Holly Ingraham explains how she and her colleagues confirmed that the commonly used weedkiller atrazine disrupts endocrine functions. She discusses the benefits of using zebrafish in their study, how the genes used to control hormone signaling were changed in human placental cells, and her surprise that gene changes occurred even with doses significantly less than those found in drinking water. Although Ingraham makes it clear that she is a molecular biologist rather than an environmental toxicologist, the repercussions of this study for the environment and public health are certainly implied -- and somewhat scary.

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Source: Sunday Morning | Author: Kimberly Dozier | Date: 12 May 2008

Dozier was working in Iraq in May 2006 when she and her camera crew became victims of a car bomb. The crew, an Iraqi translator, and the captain they were following were all killed; she was critically injured. After several surgeries and physiotherapy, Dozier recovered fully. Her attitude makes clear that she's a true reporter, undaunted by circumstance. Determined to live the rest of her life without post-traumatic stress disorder, the therapy she used was talking it out and eventually writing a book. About PTSD she says, "It's not a life sentence." However, this "cure" may not be adequate for other sufferers.

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Source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | Author: Jurgen Scheffran | Date: 11 May 2008

The environmental stress of global warming could affect not only living conditions but also worldwide security and stability. Research doesn't offer a definite cause-and-effect relationship, but from the Bronze Age to the Anasazi, history is littered with civilizations that collapsed under the strain of trying to adapt to a changing environment. Still, Scheffran asserts that the international community has the opportunity to come together in a united effort to mitigate the effects. Scheffran presents a sobering assessment of the complex effects of climate change, taking a clear-eyed, research-supported look at potential security concerns, but his conclusion seems too rosy.

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Source: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | Author: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | Date: 9 May 2008

Weart, whose 2001 study The Discovery of Global Warming is considered an equal to An Inconvenient Truth, says dealing with climate change is like insuring against fire: though it's not a certainty, it's too risky to leave to chance. Most people are more worried about nuclear terrorism, partly because it can be expressed in simple terms with easily identifiable heroes and villains. Ironically such fears limit the adoption of nuclear power, meaning more fossil fuels and a higher chance of genuine damage from climate change. It's a fascinating interview that discusses immense scientific issues without requiring any expert knowledge from the reader.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal | Author: Michael Corkery | Date: 9 May 2008

Corkery reports on how officials in California, Florida, and other states have been stocking the abandoned pools of foreclosed homes with the Gambusia affinis, or mosquito fish, which eats mosquito larvae. This is an environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides, effectively curbing the mosquitoes and their diseases, such as the West Nile Virus. Meanwhile naysayers protest that the fish can attract birds, which splatter the area with droppings. The fish often die after new homeowners move in. It's a quirky article that thankfully falls outside the normal range of foreclosure articles.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Neal Conan | Date: 9 May 2008

Saying you lost five pounds when it was only three may be a good thing. Psychology professor Wendy Berry Mendes explains her recent study, published in the journal Emotion, that finds a difference between an outright lie and a self-serving exaggeration. She describes how polygraph readings demonstrate little distress when one exaggerates as a means of implicit goal-setting, and that people often achieve the goals they set out in an exaggeration. Callers' stories demonstrate the difference between this goal-setting and fabrications used to impress others, and even Mendes admits to some truth-stretching of her own in an ironic twist, adding to this interesting conversation.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Neal Conan | Date: 9 May 2008

Linda Lowen, writer and mother of two teenagers, and Doree Shafrir and Jessica Grose, who created the website Postcards From Yo Momma (where kids post interesting emails from their mothers), talk about the advantages and pitfalls of electronic communication between mothers and children. They give advice on how mothers can communicate comfortably with teenagers online, how to let an existing relationship dictate the cyber-relationship, and when moms go too far online. While little useful information is included, a few entertaining stories come through when the conversation doesn't stoop to stereotypes of the snooping, technologically clueless mother.

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Source: The Colbert Report | Author: Stephen Colbert | Date: 9 May 2008

Astronaut Garrett Reisman does an interview via satellite, and the possibility of talking to an astronaut clearly tickles Colbert -- "Eat it Jon Stewart, I'm talking to space!" Reisman briefly discusses his responsibilities on the International Space Station before acknowledging that he's "a bit of a glorified janitor." The interview is clearly heavily edited, which can be a bit distracting. Still, the image of Reisman spinning his Wriststrong bracelet and doing flips is pretty cool, and he's obviously happy to be on the show.

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Source: Tavis Smiley | Author: Tavis Smiley | Date: 9 May 2008

Environmental activist Majora Carter has a favorite slogan: "green the ghetto." Born (and currently still living) in New York's South Bronx, she continually fights for environmental justice in the inner city, in an area marred by toxic industries such as power plants and chemical facilities. She is the founder of Sustainable South Bronx, and is responsible for creating riverfront parks and implementing "green collar" job training in the area. In this passionate interview, she shares her inspiring vision of using local workers for ecological restoration, benefiting individuals and the community.

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Source: Charlie Rose | Author: Charlie Rose | Date: 8 May 2008

Design and the Elastic Mind, a new exhibition at New York's Museum of Modern Art explores the relationship between design, science and innovation. Senior curator Paola Antonelli wanted to show the value of design in incorporating science into something that laypeople can use. Among the pieces are four exhibits commissioned by the museum to explore the relationship between nanotechnology and architecture, the possibility of elastic architecture responsive to the environment, an interactive piece about online dating, and the design of a "perfect" city built using today's technology. The interview includes footage of some of the exhibits to whet viewers' appetites even if they're not design experts.

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Source: Inc. | Author: Max Chafkin | Date: 8 May 2008

Entrepreneur Sam Yagan has made a successful career out of delivering free of charge what other companies make customers pay for, from his establishment of CliffNotes copycat SparkNotes to the file-sharing tool eDonkey. So when he approached the online dating industry with OkCupid, Yagan was stunned by his lack of success while other similar services flourished. However, he recently sparked user interest in the venture with the launch of CrazyBlindDate.com, which allowed people to go on blind dates within hours of signing up. Though off-putting to some, the instant-hookup format has been a hit with others. In addition to chronicling Yagan's efforts, this interesting piece features the opinions of three industry leaders.

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Source: The Colbert Report | Author: Stephen Colbert | Date: 8 May 2008

Self-proclaimed failed scientist (turned journalist) George Johnson plugs his book The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments by performing one, creating electricity as Michael Faraday did by waving a magnet inside a metal coil. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Colbert did not do his homework (he assumed his guest was a scientist) so it doesn't take long for the interview to devolve into drawn-out masturbation innuendo. The segment finishes funnier as Colbert and his guest prove that two grown men will shock themselves repeatedly for laughs. And possibly book sales.

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Source: Wired | Author: Gary Wolf | Date: 8 May 2008

What if there were a way to optimize how we memorize new things -- a program capable of reminding us of a fact at the exact instant when we would otherwise forget it? Such is the premise of Piotr Wozniak's SuperMemo, an educational software package that calculates when to review new information to help maximize study time. As a Polish computer science student in the 1980s, Wozniak developed SuperMemo to help himself and his friends learn English vocabulary; today, an updated version of the program is available for many languages as well as user-imported information or reading material. Wolf's profile of Wozniak's bizarre personal experiment to live his life around the software makes for an intriguing read.

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Source: Wired | Author: Spencer Reiss | Date: 8 May 2008

It’s been called cloud computing, utility computing, or even HaaS (hardware as a service) but whatever the name, Amazon says it's the best thing since 1-Click shopping. The service in question lets customers lease storage space, servers and data processing -- all accessed online -- rather than shelling out for expensive hardware that may be too big for their needs. It's another step in Amazon's shift to being a middle-man as much as a retailer: A third of all product sales now come from third-party sellers. This fascinating profile details the technology behind Amazon's success, and readers won't need a geekspeak-to-English dictionary.

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Source: Digg | Author: Alexandra Gedrose | Date: 8 May 2008

The five experiments Gedrose chronicles are, indeed, extremely depressing. They range from the Asch Conformity Experiment, in which a third of subjects agreed with obviously wrong answers if they were given already by three other people, to the infamous Milgram Experiment, in which subjects administered fatal shocks to a (fake) person in another room because "a dude in a lab coat asked them to." The experiments portray humans (well, Americans in the 1950s to 1970s) as conformist, prone to abuse of power, and unwilling to help others in dire need unless it's convenient and absolutely necessary. Worse, Gedrose asks the reader to envision these results when looking at the people around them.

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Source: Wired | Author: Noah Shachtman | Date: 8 May 2008

Secret helicopters, super spy cameras, algorithms designed to recognize suspicious behavior and people's faces -- they're all part of New York City's high-tech surveillance system. But will it work? The inevitable comparison to London's Ring of Steel arises, where privacy is a thing of the past but terrorists remain undeterred. But the cops in charge -- part of a 500-person bureau that even has detectives stationed overseas -- say the idea here is a smart system, one that puts the pieces together and lets the good guys sweep in before the baddies can act. The article is alternately scary and fascinating, worth a look also for the amazing clarity of the miles-away photos.

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Source: Nature | Author: David Goldston | Date: 8 May 2008

While demonstration projects (also known as feasibility studies) are often hailed for the employment their large budgets bring communities, Goldston calls them some of the most "questionable activities in energy research and development." He points to the recent example of FutureGen, a project intended to further research into climate technology and hydrogen initiatives, but was canceled when the coal industry refused to pay the required 50 percent of the price tag. The author intelligently points out that such projects "are often driven more by politics than by science," ultimately leading to their failure.

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Source: Nature | Author: Phillip Ball | Date: 8 May 2008

Matter and energy as two sides of the same coin, light that is both a particle and a wave, atoms that can be in two places at once -- quantum physics is inherently weird. But why is so little of that weirdness visible in the everyday world? The question isn't just academic, Ball writes; figuring out the transition between classical and quantum mechanics will be crucial for the next generation of information technology, such as ultra-secure data encoding and quantum computing. Ball's natural gift for explaining complex science and interviews with scientists searching for evidence of objects in two places at once makes this a fascinating and educational read.

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Source: Wired | Author: Noah Shachtman | Date: 8 May 2008

Despite the satisfying start-up environment at iRobot, with employees constantly working and hanging out together, engineer Jameel Ahed was determined to move on to bigger and better things. But when he left the company to start producing law enforcement robots on his own, Ahed allegedly took iRobot's schematics with him, creating a robot called the Negotiator that was strikingly similar in appearance and ability to his former employer's PackBot. When Ahed earned the Army contract iRobot had been working towards, the company sued Ahed, exposing his underhanded activities and gaining the lucrative contract for themselves. It's an interesting read, though a little long-winded.

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Source: Marketplace | Author: American Public Media | Date: 8 May 2008

Farmer Richard Oswald joins the show with a commentary on how business is faring amid the global food crisis. For the first time in 40 years, he says, he's making enough money to save for retirement and pay for health care, thanks to booming commodity prices. He's sympathetic to the opposite pole, spiraling food prices, but notes that the cost of the grain in a bowl of cereal is only about 2 cents. The message -- don't begrudge the family farmer this temporary windfall -- succeeds, even though Oswald's folksy tone only reinforces stereotypes of the laconic farmer.

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Source: New York | Author: Jennifer Gonnerman | Date: 7 May 2008

For New York City subway workers, life in "the hole" is dangerous. Fifty-eight people died in the subway tunnels last year, from suicide victims to homeless people to teenagers "surfing" on top of the trains, as well as some of the transit workers who repair and maintain the tracks. Gonnerman follows workers Marvin Franklin, Mike Williams, and Jeff Hill on a typical day, and their stories are peppered with tales of close calls on a job that frequently departs from established procedures in the field -- a fact that in this story brings another death. Gonnerman fleshes out these men's personalities and their death-defying work with heartfelt eloquence.

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Source: Digg | Author: Glenn Derene | Date: 7 May 2008

With just nine months until the analog switch-off, 17 million homes still lack any form of digital television. Despite a $1.5 billion advertising and incentive program, surveys suggest 21 percent of people have no idea that non-digital viewers face the prospect of blank screens. Bafflingly, far more adults have televisions than basic literacy skills, yet the digital switchover budget is three times the annual spending on adult reading classes. The piece raises some interesting debating points, which as the comment boards show, readers clearly have seized upon.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Olivia Judson | Date: 7 May 2008

It turns out that new generations can have rearranged DNA or even develop entirely new genes, due to a reversal of the usual process in which DNA uses an intermediary named RNA to produce proteins. "Reverse transcriptase" molecules, often from viruses, copy themselves into the DNA pattern. In some cases this creates a retrogene -- a copy of an original gene that can change an organism's entire makeup. Judson does her best to make things clear, even assigning personalities to the different molecules, but the sheer complexity of the subject makes this one of her less rewarding columns.

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Source: Details | Author: Ian Daly | Date: 7 May 2008

Daly argues that the psychological pressure of social-networking sites to join, amass dozens of friends, post ludicrous photos of yourself, and constantly update your profile is an addiction leading to regression into bygone adolescence. And there can be real-world consequences, too, as when prospective employers are disturbed by what they discover in posted, publicly accessible profiles. Though Daly has some articulate friends -- one reduces social networking to "bad attempts at being quasi-famous" -- his rehashed gripes are unlikely to faze current or future Facebook aficionados.

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Source: Charlie Rose | Author: Charlie Rose | Date: 7 May 2008

Rose conducts a smart, timely interview with two technology writers about Microsoft's aborted takeover of Yahoo this week. Sorkin, a New York Times writer, speculates that we might now see an advertising deal between Yahoo and Google. TechCrunch.com's Arrington says Microsoft needs to figure out its Internet strategy; they could purchase AOL, MySpace, or Facebook to gain a foothold. Rose asks Arrington why Steve Ballmer didn't conduct a hostile takeover; Arrington believes Microsoft didn't want the negative publicity. Arrington says analysts still believe Yahoo's stock has value, because they believe a deal with one of the giants is inevitable.

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Source: Newsweek | Author: David Gates | Date: 7 May 2008

Niagara Falls may be billed as a great natural wonder, but its flow is entirely controlled by man: Technicians diverting water for hydropower actually double the falls' flow during the daytime in tourist season. Ginger Strand's book Inventing Niagara: Beauty, Power, and Lies explores this contradiction and the marketing machine that has inspired everything from myths of human sacrifice to (it appears) the brand name Viagra. Perhaps the most shocking tale is of the man-made "Love Canal" whose 82 chemicals allegedly caused the birth of a three-eared baby. Gates' feature is an effective review, both summarizing and assessing the book.

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Source: BusinessWeek | Author: Peter Burrows | Date: 7 May 2008

Apple has traditionally focused its products on educational and personal users, but Mac is now in a position to snag a slice of the corporate pie. Many employees have convinced their bosses to switch to Macs for good, especially as the popular iPhone becomes more corporate-friendly, and if Steve Jobs made the slightest effort to cater to corporate interest, Apple could smooth-talk its way into companies where Vista has disappointed and frustrated users. Burrows logically doesn't posit a complete Mac takeover, but he makes a solid case for a direction that Apple could grow in, if it felt like taking that step in the future.

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Source: The New Yorker | Author: Malcolm Gladwell | Date: 6 May 2008

Nathan Myhrvold, formerly of Microsoft, started Intellectual Ventures, an innovative think tank gathering prominent scientists from various fields for brainstorming sessions. Myhrvold hoped for a handful of important inventions, but IV surpassed expectations, filing 500 patents annually. Using IV as an example, Gladwell offers the intriguing thesis that scientific breakthroughs result from the synergy created by many researchers' ideas, noting instances in which two individuals independently arrived at the same groundbreaking discovery (Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray concurrently invented the telephone). He convincingly argues that inventions arise from the intellectual climate of the time, not the mind of the stereotypical solitary scientific genius.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Carl Zimmer | Date: 6 May 2008

"If it's so great to be smart ... why have most animals remained dumb?" biologist Tadeusz Kawecki wonders. One experiment of his indicated that flies trained to be more intelligent -- meaning able to tell the difference between bitter and sweet fruit -- actually averaged lives that were 15 percent shorter. This might be due to "an equilibrium between the costs and benefits of learning"; learning helps animals overcome some threats to survival, but after a certain point the calorie-burning brain might shorten creatures' lives. Of course there aren't any final results to report yet, but it's a fascinating concept nonetheless.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Cornelia Dean | Date: 6 May 2008

Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake, has been slowly warming for the last 60 years, and scientists have Dr. Mikhail M. Kozhov and his family to thank for the data. Every ten days they went out to the center of the lake and charted several performance indicators the lake's health. The data is alarming; many species are found in Lake Baikal that exist nowhere else, and changes in the lake might make effects of global warming more pronounced in Siberia. Dean presents an interesting story, but it lacks the scientific insight or examination of the data that could have made it more well-rounded.

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Source: Los Angeles Times | Author: Joseph Menn & Jim Puzzanghera & Jessica Guynn | Date: 6 May 2008

The death of the Microsoft-Yahoo merger is great news for the leaders of the online advertising market; As one analyst put it, "Google can now go back to eating Yahoo's lunch uninterrupted." Google had done its best to scupper the planned takeover by trialing an ad partnership with Yahoo, while simultaneously claiming a Microsoft-Yahoo combination would be anti-competitive. But a full-fledged Google-Microsoft war seems unlikely, as they'll largely stick to online advertising and software production, respectively. The writers help readers make sense of the intricate Internet business rivalries.

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Source: Slate | Author: James Ledbetter | Date: 6 May 2008

Yahoo's decision to turn down a $44 billion offer from Microsoft -- which has led to Microsoft walking away from negotiations -- fits a historical pattern. In paying $5 billion apiece for GeoCities and Broadcast.com, Yahoo showed a vastly over-inflated valuation of online resources. Now they've rejected an offer more than 62 percent above market value and wound up with nothing -- except perhaps a lesson about realistic pricing. With a quick conversational rundown of the deal and bonus bits of context (apparently GeoCities still exists), Ledbetter shares an informative perspective on the Internet equivalent of poker bluffing.

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Source: The New Yorker | Author: Margaret Talbot | Date: 6 May 2008

Talbot's article raises the question of animal intelligence by examining the life and career of cognitive scientist Irene Pepperdine and her African gray parrot, Alex, who died last year. Alex knew 50 words, could count up to six, and knew shapes and colors. Talbot explores the shifting scientific perspective on animal language and consciousness, from romantic overreaching to promise to chicanery -- to a recent sense that, while people may find it impossible to teach animals language, that doesn't mean animals don't learn. Talbot eschews most of the traditional ape-studies for a focus on birds that is no less fascinating in this thought-provoking article.

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Source: Nature | Author: Erika Check Hayden | Date: 6 May 2008

Thanks to California voters and philanthropists, the state now boasts one of the most audacious research programs in the world. While six states passed initiatives to fund work on human embryonic stem-cell lines following President Bush's ban on federal funding for such research in 2001, at $3 billion, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine is the heavyweight of the lot. Hayden provides a comprehensive review of the history and promise of California's stem cell research initiative and the institutes it has spawned, as well as recent conflict-of-interest controversies over appropriation of funds.

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Source: Nova | Author: NOVA | Date: 5 May 2008

Nova follows the hosts of NPR's Car Talk, brothers Ray and Tom Magliozzi, as they explore new breeds of vehicles that might change the way we think about automobiles. While major auto manufacturers still push horsepower over fuel economy, hydrogen, ethanol, and plug-in electrical vehicles are among the innovative technologies that aim to curb oil dependence and slow carbon emissions. Putting gasoline consumption and federal standards in a historical context, Nova reminds us how we got here, and offers some viable alternatives that may help get us out.

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Source: The New York Times Magazine | Author: Mark Oppenheimer | Date: 5 May 2008

Louise Hay's publishing company Hay House has sold millions of books, but since it's at the forefront of the new age movement, it works differently than a normal publishing house. Rabid fans and the changing definition of "new age" means authors have online radio shows and long, drawn-out tours, and they sell just as many playing cards as books. Oppenheimer concludes that the company's namesake (best-selling author of You Can Heal Your Life) is a riveting figure, though his adoration gets tiring. This piece is at its best when he challenges her, such as when he asks how her belief that people are responsible for their fate applies to Holocaust victims.

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Source: The Washington Post 'Outlook' | Author: Mike Snow | Date: 5 May 2008

Snow chronicles the exhilarating experience of elephant handler training in Thailand, comparing his reactions to those of his 10 foot, three-ton ride, Boon Rot. While transporting tourists wasn't the best scenario for Boon Rot, it was much better than her former occupation, roaming Bangkok's red-light districts in an exploitative form of entertainment. Snow also gives some background on Thailand's pachyderm population and the creatures' falling numbers; only about 1,000 of the revered creatures roam the wild and nearly 4,000 additional animals are domesticated, but those figures pale in comparison to the robust population of 100,000 that existed a century ago.

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Source: Marketplace | Author: American Public Media | Date: 5 May 2008

The ranks of the uninsured and the self-insured are growing, finds a health care study by the Commonwealth Fund. Reporter Nancy Marshall Genzer finds out one big reason why: Companies, even large ones, are dropping health insurance for their workers. The net result is $45 billion paid by taxpayers for government-funded health care and unpaid hospital bills. Genzer uncovers only vague reasons for the increase, namely a tanking economy and skyrocketing costs. It's an unsatisfying story that would benefit from more details.

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Source: Sunday Morning | Author: Erin Moriarty | Date: 5 May 2008

Last fall, a Maryland judge excluded fingerprint evidence from a murder trial, ruling it was "a subjective, untested, unverifiable identification procedure." Much of the controversy surrounding the practice derives from the case of Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney accused of involvement in the 2004 Madrid train bombings after FBI examiners believed Mayfield's fingerprint matched a print at the crime scene. He was ultimately cleared when Spanish investigators determined the print was someone else's, but the case raised concerns about potential for false matches. Moriarty's article spotlights the case, but does little to examine the science of fingerprinting.

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Source: The New York Times 'Week in Review' | Author: Benedict Carey | Date: 5 May 2008

When Albert Hofmann initially discovered the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, by accidentally ingesting the substance in 1943, he hoped that it could be studied as a therapeutic agent. However, the circulation of the powerful mind-altering drug doomed this dream, as irresponsible abuse of LSD led the US government to outlaw its distribution in 1966. This also led to the near-halt of research into what Hofmann called his "problem child." This January, however, health officials in his native Switzerland approved the first known medical trial of LSD in more than three decades, a fitting final birthday gift for Hofmann, who died last week at 102. Carey writes a quick but adequate history of the drug.

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Source: Wired | Author: Matthew Power | Date: 4 May 2008

The planet is growing thirstier by the day. As rivers and lakes dwindle, Power reports on three regions that are especially stressed in their effort to stretch each gallon. In London, hardly a desert, massively wasteful Victorian water systems and a string of dry winters have caused the system to be re-evaluated. Phoenix, Ariz. is hedging its bets by cleaning waste water to replenish aquifers; meanwhile, agriculture in southeastern Australia is increasingly difficult because it hasn't rained in two years. Power's sobering words, coupled with Donald Milne's photos, manage to remain optimistic even in the face of ominous evidence of environmental calamity.

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Source: Harvard Business Review | Author: Jean-Pierre Garnier | Date: 2 May 2008

It's not often that CEOs lay their business plans out for the public, but Jean-Pierre Garnier of GlaxoSmithKlein has done just that here. He is convinced that research & development is Big Pharma's best hope to weather the financial and confidence crises that plague the industry. R&D, he says, can't "perform as a ballet dancer and a football player at the same time," and needs to split its one giant mass trying to execute all tasks at once into smaller, more specialized segments. Simplifying will hopefully encourage more zeal and creativity in a workplace that lacks both. Garnier's writing is engaging, detailed, and passionate.

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Source: The Wall Street Journal | Author: Robert Lee Hotz | Date: 2 May 2008

If you're dyslexic in English, why not give writing Chinese a try? You might be a whiz at it, Hotz writes, since entirely different areas of the brain would be at work. "Dyslexia exists only because we invented reading," one neuroscientist says, and reading is a different experience in different languages. In Italy, where written and spoken words closely mirror one another, dyslexia is half as common as in the United States. Meanwhile Chinese characters, which aren't just phonetic codes, place entirely different demands on the brain. For Hotz, the cultural implications are huge, but space constraints unfortunately keep him from truly geeking out.

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Source: Los Angeles Times | Author: Kenneth R. Weiss | Date: 2 May 2008

As the oceans warm up along with global temperatures, the Atlantic and Pacific are becoming dangerously oxygen-starved, Weiss reports. The upshot is that giant squid (who perform well in low-oxygen environments) are expanding their territories and feasting on the marine life they find. The downer -- and it's a big one -- is that other aquatic life forms can't really function in the low-oxygen zones. "Most fish and other marine animals have to move or die," said one scientist. Weiss mongers plenty of fear in his piece but offers little in the way of practical advice, leaving one to wonder if there's anything that can be done besides developing a taste for squidburgers.

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Source: Digg | Author: Timothy B. Lee | Date: 2 May 2008

In 2002, the Bush administration "upgraded" an automatic email archiving system that the Clinton administration had implemented as a response to federal record-keeping laws. Unfortunately, the new system had compatibility issues, meaning the once-automated task of record-keeping fell to White House staffers. This subjected the system to problems with uniformity and human error, and also made it easily accessible to potential tampering and deletion. To make matters worse, additional evidence shows that some senior Bush administration officials use non-government email accounts to bypass the law altogether. Lee's article will leave even the most trusting citizens with a pit in their stomachs.

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Source: Marketplace | Author: American Public Media | Date: 2 May 2008

Individual investors who want to practice leveraging in their investments are required by law to put up at least 50 percent of their own money. Laws only apply to the little people though, and a critical cause of the financial industry meltdown is that banks and brokerages have wagered, in many cases, only 3 percent of their own money. When investors began clamoring for their cash -- which didn't exist -- the banks began feverishly working to raise capital, with some success. Reporter Amy Scott talks about Wall Street's dryout process with financial experts, who laconically point to similarities between today and 1929, yet maintain the markets will right themselves without regulation.

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Source: Men's Vogue | Author: Dan Neil | Date: 2 May 2008

What may be the "finest automobile in history," the Bugatti Veyron -- which goes from zero to 253 mph in less than a minute -- is the House of Bugatti's chance at reclaiming old glory. Unfortunately, the Veyron has only 180 buyers for its 300 cars, which price out at around $2 million each, forcing Bugatti to offer "special edition" versions with extras like calfskin upholstery. The ultra-extravagant Veyron is impressive -- 12 radiators, 16 cylinders, aerodynamic enhancements, and more -- but it's not exactly practical. After all, at top speed, the tires melt in 15 minutes. Neil's article offers a fun, if largely unattainable, dream.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Neal Conan | Date: 1 May 2008

The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) will bar employers and insurance companies from basing hiring and coverage decisions on an individual's genetic information. New York Representative Louise Slaughter, who fought for 13 years to get GINA through Congress, says everyone will benefit because the average person carries between ten and 30 "flawed" genes. A microbiologist by profession, Slaughter predicts GINA will stimulate new developments in genetic medicine as individuals who feared revealing their genetic disorders come forward to participate in research. This segment addresses a topic important to all Americans, and the listener comes away admiring Slaughter's pluck and passion.

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Source: Saveur | Author: Frederick Kaufman | Date: 1 May 2008

Kaufman explores the fairly new food-science arena of produce morphology, in which scientists are attempting to decode shape-determining DNA to create, for example, perfectly round tomatoes, more easily shippable square grapefruits, or "a cute little watermelon for a small family." But Kaufman is skeptical; identical, symmetrical produce has a "hypnotic effect" on him, and he somewhat predictably contemplates the philosophical implications of trying to fix "imperfect" fruits and vegetables. Worth a read, if just for the neat graphic of tomato cross-sections that look like brain scans.

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Source: Science News | Author: Rachel Ehrenberg | Date: 1 May 2008

Recent research showing the accumulation of mercury in terrestrial birds and insects gives a new meaning to the idea of a poisonous spider. Once thought to be only a problem in aquatic environments, researchers are not entirely sure how the mercury is moving into terrestrial creatures, with the most probable link being microbial action. The mercury levels also bioaccumulate -- or increase in concentration with each step of the food chain -- and therefore are much higher in predatory spiders than other insects, affecting predatory birds further up the food chain. Ehrenberg keeps the story short, getting right to the point.

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Source: Science News | Author: Sid Perkins | Date: 1 May 2008

Perkins descriptively runs through the current state of carbon sequestration technologies. Burying coarse wood, which stops it from giving up its carbon, is cheap but impractical and not environmentally friendly. Algal blooms can absorb CO2, but encouraging their growth might wreak havoc on ecosystems, and studies show the blooms might not be as effective as hoped. Chemically capturing carbon dioxide from coal-fired plants looks promising but is in the design stages; captured CO2 has to be stored as well, either below the sea (where it could affect ecosystems) or beneath volcanic rock. Neither is ready now, Perkins says, but humanity needs sequestration "soon, and on an enormous scale."

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Source: Science News | Author: Bruce Bower | Date: 1 May 2008

It may sound obvious, but new findings confirm that multitasking (from talking on a cell phone to listening to your passengers yammer) can impede your ability to drive. Marcel Just of Carnegie Mellon has released his study that identifies an "upper limit" to the amount of systematic brain activity, so that when trying to do two things at once, the less ingrained skill (talking is learned well before driving) often suffers dramatically. Bower's brief confirmation of what any driver knows includes some surprisingly illustrative data.

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Source: Science News | Author: Deborah Blum | Date: 1 May 2008

Inspired by the overwhelming number of cases of eating disorders she encountered as a high school counselor, Michigan State University's Kelly Klump has spent the past decade investigating the genetic factors influencing such behavior. Her current research involves studying females from mixed-gender twin pairs; in many respects, these girls act more like men, with masculine left-brain dominance and more aggressive behavior. From this evidence, Klump hypothesized that these girls would also be less prone to eating disorders, and her research confirmed the suggestion. This informative piece delves into the developmental science and explains the effects twin embryos can have on one another, yet is presented in layman's terms.

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Source: Science News | Author: Tina Hesman Saey | Date: 1 May 2008

Despite recent evidence to the contrary, Robert Folk, the "father" of nanobacteria, is still convinced that the particles are actually organisms. The new findings by a team of researchers at Taiwan's Chang Gung University show not so much that the particles don't exist, but that the name nanobacteria might be grossly inaccurate. Rather, they act more like certain infectious proteins called prions, which are responsible for, among other things, mad cow disease. Saey rightly advocates for more study in the field, reluctant to shelve an area of research of such potential importance.

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Source: Nature | Author: Geoff Brumfiel | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Women are underrepresented in physics to begin with, making up only 10 percent of faculty in the US, but Sherry Towers says that gender discrimination is part of the status quo. Towers asserts that female postdoctoral students do more of the work in particle physics labs but get to deliver a disproportionately low number of conference presentations, which is seen as a reward to beginning scientists. Brumfiel is careful to admit that both sides of the argument accuse the other of massaging statistics to support their claims, but even many male researchers admit to a gender bias in their field.

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Source: Newsweek | Author: Lisa Miller | Date: 30 Apr 2008

eHarmony, widely regarded as a Christian online dating service, is facing legal action over claims it discriminates against gays and lesbians. The site's management says its matchmaking is based on research into successful heterosexual relationships and denies it is limited to Christian subscribers. But the site's founder is a Christian self-help author, and much of its early publicity came through evangelical radio show Focus on the Family. Miller's piece gives some good background but doesn't explore the legalities of restricting the service to heterosexuals.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Keith Bradsher & Andrew Martin | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Bradsher and Martin reveal an additional twist in rising global grain prices -- the soaring cost of fertilizer worldwide. The going rates for nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium have doubled in the past year, due in part to the rising use of industrial fertilizers in the third world, where one pound of chemical fertilizer can replace tons of animal manure. Despite the rising price, the incentive to use fertilizer will continue to increase as farmers struggle to meet rising demand for food and biofuels. The authors provide informative insight into the complexities of the mounting food crisis.

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Source: Newsweek | Author: Sharon Begley | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Noting food riots in the news, Begley takes an alarming look at the future of agriculture under the specter of ongoing global warming. Dismissing the laughably simplistic view that more carbon dioxide in the air means more airborne fertilizer, as purported by the coal industry's Greening Earth Society, the piece does an excellent job of describing some of the many variables that will come to bear on future farming. These include less glacier ice that feed rivers that in turn irrigate crops, rising temperatures in northern latitudes helping crops but hurting them in already-warm subtropics and tropics, and a generally more volatile climate.

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Source: Los Angeles Times | Author: Janet Wilson | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Wilson reports on a team charged with stabilizing the slide-prone mountains above suburban Orange County after wildfires found "aluminum globules" and jagged hunks of steel rooted in the earth. The wildfires often uncover unusual things buried in brush, but this looked like a plane crash and an obvious case for G. Pat Macha, a retired high school teacher and self-trained aviation archaeologist. He has explored dozens of crashes in the mountains of southern California and quickly pinpointed this wreckage as a Lockheed SP2E Neptune that was doing night training and crashed into a ridge 39 years ago. Macha's charisma and the historical background drive this story.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Thomas L. Friedman | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Hillary Clinton and John McCain recently united in pushing for suspending the federal excise tax on gasoline, 18.4 cents a gallon, for this summer's travel season. "This is not an energy policy," Friedman writes. "This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks." Barack Obama resisted this push because he says subsidies should be going to clean energy, but political bickering has left oil companies with tax credits. Friedman brings worthy attention and criticism to an issue that should be dominating headlines.

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Source: Salon | Author: Elizabeth Grossman | Date: 30 Apr 2008

This brief piece explores the work of the scientists aboard the CCGS Amundsen, a research vessel scouring the Arctic Circle for ice samples. Despite the lack of industrial sources in the Arctic, the scientists have found disturbingly high levels of mercury in the water and ice, a result of coal-burning power plants in developed nations such as the United States and China. And while the frozen mercury wouldn't have harmful effects on wildlife, global warming is causing even permafrost to melt, releasing the toxin and contaminating the food web. Grossman competently covers yet another important side effect of climate change.

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Source: Nova | Author: Nova | Date: 30 Apr 2008

The largest battleship ever to be built, the surprisingly agile and innovative Yamato, quickly became more of a symbol of national pride for Japan as the focus of naval warfare turned to the skies. After the battle of Midway, it became clear that aircraft carriers, not battleships, were the real source of naval might, and it was aircraft launched from American carriers that sank the Yamato in a matter of minutes, taking nearly all of its 3,000 sailors with it. Nova comprehensively follows the history of the doomed ship to its nearly suicidal ending, and the end of the Japanese navy in World War II.

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Source: Nature | Author: Nature | Date: 30 Apr 2008

The editors argue in favor of a Human Proteome Project, which would catalog proteins in the same way that the Human Genome Project mapped genes. The authors acknowledge the difficulties in getting government financing for the project: it will be complex and expensive, some protein experiments have been difficult to reproduce, and the project's ultimate benefits are unclear. In comparison to genes, proteins are unexciting; however, the possibilities inherent in tracking the relationship between proteins and diseases (and, the article implies, developing cures) are irresistible. This sharp editorial reminds readers that scientific research is always a gamble, but success comes with amazing dividends.

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Source: Nature | Author: Nature | Date: 30 Apr 2008

The interest in superconductors seems to be making a comeback with the discovery of a new class of high-temperature superconductors at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Although superconductors have immense potential with loss-free electrical transmission and magnetic levitation, past research focused on copper oxides had not met our expectations. Researchers already see much more in the offering with this new iron base compound as it opens up possibilities to learn more about these complex solid-state compounds and is a suitable replacement for the earlier copper oxide based superconductors. Nature's summary of the topic is brief but quite dense.

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Source: The Weekly Standard | Author: Michael Goldfarb | Date: 30 Apr 2008

With his recent signing of the Declaration on Climate Change with a handful of other governors, Arnold Schwarzenegger has emerged as a major figure in the environmental movement, railing against "enviro-wimps" who refuse to take tougher action on global warming. However, the governor isn't the only one going green, as President Bush recently set a target date for capping greenhouse emissions. And while it is no longer an option to ignore climate change, Goldfarb cynically suggests the new Republican rhetoric may be the next best thing, as declarations such as Bush's suggestion that "every major economy" sign onto an international climate agreement sound good but are unlikely to occur.

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Source: Nature | Author: Nature | Date: 30 Apr 2008

Scientists might soon be able to create sperm and eggs entirely in a Petri dish. This would sidestep the familiar stem-cell ethical questions, but it raises its own set of ethical implications. In Britain, an update of the 1990 Human Fertilization and Embryology Act is working its way through Parliament; the current bill would allow research on the cells, but not permit them to be used in fertility treatment. Nature's deliberate and thorough walk-through of the potential benefits and moral issues raised by such technology provides an uncomfortable parallel to how infrequently such questions are discussed in the United States.

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Source: The Nation | Author: Mark Hertsgaard | Date: 29 Apr 2008

Peak oil -- it's not just for paranoid environmentalists anymore. In fact, with crude hitting $119 a barrel and global demand still rising, governments, corporations, and even the CEO of Shell Oil are slowly coming to grips with what the idea that cheap, abundant oil and gas supplies will no longer be able to keep up with demand. So where does a modern society founded on inexpensive, readily available energy go from here? Hertsgaard glibly suggests that perhaps it's time to go consult those activists who foresaw peak oil decades ago ... many of whom are now working on transitions to help communities prepare for a post-oil future.

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Source: The Nation | Author: Christian Parenti | Date: 29 Apr 2008

Hype around the nuclear industry, claims Parenti, is no more than a sophisticated PR campaign covering an expensive, ineffectual project. In effort to pull the industry out of what Forbes described as "the largest managerial disaster in history," nuclear trade groups are attempting to sell nuclear energy as a blanket solution for the world's energy crises. Parenti does a decent job reviewing the history of US nuclear power and the obstacles to financing a modern nuclear project, but by focusing his practical critiques on decades-old nuclear reactors and avoiding any discussion of the still-theoretical technologies that have lured environmentalists to the table, his argument feels as one-sided as the industry shills he hopes to debunk.

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Source: The New York Times | Author: Natalie Angier | Date: 29 Apr 2008

If you shoo sparrows from the bird feeder in hopes of attracting "better" birds like cardinals or goldfinches, you're practicing biobigotry -- wanting to be around species you like and far from those you don't like. The tendency to ascribe human motivations to non-human creatures (eagles are noble, pigeons are nasty) affects even animal researchers who should know better, who admit liking the "brave" monkeys they study and being disgusted by the "pathetic" ones. Angier thoroughly explores biobigotry, talking to experts who explain its ancient origins, how we justify it, and how it infests even conservation groups, who will take an attractive, lovable poster animal over a drab ugly one any day.

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Source: BusinessWeek | Author: Stephen H. Wildstrom | Date: 29 Apr 2008

With a price that starts at $499, HP's Mini-Note 2133 is an affordable newcomer in the field of miniature notebook computers. While Lenovo's Thinkpad, Asus' Eee PC, and Apple's Air notebook cater to early adapters with ample disposable income, the Mini-Note joins the One Laptop Per Child project's XO mini as a full-fledged laptop aimed primarily at the education and business market. But Wildstrom wonders if the price is low enough to drive demand. After several weeks of use, his answer is a tentative yes -- with the caveat that faster processors and thoughtfully scaled-down software will go a long way toward growing the market.

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Source: BusinessWeek | Author: Jon Fine | Date: 29 Apr 2008

Just how business savvy was Google's decision to acquire YouTube in 2006? YouTube ad formats may not scale as well as search advertising blockbusters AdWords and AdSense, but Google ad exec Tim Armstrong remains optimistic that the currently unprofitable video site is making headway as a revenue stream. While Fine expresses the occasional misgiving about web video's monetization model, he clearly (and convincingly) feels YouTube doubters would be wise to heed a saying from the Google corporate culture: "Don't bet against the Internet."

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Source: BusinessWeek | Author: Steve Hamm | Date: 29 Apr 2008

Forget Web 2.0 -- this year’s internet buzzphrase is "cloud computing." While, predictably, there’s no consensus definition, the term broadly applies to any computing done remotely on somebody else’s machinery. For the consumer it involves applications such as Google searches (where the actual processing of results is done on Google’s servers); for businesses it can take the form of renting space on remote servers, which can be processing data from multiple clients, making it more cost-effective. Hamm’s piece is no doubt technically accurate, but it does a poor job of explaining just what, if anything, is supposed to be new here.

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Source: Nature | Author: Allison Abbott | Date: 28 Apr 2008

A law in Switzerland stipulates that no genetic testing can be grant-funded if it offends the dignity of its subjects. The law is relatively clear when it comes to primate research or other animal experimentation, but how do we consider the "dignity" of a corn field? Some suggestions include that the subject not lose its independence -- in other words, being able to reproduce -- but researchers point to hybridization to produce sterile plants and seedless fruit as a long-standing industry standard. An impending legal quagmire may hamper research and drive research out of the European country, Abbott points out in this interesting piece.

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Source: Nature | Author: Declan Butler | Date: 28 Apr 2008

In order to avoid stigmatizing certain geographical areas, a number of strains of the H5N1 avian flu virus are being renamed. Strains that once bore monikers such as "Fujian-like" or "Qinghai-like" in reference to the area they were first observed in, are now being referred to by less obvious but more logical names that imply the virus's genetics, such as Clade 2.2. Butler, who laments the inaccurate and sometimes nonexistent recording of geographical location for the spread of the disease, writes a curious article about the intersection of political correctness and science.

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Source: Salon | Author: Steve Paulson | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Though largely unknown in the mainstream, Ken Wilber has a cult-like following for his works on philosophy, which take in everything from quantum physics to obscure branches of Buddhism. While he's written about a cold war between science and religion, he argues that the two are only incompatible in cases of religion based on mythical beliefs. There's no major scientific issue with trans-rational beliefs, in which you are able to achieve a spiritual state where you are temporarily freed from the limits of rational thinking. This extremely long and deep interview raises some powerful ideas, most notably the scientific explanation that God is actually the highest state of internal consciousness.

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Source: The Washington Post 'Outlook' | Author: Deborah Howell | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Ombudsman Howell offers two stories from the world of sports that recently peeved the Post's readers. First, a Post editorial aide, Michael Tunison, lost his job after he revealed his position at the Post on his personal sports blog. Company policy prohibits unauthorized outside work and behavior embarrassing to the Post: The blog showed pictures of a drunken Tunison and made "obscene, sexist and racist comments." Howell is unapologetic to those who complain of the decision. Second, one Post article invited readers to contribute team nicknames playing on the name of Washington Redskins' executive, Vinny Cerrato, including racially charged pokes at Italians. Howell apologizes, but discounts the significance of the insults.

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Source: The New York Times 'Week in Review' | Author: Nicholas D. Kristof | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Douglas McMeekin, a former businessman, and Juan Kunchikuy, a hunter and guide for the Yachana Foundation's eco-friendly lodge, are working together to help preserve the Amazon rainforests. With more than half of the world's tropical rain forest already gone, and deforestation counting for 20 percent of global carbon emissions, further destruction of the rain forest could likely have devastating effects on biodiversity and climate change. Kristof provides a brief, but informative account of McMeekin and Kunchikuy's efforts to both educate the native Amazons and preserve its environment.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 28 Apr 2008

How much of a personality should our companion robots of the future have? And while we're on the subject, what will they look like, and how will we interact with them? Flatow turns to Helen Greiner, co-founder of the Roomba-producing iRobot Corp, human-robot interaction specialist Peter McOwen, inventor Dean Kamen, and high school senior Grant Cox, a member of this year's winning team from the FIRST Robotics Championship. Flatow couldn't have assembled a more competent panel to discuss the future of robotics, and as a result, his guests' discussion is more of a spirited conversation than a guided Q&A -- a refreshing change for the program.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 28 Apr 2008

In this fascinating interview that conjures images of Jurassic Park, paleontologist Mary Higby Schweitzer explains how recent analysis of collagen preserved in a Tyrannosaurus rex leg bone provides strong support for the widely held theory that dinosaurs are the evolutionary ancestors of modern-day birds. After analyzing the T. rex collagen at a molecular level and mapping its protein sequences, Higby and her colleagues compared it against samples from a wide range of organisms. The results showed the T. rex proteins were closer to those of ostriches and chickens than those of mammals or even modern-day reptiles like alligators.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Researcher Werner Kurz discusses the devastation of millions of acres of pine forest in Canada's British Columbia by the mountain pine beetle, whose population has ballooned due to atmospheric warming, and explains the environmental consequences. Living pines act as carbon sinks -- they absorb carbon from the atmosphere -- but decaying wood from dead pines actually creates carbon emissions, so the large-scale destruction of pine forests threatens to disturb the atmospheric carbon balance. Kurz says little can be done to save the pine forests, but has intriguing suggestions for limiting emissions from dead pines, including salvage logging and using the wood for biofuel.

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Source: Tavis Smiley | Author: Tavis Smiley | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Richard Thaler discusses his behavioral economics book Nudge, which explains how corporations, advertisers, and the media can influence people's decision-making process by understanding how people make decisions. Thaler hopes that knowledge of how to impact decisions should be used for good; for example, his book suggests ways to push decision-makers to save more money and resources. Thaler's colleague says that respecting people's decisions while attempting to influence them is "libertarian paternalism." The discussion is interesting, but it barely scratches the surface.

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Source: Talk of the Nation | Author: Ira Flatow | Date: 28 Apr 2008

Researcher Vladimir Mironov talks about the issues involved in engineering a "test-tube meat" in light of PETA holding a contest with a $1 million prize for the first to make and sell engineered chicken meat by 2012. Mironov discusses the problems of getting the correct fluid in which to culture the "meat," the decision about which cells to use, and the additional obstacles to creating the taste and texture of the meat rather than just the protein. Mironov's comments are a good primer to the