1. Orangutans use tools! - Intelligent designers throw a hissy fit everywhere as the link between ourselves and our evolutionary forebears grows stronger and stronger. But in any case, the story is just cool.
2. Red Meat: No Good - Sorry carnivores, but it turns out that a little sialic acid called Neu5Gc will be the bane of your future existence. What's the problem with this molecule? Humans don't make it. We make a variant of it, Neu5Ac. Who does make alot of Neu5Gc? Plenty of other mammals. Neu5Gc appears foreign to our immune system, but is perfectly normal to immune systems of other mammals, such as chimpanzees. And, to quote:Chimpanzees do not seem to suffer from heart disease, cancers, rheumatoid arthritis or bronchial asthma - common conditions in humans. Nor do they get sick from the human malaria parasite, which uses sialic acid to latch on to our blood cells.NeuGc is also a common component of serum sickness, a complication of treatment with, you guessed it, animal serum (which has been used because its a way to flood the body with neutralizing antibodies and prevent immune over-reactions). So: cut down on that steak.
3. Waterboarding is Definitely Torture - Because some idiot at Vanity Fair tried it. No offense, but I was already convinced. It was a pretty interesting article, though. Are you listening, everyone who thought that FIMA was OK? This is the same line of thinking.
Now, some contributions of my own!
How did Wall-E get it wrong?1. Obesity - Daniel Engber has some interesting thoughts on this. While he enjoyed the movie (didn't we all), he took issue with the tacit association of obesity with ecological destruction. While I think his assertion that the movie attempts to pin the planet's environmental collapse on the overweight (quote: "If only society could get off its big, fat ass and go on a diet!") is an overreaction (its far, far more an indictment of consumerism), I think the article is worth reading, first because it corrects a number of inappropriate assumptions about obesity, and second because it (correctly) criticizes Pixar's choice to depict the result of such consumerism primarily as a group of obese citizens. Read the article; pay particular attention to the closing paragraph.
2. Cockroaches - Also incorrect: the the cockroach as the last remnant of life on Earth. Are cockroaches so hardy that they would outlast every other living being? Not quite, although they apparently are sturdy enough to live without their head for weeks. Sweet.
Health Related Tidbits - Two fantastic articles on the value, and danger, of 2 senses
1. The Itch - Atul Gawande delivers another impeccable anecdote, but I find the article to be most interesting because of the qualification of "itchiness" as an entirely separate sense, quite distinct from pain. This was proved with an ingenious experiment discussed in the article, in which increasing amounts of painful stimuli had no impact on the itchiness of said stimuli. What follows is some amazing insight into the transmission of 'itch' signals via distinct neuronal pathways whose sensors have a molecular makeup that will amaze you in their design.
2. Anosmia - One of the most interesting aspects of this self-portrait of losing the sense of smell by Elizabeth Zierah was how undervalued smell is ("equivalent to losing a big toe," according to the article). Not true, it turns out; the devastating impact of losing one's sense of smell is yet more evidence of the imporance of synergy between your senses.
National Election Stuff
1. Barack's "OPod" - The New Republic gives us this very interesting piece on the content of Barack Obama's IPod. Aside from the quick disemboweling of John Kerry in the initial paragraph (who couldn't even muster a preference between the Stones and the Beatles), the piece tells us what we can learn from the Senator's playlist. Most importantly:
"...The fact that he responds to Wenner's question about hip-hop with the most straight-down-the-middle liberal platitudes imaginable (praising it as "rebel music" while expressing concern about its "misogyny and materialism") clearly matters less than the fact that there's a guy running for President who knows who Jay-Z is."2. Making fun of Obama - This is a fascinating article from the Times on the struggles of late-night and other comedians to (successfully) make fun of Obama. What's a little less clear are the reasons behind this difficulty. Two have been offered: 1) He hasn't done something identifiably stupid to serve as a rallying point, and 2) making fun of him makes you feel a little guilty. I agree with both. This is part of his whole 'teflon' image (I realize that "teflon" carries a negative connotation, but I don't mean it that way) - he seems sqeaky clean, bizarelly so when you consider that nobody really thinks that he is. Of course, the race issue doesn't help either. What's more interesting is how we react to rare circumstances in which someone chooses to poke fun at him, as in the case of:
3. The Infamous New Yorker Cover (pictured, right). So here we have a perfect scenario. A progressive magazine publishes a cover image in obvious satire of the insane stereotypes levied against Obama, all in combination - that is is a Muslim in cahoots with Osama bin Laden, that he is a flag burner whose terrorist fist-jab clearly implies Middle Eastern allegiances. (His wife's Afro is a subtle touch). But obvious satire such has this has inspired uproar, and why? Because we all know and fear the misinterpretation of this joke. Calling McCain old isn't dangerous, but calling Obama a terrorist is, because 10% of America thinks this is true. And it doesn't matter whether the tone of the cover is obviously satirical or not. To quote Jake Tapper of ABC News:Intent factors into these matters, of course, but no Upper East Side liberal—no matter how superior they feel their intellect is—should assume that just because they're mocking such ridiculousness, the illustration won't feed into the same beast in emails and other media. It's a recruitment poster for the right-wing.It pains me, but he's right.
4. McCain fears computers - Does this include robots? Does he refuse to watch Wall-E? We should look into this. And if he does start using the internet, maybe he can respond to this New Republic piece threatening a return to Cold War-era politics under his aegis.
This was a long-ass post. Later: myanmar and sports.
No comments:
Post a Comment