March 2012
70 posts
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February 2012
64 posts
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Hyperactivity in brain explains multiple symptoms... →
Most of us know what it means when it’s said that someone is depressed. But commonly, true clinical depression brings with it a number of other symptoms. These can include anxiety, poor attention and concentration, memory issues, and sleep disturbances.
Traditionally, depression researchers have sought to identify the individual brain areas responsible for causing these symptoms. But the...
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U.S.: North Korea Agrees to Suspend Nuclear... →
inothernews:
“The United States says North Korea has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and a moratorium on nuclear, and long-range missile tests. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland also said Wednesday the North has agreed to alllow International Atomic Energy inspectors to verify and monitor the moratorium on uranium enrichment and confirm disablement of its nuclear reactor at...
People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to... →
infoneer-pulse:
The democratic process relies on the assumption that citizens (the majority of them, at least) can recognize the best political candidate, or best policy idea, when they see it. But a growing body of research has revealed an unfortunate aspect of the human psyche that would seem to disprove this notion, and imply instead that democratic elections produce mediocre leadership and...
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Stop the Reckless Spying on Muslims →
The New York Police Department is out of control, and it’s making Americans less safe.
On Feb. 20, Yale University President Richard Levin expressed his anger at the NYPD’s extensive surveillance of American Muslim students, which has included monitoring students’ emails and websites, events and speakers, and activities — not only at Yale, but at universities across the...
Off Switch for Pain? Chemists Build...
thenewenlightenmentage:
It may sound like science fiction, but researchers have now succeeded in inhibiting pain-sensitive neurons on demand, in the laboratory. The crucial element in their strategy is a chemical sensor that acts as a light-sensitive switch.
The notion of a pain switch is an alluring idea, but is it realistic? Well, chemists at LMU Munich, in collaboration with colleagues...
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Why Even Educated Conservatives Deny Science --... →
Here’s a mind-blowing surprise: For Republicans, having a college degree didn’t appear to make one any more open to what scientists have to say. On the contrary, better-educated Republicans were more skeptical of modern climate science. Only 19% of college-educated Republicans agreed that the planet is warming due to human actions, versus 31% of non-college-educated Republicans. For Democrats and...
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Oil Caps Longest Rally in Two Years on Iranian... →
Oil capped its longest rally since January 2010 as escalating tension with Iran threatens supplies and on signs of a global economic recovery.
Futures advanced above $109 a barrel for the first time in almost 10 months as sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation make it more difficult to sell oil. Iran dismissed UN atomic inspectors’ concerns that nuclear-weapon work is occurring, a document...
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Easily Pronounced Names Make People More Likable →
Though it might seem impossible, and certainly inadvisable, to judge a person by their name, a new study suggests our brains try anyway.
Studies have already shown that people can partly predict a person’s income and education using only their first name. Childhood is perhaps the richest area for name research: Boys with girls’ names are more likely to be suspended from school. And the less...
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To avoid depression and burnout, scientists... →
Obesity can be a dangerous risk to our physical health, but according to a Tel Aviv University researcher, avoiding the gym can also take a toll on our mental health, leading to depression and greater burnout rates. From the study:
Depression and burnout rates were clearly the highest among the group that did not participate in physical activity. The more physical activity that participants...
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“I. WILL. NEVER. VOTE. FOR. A. CONSPIRACY. THEORIST. I can’t put someone like...”
– Geochemistry professor Barry Bickmore, a Mormon and a Republican, urges people to Just Say No to Conspiracy Theorists. Look, Santorum! Even your own kind despises you!
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Earth's clouds are getting lower →
Earth’s clouds got a little lower — about one percent on average — during the first decade of this century, finds a new NASA-funded university study based on NASA satellite data. The results have potential implications for the future global climate.
A consistent reduction in cloud height would allow Earth to cool to space more efficiently, reducing the surface temperature of the...
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Judge rules Defense of Marriage Act is... →
“The argument that the definition of marriage should remain the same for the definition’s sake is a circular argument, not a rational justification,” Judge Jeffery White wrote in his decision. “Simply stating what has always been does not address the reasons for it. The mere fact that prior law, history, tradition, the dictionary and the Bible have defined a term does not give that definition a...
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“The rich and powerful regularly advocate liberalization once they have achieved...”
– Noam Chomsky
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Military service, even without combat, makes... →
It’s no secret that battlefield trauma can impact a veteran’s ability to function in civilian life. But new research led by Washington University in St. Louis suggests that military service, even without combat, has a subtle lingering effect on a man’s personality, making it potentially more difficult for veterans to get along with friends, family and co-workers.
The study...
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Single-atom transistor is the end of Moore's Law--... →
The smallest transistor ever built — in fact, the smallest transistor that can be built — has been created using a single phosphorus atom.
Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors that can be placed on a processor will double approximately every 18 months. The latest Intel chip, the “Sandy Bridge,” uses a manufacturing process to place 2.3 billion...
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More sleep isn't always better-- high school... →
Whether or not you know any high school students that actually get nine hours of sleep each night, that’s what federal guidelines currently prescribe.
A new Brigham Young University study found that 16-18 year olds perform better academically when they shave about two hours off that recommendation.
“We’re not talking about sleep deprivation,” says study author Eric Eide. “The data simply says...
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The "biblical view" that’s younger than the Happy... →
In 1979, McDonald’s introduced the Happy Meal.
Sometime after that, it was decided that the Bible teaches that human life begins at conception.
Ask any American evangelical today what the Bible says about abortion and they will insist that this is what it says. (Many don’t actually believe this, but they know it is the only answer that won’t get them in trouble.) They’ll be a little fuzzy on...
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Want to spur innovation? Tax carbon →
It’s not easy reading, but this is a brilliant article nonetheless. If you have time I highly recommend you read it, because if offers a comprehensive solution to many of America’s problems at the moment. Here’s a quick overview:
Resetting the US economic engine along the lines of open-market sustainability should have outsized positive impacts on jobs, national security,...
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Tackling Climate Change Requires Looking Beyond... →
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton today announced a $15 million, six-country coalition dedicated to curbing non-carbon dioxide pollutants that cause global warming.
The Climate and Clean Air Coalition will target greenhouse gases such as methane and soot, which only remain in the atmosphere for days or weeks— unlike carbon dioxide, which lasts generations. However, they still...
'Global Square': Wikileaks-Backed Activist... →
anticapitalist:
WikiLeaks Central announced a “Call to Coders” Tuesday as they prepare for the March launch of the “first massive decentralized social network in the history of the Internet.”
“The goal of the Global Square is to perpetuate and spread the creative and cooperative spirit of the occupations and transform this into lasting forms of social organization, at the global as well as...
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“For every dollar in your wallet, Mike Bloomberg has $197,916. In other words,...”
– How Much is a Bloomberg Buck?: 200,000x Wealthier Than the Average US Family
great visualisation idea from the folks at OWS
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Does Military Service Lead to Crime? →
A new working paper by Jason M. Lindo and Charles F. Stoecker examines the link between military service (in Vietnam) and crime. It has some bad news: “We find that military service increases the probability of incarceration for violent crimes among whites, with point estimates suggesting an impact of 0.27 percentage points.” The authors also find offsetting impacts on nonviolent crime and...
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450 Bases and it's Not Over Yet: The Pentagon’s... →
In late December, the lot was just a big blank: a few burgundy metal shipping containers sitting in an expanse of crushed eggshell-colored gravel inside a razor-wire-topped fence. The American military in Afghanistan doesn’t want to talk about it, but one day soon, it will be a new hub for the American drone war in the Greater Middle East.
Next year, that empty lot will be a two-story concrete...
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“We have anti-choice women in for abortions all the time. Many of them are just...”
– A physician at an abortion clinic
This is from The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion. If you haven’t read it already, READ IT RIGHT NOW.
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Wall Street "likely to set records" for political... →
With Wall Street profits and bonuses falling and big banks cutting jobs right and left, it seems that the financial services sector would be scaling back its free-spending ways.
But according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis, they are likely to set records in 2012 on political spending — the bulk of which is aimed at defeating President Barack Obama and electing Republicans opposed to...
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New Reactors Signal U.S. Nuclear Energy Resurgence →
The United States has approved construction of new nuclear reactors for the first time in three decades. These “third-generation” reactors, to be built in Georgia are said to be safer, with longer-lasting batteries and passive cooling systems powered by gravity so that they can survive longer during emergencies without outside power, giving people days instead of hours to react.
This...
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Congress Left in Dark on Increased Wiretapping →
A Senate staffer was tasked two years ago with compiling reports about the number of times annually the Justice Department employed a covert internet and telephone surveillance method known as pen register and trap-and-trace capturing.
But the records, which the Justice Department is required to forward to Congress annually, were nowhere in sight. That’s because the Justice Department was not...
‘Tribler’ software makes Internet piracy... →
A piece of software getting a fresh look this week seems to have the answer that media pirates are looking for: invincibility, with zero liability for website operators. That’s because this software, known as Tribler, does not require a website to track users sharing “Torrent” files, a peer-to-peer network protocol that enables computers to share files with thousands of others.
Tribler, in...
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Rolling Stone publishes a damning 84-page report... →
aheram:
Holy shit. If you want, download the full report here. Or just click through to read the summary.
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In California, Green Jobs Are Recession-Proof →
Last summer, the Brookings Institution came up with a figure for America’s ever-elusive green workforce: America supports 2.7 million jobs in the clean energy economy. And in California, at least, jobs like these have proven more resilient to the economic downturn. What Next 10, a nonprofit focused on California’s future, says the “core green economy” did shrink during the recession (from...
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Mind control could be future of warfare →
Wars of the future might be decided through manipulation of people’s minds, concludes a report this week from the UK’s Royal Society. It warns that the potential military applications of neuroscience breakthroughs need to be regulated more closely.
“New imaging technology will allow new targets in the brain to be identified, and while some will be vital for medicine, others...
BP Made $3 Million An Hour In 2011, While Spill... →
BP’s 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill is still affecting the lives of many Americans, particularly the tens of thousands that have not settled lawsuits with the company. Yet the company today that its 2011 profit totaled $26 billion, a 114% jump from the year before, when the company caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Let’s take a look at how BP has made out after the Deepwater Horizon...
“Some people think that you can’t let same-sex couples get married without...”
– California attorney and semi-professional cynic Bill Smith on today’s Ninth Circuit decision regarding Proposition 8. Read the full decision here.