NY Times: Switching to Grass-Fed Beef.
”Beef from grass-fed animals has lower levels of unhealthy fats and higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which are better for cardiovascular health. Grass-fed beef also has lower levels of dietary cholesterol and offers more vitamins A and E as well as antioxidants.”
NY Times: P.S.A. prostate screening is inaccurate and a waste of money.
“Last year, The New England Journal of Medicine published results from the two largest studies of the screening procedure, one in Europe and one in the United States. The results from the American study show that over a period of 7 to 10 years, screening did not reduce the death rate in men 55 and over.” [Note: I always keep an eye on prostate issues because we believe my grandfather died of prostate cancer. We can’t be sure, but I believe in ‘safe’ over ‘sorry.’]
NY Times: Toyotas Are Safe (Enough).
”So go out today and buy a Toyota. It’s the patriotic thing to do.” Exactly.
Reuters: Tax soda, pizza to cut obesity, researchers say.
Discover: Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes.
”These results suggest that beer consumption is a risk factor for malaria and needs to be integrated into public health policies for the design of control measures.” So, I suppose you stick to G&T;’s in the tropics ...
Vimeo: Mountain safety.
I’m not responsible if this one makes you snort your coffee.
News.com.AU: Anti-social music brings out the biff, says scientists.
“Across three decades, research has converged to suggest that exposure to music with violent themes increases the likelihood of aggressive behaviour, along with aggressive and hostile thoughts and negative emotions such as anger, unfriendliness and fear.”
Washington Post: FDA warns of salmonella risk from common flavor enhancer.
IMPORTANT. “Thousands of types of processed foods — including many varieties of soups, chips, hot dogs and salad dressings — may pose a health threat because they contain a flavor enhancer that could be contaminated with salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.” Here’s the list. There’s a Trader Joe’s item on there.
NY Times: Human Culture Plays a Role in Natural Selection.
“The best evidence available to Dr. Boyd and Dr. Richerson for culture being a selective force was the lactose tolerance found in many northern Europeans. Most people switch off the gene that digests the lactose in milk shortly after they are weaned, but in northern Europeans — the descendants of an ancient cattle-rearing culture that emerged in the region some 6,000 years ago — the gene is kept switched on in adulthood.” I imagine this makes lactose intolerant individuals feel less isolated.
New Scientist: What is causing deformities in Fallujah’s children?
“In 2004 Fallujah was the scene of heavy fighting in which the US military eventually regained control of the city. Local people told the BBC they suspect US forces used white phosphorus and depleted uranium (DU), although this has not been proved.” Depleted uranium is already implicated in many health maladies. If America won’t do the research, let’s hope Britain does.
Design You Trust: Aleksander Mukomelov ‘Infinity’ Bath.
Juniper’s smoking already.
It’s gonna be a bad allergy season. I’ve got such a headache ...
New Yorker: Head Case.
Bah. Give this a scan, and then go read ”We’ve Had A Hundred Years of Psychotherapy And The World’s Getting Worse.” Prepare to have your head blown off. If it’s the first time you’ve read Hillman, you can thank me later.
LA Times: Roger Ebert takes to Twitter to give tea party followers a thumb’s down.
I keep running into Roger Ebert everywhere. His rapid rise in the press makes me expect we’re ripe for inevitable sensational come-down revelations. Perhaps he shaved cats in his teens. It’s the old paradigm for the media - the over-buildup, then — shock! — sensational letdown(s), mass of advertising dollars made on reporting minutiae. Question is, will we all remain faithful when it turns out he’s human?
New Scientist: The pheromone myth: Sniffing out the truth.
”Not only have mammalian pheromones not been found, but the idea oversimplifies the nature of chemical communication among mammals.” So you can tell the lounge-lizards to drop the musk ...
CJR: Do Articles About Toxins Causing Autism Cause Hysteria? They Don’t Have To.
“… Kristof finds a way to discuss the research without getting hysterical. These two paragraphs of journalistic disclosure are all it takes ...”
NPR: Software Mimics Person’s Voice.
“Film critic Roger Ebert had his larynx removed through surgery, but a company called CereProc in Edinburgh, Scotland, has created a beta version of his voice.”
The Nation: Big Tobacco and the Historians
“On the stand Proctor began to explain racism in tobacco marketing. He started to say that the companies had marketed products called Nigger-Head Tobacco and Nigger-Hair Tobacco — brands that existed as late as the 1960s. But a Philip Morris attorney, objecting that Proctor had injected racial slurs into the courtroom, demanded a mistrial — and got it. The judge ruled that Proctor’s utterance of those words was ‘prejudicial.’” Revisionist history through litigation. Disgusting.
Science Daily: In learning, the brain forgets things on purpose.
“… a new study in flies suggests that kind of forgetfulness doesn’t just happen. Rather, an active process of erasing memories may in some ways be as important as the ability to lay down new memories ...”
Discover Magazine: Thai military chief defends use of magic wands.
”Antiscience kills. You might think that dowsing rods are a cute diversion or at worst a waste of money, but in fact believing in them is leading directly to the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people across the world.”
Slate: The environmental impact of pet food.
“… the emotional attachment you feel to your dog or cat isn’t a free pass to ignore its contribution to your family’s overall consumption patterns. Maybe it means you make some personal trade-offs to balance out your choice of animal companion — like riding your bike instead of driving, for example.” Or ask your dog to become a vegetarian (also suggested in this article).
CNN: H1N1: Pandemic was emotional as well as physical.
Ironic. If the authorities took the alarm to ‘10’, the media took it to ‘11’. You couldn’t escape the 24-hour news cycle retreading the fear and panic for a few weeks there. Look inwards, CNN, before casting blame elsewhere.
Lifehacker: Naps Can Seriously Improve All-Day Learning Abilities.
“Taking a 90-minute nap the day of a test or presentation sounds like a ludicrous luxury. But a recent study on the brain’s ability to recall facts found that napping at noon could mean a lot more brain power at 6 p.m.” Why wait? I’ll just hop back in bed right now.
Washington Post: Alternatives to BPA containers not easy for U.S. foodmakers to find.
“But they are discovering how complicated it is to remove the chemical, which is in the epoxy linings of nearly every metal can on supermarket shelves and leaches into foods such as soup, liquid baby formula and soda.” Read further to find out how soaked we are in BPA: cutting boards, gloves, CDs, dental sealants, credit card and ATM receipts, sports bottles, baby bottles, food containers, eyeglasses, computers ...
NY Times: On and Off Olympic Short Track, Ohno Is in it for Long Haul.
“A typical workout: eight sets of two repetitions at 1,000 pounds on the leg press, one leg at a time, holding the weight between each set. Then bench hops. Then one-legged hops. Then, in the afternoon, treadmill training, alternating each minute between 12 and 15 miles an hour for 20 rotations.” Good lord. Something to aspire to.
