The Economist:
Big Pharma sets its sights on developing countries. It will be interesting to see how they fare before such entities as this.
NY Times Opinion:
Shame on the Junta. Shame on the world, for disempowering the UN to the extent that they can’t discursively deal with this kind of tragedy, unencumbered by geopolitical idiocy.
Telegraph.UK:
Why beauty is an advert for good genes. Hmmm ... were all those young ladies of the past wrong to love Gary Cooper’s upside-down lopsided smile?
Washington Post:
Subprime crisis, food crisis, global warming, destabilizing political season ... what more do we need? Pandemic Flu Threat Remains Substantial, Health Experts Say.
SF New Mexican:
Anti-Darwinism film evolves into nationwide hit. “It’s the metaphysical atheists who are taking Darwin’s theory of evolution and they are using that as a bludgeon ...” A ‘bludgeon’ that gives us such useful things as advanced pharmaceuticals. Take away their meds, they’d change opinions in a heartbeat.
NY Times Research:
Study Finds That Fat Cells Die and Are Replaced. Can’t you guys just get replaced with slimmer cells?
SF New Mexican:
Deadly exposure: Plutonium-related cancers plague children of the Manhattan Project. An important read for those who believe plutonium is ’harmless‘. Bigger issues as plutonium leaches into the Rio Grande, perhaps upstream from Santa Fe.
New York Magazine:
How and Why Has Bill Clinton Fallen From Grace? Virtually noone seems willing to look at the obvious answer ... personality change as a result of quadruple bypass surgery. It happens frequently, due to multifarious factors (oxygen starvation of the brain, depression following surgery, trauma).
BBC:
”Children who attend daycare or playgroups cut their risk of the most common type of childhood leukaemia by around 30%, a study estimates.”
NY Times Autos:
Do hybrids generate dangerous levels of EMF?
Harvard University Gazette:
First targeted therapy for melanoma brings hope.
NY Times US:
FDA Takes Closer Look at Lasik Complaints. “Cutting the corneal flap severs nerves responsible for stimulating tear production, and how well those nerves heal in turn determines how much dry eye lingers long-term.”
Times Online.UK:
“I don’t do underwear. I never do the washing. How would I know whether my clothes stink? I throw them away.”
IHT:
Hatch of Soyuz capsule nearly burned up; crew was in serious danger. “Interfax quoted an unidentified space official as saying that the capsule entered the atmosphere improperly, with the hatch-first, instead of with its heat shields leading the way.” Wow, that says a great deal about the construction of the Soyuz, that it could survive such a situation.
NY Times Europe:
Europe Turns to Coal Again, Raising Alarms on Climate. Jeez, what a picture.
Wired:
Pay Attention! Brain Scanners Detect Slip-Ups Before You Do. “Researchers observed test subjects’ minds going on autopilot up to half a minute before the subjects actually made mistakes, even though the subjects weren’t aware of their own lapses of attention.” computers need I one of those ...
NY Times Health:
At 60, He Learned to Sing So He Could Learn to Talk. Everything old is new again. Singing has helped many with speech disfluencies over the years. Carly Simon was one of the rare female stutterers (more men statistically than women), who adopted singing as a method to fluency. It also teaches breath control ... oh so important ... and leads one towards legato speech (turning on the breath, using that breath for entire phrase, softening consonants if necessary). Rhythmic tapping can help, but therapists can go a little nuts with it. Once upon a time, they had stutterers swinging dumbbells while reciting.
Washington Post:
“For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.”
The Economist:
Stemming a tumorous tide. “Treatments that kill the bulk of a tumour, but leave the stem cells alive, are only buying time. On the other hand, if all of a tumour’s stem cells could be killed then it would torpedo the old wisdom that no patient is ever cured of cancer, but merely goes into remission. True cures for cancer would be possible.”
NY Times:
In Lean Times, Biotech Grains Are Less Taboo. What a load of tripe. Consumers don’t know, because nothing’s labelled clearly as genetically modified. How do you tell you’re ingesting biotech high fructose corn syrup? Easy. It’s probably the only corn syrup you can purchase these days.
BBC:
‘Jury out’ on prostate screening. “… the test is seen as notoriously inaccurate: although 10-15% of men will have high enough PSA levels to warrant carrying out a prostate biopsy, only 2-3% will require any treatment. The majority will have undergone unpleasant, invasive and potentially costly investigations for no reason.”
Reuters:
In the “as if you didn’t already know” department ... “The use of antibiotics and other anti-microbial agents throughout the food chain contributes to the growth of resistant bacteria which can be passed on to humans through food ...”
NY Times Fashion & Style:
Changing Speeds to Go the Distance. You may hate ‘em, but intervals (what we used to call ’fartlek‘ in the olden days) work. The ice bath is new to me, however.
Washington Post:
A “… draft report by the National Toxicology Program signaled a turning point in the government’s position on bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical so ubiquitous in the United States that it has been detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age.”
NY Times Europe:
French Bill Takes Chic Out of Being Too Thin. Diet, you lose muscle. Change the proportions of what you eat (protein, starchy carbs, good fats, etc.) and mix with exercise, you’ll reproportion the way you desire. Stay away from processed foods ... they’re made to go down fast and leave you not just wanting, but craving more.
