Food For Thought

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080519122526.htm

Environmental Cost Of Getting Food To Restaurants Far Higher, UK Study Finds

ScienceDaily (May 22, 2008) — Pioneering research from The University of Nottingham recommends a full government environmental audit of British restaurants.

The report — 'The Environmental Sustainability of the British Restaurant Industry: A London Case Study' — has revealed that the environmental cost of getting food to the restaurant plate is far higher than previously thought.

BSc student Will Brookes studied 40 restaurants in London, and carried out an extensive public survey, to test knowledge of local produce and the cost to the environment of importing food ingredients.

“Everyone knows that importing food inevitably creates more CO₂­ than locally sourced foodstuffs,” he says. “But we were stunned to discover that the CO₂ produced by meals based on imported ingredients from non-European countries, is on average more than a hundred times higher than that of ingredients produced in Britain.”

The study found that an average dish, using ingredients from non-European countries, produces more than five kilograms of CO₂ in transport. In comparison, food which is locally sourced by environmentally aware or 'green' restaurants produces just 51 grams.

It is believed that food transport alone accounts for 35 per cent of the UK's total emissions, and the food industry is the third largest contributor with industrial use.

another song

I added a secular version of "A Good Dream" to
www.myspace.com/patriciashannonsongs

I also added lyrics to "Spiritual Best"

"Spiritual Best" and both versions of "A Good Dream" were produced by Chip Martin.
see chipsongs.com

The last verse of both the religious and secular versions of "A Good Dream" are in the process of being changed to be less offensive to some people. I didn't notice that I had the original version. I have written poems/song that are offensive to some by their nature, but these songs I have posted are meant to be uplifting. I have the CD with the religious version of "A Good Dream" that I will be posting, but felt that having Chip create the mp3s from his files would result in a higher quality product than to copy the CD to mp3s.

Having Less Power Impairs The Mind And Ability To Get Ahead, Study Shows

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515113259.htm

ScienceDaily (May 16, 2008) — New research appearing in the May issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, suggests that being put in a low-power role may impair a person’s basic cognitive functioning and thus, their ability to get ahead.

Maternal Exposure To Persistent Organic Pollutants Linked To Urologic Conditions In Boys

Note: this class of chemicals includes DDT, which some people defend as not very dangerous, and want brought back into use.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080515072828.htm

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2008) — Higher incidences of congenital anomalies, including cryptorchidism (undescended testicles) and hypospadias, were found in boys whose mothers had higher serum levels of certain organochlorine compounds, researchers say.
...
About Organochlorine Compounds: Initially lauded for their chemical stability, PCBs (such as Araclor and its congeners) and organochlorinated pesticides such as DDT are lipid-soluble compounds actively produced around the world in the first half of the 20th century. After widespread use in agricultural and manufacturing applications (as plastizers, heat-stabilizing additives for PVC electric insulation, adhesives and paints), they were discontinued in both open and closed uses in the 1970s when health risks became apparent. Lipid soluble, the compounds are absorbed and dispersed to living tissue and, as a result, can have a cumulative effect and cause toxin damage across generations. The United States banned their domestic production in 1977.

Ice Cores Reveal Fluctuations In Earth's Greenhouse Gases

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080514131131.htm

ScienceDaily (May 17, 2008) — The newest analysis of trace gases trapped in Antarctic ice cores now provide a reasonable view of greenhouse gas concentrations as much as 800,000 years into the past, and are further confirming the link between greenhouse gas levels and global warming, scientists reported May 14 in the journal Nature.

They also show that during that entire period of time, there have never been concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane as high as the current levels, said Edward Brook, an associate professor of geosciences at Oregon State University, and author of a Nature commentary on the new studies.
...

According to the data, the current levels of primary greenhouse gases -- those that are expected to cause global warming - are off the charts.

The concentration of carbon dioxide is now a bit more than 380 parts per million, compared to a range of about 200-300 parts per million during the past 800,000 years. The current concentration of methane is 1,800 parts per billion, compared to a range of about 400-700 parts per billion during that time.

listen to my music

I have posted a couple of songs I co-wrote with Gaillyn Hope at
www.myspace.com/patriciashannon.songs

I will be adding lyrics and ability to buy a download as soon as I can.

They were performed/recorded by professional musician Chip Martin
http://chipsongs.com/

In the late 70's, Chip turned his talents toward songwriting, and to date has over 200 songs in his catalog. He has an RIAA certified gold record for his song "Forget About Love" recorded by country star Mark Wills, has a song that is the title track ("Love Me or Leave Me Alone") on Randy Meisner's (formerly of The Eagles) latest CD, a tune placed on Billy Paul's record "Wide Open" (of "Me and Mrs. Jones" fame), and a cut by Grand Ole Opry star Billy Dean. The song that Billy Dean recorded was used on the popular Turner Broadcasting TV Show "Live at the Bluebird Cafe" shot here in Nashville at the famous songwriter venue.

Our Great Economic U-Turn

Note: The median salary is the point where half of the people make less, half the people make more.
A surprise is that this is in the Wall Street Journal, which was slanted toward the plutocracy, even before being bought by Murdoch.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121072656227790335.html?mod=todays_columnists

By THOMAS FRANK
May 14, 2008; Page A19
Median "nonelderly" household income, we find, fell consistently through the first half of this decade, despite the solid economic growth enjoyed by the country as a whole.

Some nonmedian folks did just fine, of course: The top 20% of households earned more, after taxes, than the rest of the country combined in 2005, while the topmost 1% of the population took home more than the bottom 40%. The top-earning hedge fund manager of 2007, in fact, made about as much last year in nominal dollars ($3.7 billion) as J. Paul Getty, one of the richest men in the world, was worth in the mid-1970s.

Real hourly wages for most workers, on the other hand, have risen only 1% since 1979, even as those workers' productivity has increased by 60%. What's more, American workers now clock more hours per year than their counterparts in virtually every other advanced economy, even Japan. And unless you haven't read a newspaper for 15 years, you already know what's happened to workers' health insurance and pension plans.

music

I expect to post some good stuff on myspace very soon.
So far all I have is my "Hunger Walk" song, sung well enough for people who want to sing it in support of hunger walks, to hear how the lyrics go with the melody, but not something people will listen to otherwise, except maybe I could be another William Hung!

its at www.myspace.com/patriciashannonsongs

When the good stuff is there, I'll put a note in this blog.

Next week

I was too busy this week to post anything, but I'll post some more of poems/lyrics next week.

If you live in the Atlanta area, try 1690 am radio
Unfortunately, I can only get it during the day, in my car, but that's better than nothing!

Half of Americans struggle to stay happy

What a wonderful testimony to government by conservatives (sarcasm alert)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24376037/

updated 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Staying healthy and happy is a struggle for about half of Americans, according to a massive survey that attempts to measure the nation’s general welfare, much like the Dow Jones Industrial Average portrays the health of the stock market.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, based on interviews of more than 100,000 people so far, shows that 47 percent of Americans are struggling and 4 percent are suffering. Forty-nine percent of respondents are reported to be thriving based on a personal assessment of how they feel about their lives at the time of the survey, and where they think they’ll be in five years.
...
Those who are thriving tend to have higher incomes, more education and less illness. Those who are suffering have trouble meeting their basic needs, including food, shelter and medical care, said James Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist for workplace management and well-being.

Just as the U.S is not No. 1 when it comes to health measures, it also is not No. 1 in well-being, he said. For example, 83 percent of the residents of Denmark are classified as thriving versus 1 percent who are suffering.
...
Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, noted that the United States invests more on health care than any country, but that its health care system ranks 37th.

DNA results free man after 27 years in prison

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24371021/

James Woodard is the 18th person in Dallas to have conviction vacated
updated 2:40 p.m. ET, Tues., April. 29, 2008

DALLAS - A man who spent more than 27 years in prison for a murder he did not commit was freed Tuesday, after being incarcerated longer than any other wrongfully convicted U.S. inmate cleared by DNA testing.
...
Overall, 31 people have been formally exonerated through DNA testing in Texas, also a national high. That does not include Woodard and at least three others whose exonerations will not become official until Gov. Rick Perry grants pardons or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals formally accepts the ruling of lower courts that have already recommended exoneration.

serendipity

Wow, what timing. I found this shortly after posting my poem/song "The Stranger in the Mirror".
Of course, my poem is not about this delusion, but what a coincidence.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428160113.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — Researchers at Macquarie University have developed an original new approach to the study of delusions, using hypnosis to temporarily create typical delusional beliefs in otherwise non-delusional people.
...
People suffering from mirrored-self misidentification believe that the person they see when they look in the mirror is not them, but some stranger who looks similar to them.

Friendly Germs

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428084232.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — Children who attend day care or play groups have about a 30% lower risk of developing the most common type of childhood leukaemia than those who do not, according to a new analysis of studies investigating the link.

Friendly Germs

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428084232.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 28, 2008) — Children who attend day care or play groups have about a 30% lower risk of developing the most common type of childhood leukaemia than those who do not, according to a new analysis of studies investigating the link.

Our Big Feet

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428120658.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2008) — An MIT class has estimated the carbon emissions of Americans in a wide variety of lifestyles -- from the homeless to multimillionaires, from Buddhist monks to soccer moms -- and compared them to those of other nations. The somewhat disquieting bottom line is that in the United States, even the people with the lowest usage of energy are still producing, on average, more than double the global per-capita average. Whether you live in a cardboard box or a luxurious mansion, whether you subsist on homegrown vegetables or wolf down imported steaks, whether you're a jet-setter or a sedentary retiree, anyone who lives in the U.S. contributes more than twice as much greenhouse gas to the atmosphere as the global average, an MIT class has estimated.
...
While it may seem surprising that even people whose lifestyles don't appear extravagant--the homeless, monks, children--are responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions, one major factor is the array of government services that are available to everyone in the United States. These basic services--including police, roads, libraries, the court system and the military--were allocated equally to everyone in the country in this study. Other services that are more specific, such as education or Medicare, were allocated only to those who actually make use of them.

Team Spirit

There's hope for the world if we can learn to enlarge our definition of "our team" .

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428094212.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 29, 2008)
People act in their own best interests, according to traditional views of how and why we make the decisions that we do. However, psychologists at the Universities of Leicester and Exeter have recently found evidence that this assumption is not necessarily true. In fact the research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, shows that most of us will act in the best interest of our team -- often at our own expense.

The Stranger in the Mirror

The Stranger in the Mirror
copyright 2001 Patricia M. Shannon

Who is that stranger I see in the mirror?
I wonder who it can be.
That middle-aged person with gray-streaked hair,
looking out at me.

I don't have wrinkles and age spots I know,
so it is plain to see -
that person I see staring out of the mirror
simply can't be me.

I used to think life was so vast,
I could do all that I cared.
But now I find life is racing so fast,
I'm running in place, but getting nowhere.

While there's so many books I still want to read,
so many things to do,
so many places I haven't been,
so many things to learn about you.

So, who is that stranger I see in the mirror?
I wonder who it can be.
That middle-aged person with gray-streaked hair,
simply can't be me.

Injecting Sulfate Particles into Stratosphere Could Have Drastic Impact on Earth's Ozone Layer

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111467&org=NSF&from=news

April 24, 2008

A much-discussed idea to offset global warming by injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere would have a drastic impact on Earth's protective ozone layer, new research concludes.

The study, led by Simone Tilmes of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., warns that such an approach would delay the recovery of the Antarctic ozone hole by decades and cause significant ozone loss over the Arctic.
...
The new study concluded that, over the next few decades, artificial injections of sulfates could destroy between one-fourth and three-fourths of the ozone layer above the Arctic. This could affect a large part of the Northern Hemisphere because of atmospheric circulation patterns.

The sulfates would also delay the expected recovery of the ozone hole over the Antarctic by about 30 to 70 years, or until at least the last decade of the twentieth century, the authors warn. The ozone layer is critical for life on Earth because it blocks dangerous ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.

"This study highlights another connection between global warming and ozone depletion, which had been thought of as separate problems but are now increasingly recognized to be coupled in subtle, yet profoundly important, ways," says Science Express paper co-author Ross Salawitch of the University of Maryland.

common vitamin and other micronutrient supplements reduce risks of TB recurrence

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/idso-ssc042508.php

Contact: Steve Baragona
703-299-0412
Infectious Diseases Society of America

New findings show a link between micronutrient supplementation and reduced risk of recurrence during tuberculosis chemotherapy, according to a study published in the June 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.
...
The study showed that micronutrient supplementation was associated with reduced rates of TB recurrence. In the study, both HIV-infected and uninfected patients with pulmonary TB who were receiving the supplements had a decreased risk of TB recurrence during the next few months after the TB culture had become negative: 45 percent overall and 63 percent in HIV-infected patients. Supplementation also reduced the incidence of peripheral neuropathy by 57 percent, irrespective of HIV status, and increased the levels of certain cells (CD3 and CD4) important in immune response in HIV-uninfected patients.

Passive Smoking Almost Doubles Risk Of Degenerative Eye Disease

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060102123337.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2006) — Passive smoking almost doubles the risk of the progressively degenerative eye disease, age related macular degeneration, shows research in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Breathing dirty air may lower kids' IQ

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23188393/

Heavy pollution tied to low memory and intellegence scores, study says
updated 6:04 p.m. ET Fri., Feb. 15, 2008
Kids who live in neighborhoods with heavy traffic pollution have lower IQs and score worse on other tests of intelligence and memory than children who breathe cleaner air, a new study shows.

The effect of pollution on intelligence was similar to that seen in children whose mothers smoked 10 cigarettes a day while pregnant, or in kids who have been exposed to lead, said Dr. Shakira Franco Suglia of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, the study's lead author.

My Most-Hated Stuff

My Most Hated Stuff
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 2000
(to the tune of "My Favorite Things"
from "The Sound of Music")

Atlanta drivers, those honking tail-gaters,
who never slow down, whatever the weather,
people who turn up the sound way too much,
this are just some of my most-hated stuff.

Hot southern summers with no air-conditioning,
cold winter days without enough heating,
paychecks that run out 'cause they're not enough,
this are just some of my most-hated stuff.

(chorus)
Life is so short, that it is tough,
not to feel sad.
But I remember my most-hated stuff
and then I don't feel so bad!

Swimsuits cut so high I don't dare to move,
painful deformed feet from pointy-toed shoes,
pantyhose that simply will not stay up,
this are just some of my most-hated stuff.

Changing the tires, adjusting the brakes,
comp-time I'm owed that they won't let me take,
jock itch that simply will never let up,
this are just some of my most-hated stuff!

(chorus)

song for Earth Day

Take Care of Our Planet
copyright 2001 Patricia M. Shannon

Walking in the early sunlight, with the calling birds,
I see the trees against the newborn sky;
listening to the breeze, I hear God's voice
saying "Take care of this planet, don't make it die!"
We must

(chorus)

take care of our planet,
it's the only home we have;
it will give us what we need,
if we treat it respectfully.

He did not make the earth to be just a toy,
or an enemy with which we are at war;
remember that we were just an afterthought,
stewards and not owners are what we are.

Now some say the end is coming,
so we'll need the earth no more;
He said no one will expect it,
might be 10,000 years to go.

(chorus)

He did not mean for us to be parasites,
always taking destruction to new heights,
killing off the species He so carefully planned,
in the interdependent web of life.

Don't depend on some angels,
or a space ship from on high
to save you from your own folly,
if you do, you're sure to die."
So

(chorus)

My feet were sore and my back was hurting one day, so as those musically inclined often do, I made up a little ditty on the spot, which turned out to be the first line of the song below. I wasn't planning on writing a whole song at that point, just playing around. Well, it started growing.

I did substitute teaching in several schools in poor neighborhoods in the early 1990's, and I told the students it was important for them to get an education.

One time at a middle school, I put some facts on the board about the average incomes of people who hadn't finished high school, those who had, and those who got a college degree.
They asked me why I was telling them that.
The boys didn't think they needed to study, because they were sure they were going to be rich, famous music or sports stars.
The girls were all sure they would get married to a man who supported them.
I asked them if they knew any women who had done that.
There was silence for several moments, then one of the girls finally said "my grandmother".

Being positive and optimistic is not enough, no matter how many people get rich by telling other people they can get rich by being positive and optimistic! The way to get rich is to write a book telling people that everybody can be rich and happy just by believing it.

The Aching Body and the Hungry Belly Blues

The Aching Body and the Hungry Belly Blu
copyright 2000 Patricia M. Shannon

Oh, my feet are aching and my back sure hurts,
I'm so tired of digging in this hard clay dirt.
My kids are hungry, and I've got no food,
and winter's coming. Well, I've got the blues.

(chorus)
The blues, I've got the blues;
the achin' body and the hungry belly blues

When I was a kid, I had such big plans,
when I was grown, I would be a rich man;
No need to study 'cause I knew that I'd be
the star quarterback on an NFL team.

When I was in high school, I was the big star,
I could outrun everybody by far;
but when I got to college, I found there to be
many more players much better than me.

I played football in college a couple of years,
but those remedial courses, they kept me tears.
When I goofed off in high school, I did not see
I could not live my life by what you see on TV.

(chorus)
The blues, that's why I've got the blues;
the achin' body and the hungry belly blues.

When I was a young man, I met the one
who will always be my rising sun;
when I asked her to be my wife, I said
"I will make you happy the rest of your life."

When we got married, we hadn't a clue
about being adults, or what we should do.
When we got married, we hadn't a plan,
and the children came quickly, all four of them.

I try to teach my children the way they should be
so they don't end up diggin' ditches like me;
I try to teach my children the way they should go
so they don't end up in a lifetime of woe.

(chorus)
The blues, they ain't going to have the blues,
the achin' body and the hungry belly blues.

Now, three of my kids, they're doing just great,
but my youngest child, he makes my heart break;
"No need to study,", said he to me,
'cause a platinum rock (or, rap) star was what he would be.

(chorus)
The blues, now he's got the blues,
the achin' body and the hungry belly blues.

high hopes

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2008/04/childlessness_a.html

89% of young high-achieving women believe they can get pregnant into their 40s. In reality, only 3-5% of women in their early 40s are able to have a live birth using in vitro fertilization.

Dust Mites Outlast Heroic Efforts To Help Asthma Patients

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415194426.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2008)
Asthma sufferers might as well stop wasting energy and money on labor-intensive or costly interventions to get rid of household dust, according to a new review of studies.

"We can conclude with confidence that there is no need to buy expensive vacuum cleaners or mattress covers or to use chemical methods against house dust mites, because these treatments do not work," said lead author Peter Gotzsche, M.D.
...
the 54-study review of 3,000 asthma patients finds that no chemical or physical intervention to reduce exposure to house dust mites is effective.

even little tiny fruit flies do it

(In case you didn't notice, the title I chose for this entry is a modification part of a famous song.)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415210626.htm

Fittest Males Don't Always Get The Girl

ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2008)
The fittest males don't always get the girl, USC biologists report. Study tackles a paradox in species from fruit flies to humans: If warriors win the spoils, why don't males evolve towards super-aggressiveness?

There is more to mating than beating up the competition, according to a new study. Female fruit flies sometimes choose males who win fights, sometimes choose males who do not fight, and sometimes choose males for no obvious reason, say biologists from the University of Southern California; Cal State University, Sacramento; and the University of California, Davis.

The findings help explain the large variation in aggressiveness in most species, including humans.
...
One reason for the variation, according to the study and to previous research on lizards by other groups, may be that no fighting strategy works all the time, just as in the game rock-scissors-paper.
...
"There's no single way to win a fight, or win mates," he added. "Females didn't necessarily prefer aggressive males -- some males mated less when they lost fights, but some males mated more if they didn't fight. Moreover, different females preferred different males."

"Unexpected interactions between individuals can define winners and losers (so-called 'chemistry')," Foley concluded. "In order to understand why flies, and humans, and other animals, are so genetically different from each other, we need to stop imagining there's a 'best' kind of strategy."

You Don't Have To Hate Other Groups To Love Your Own

This a great article. I suggest reading the whole thing.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070818180311.htm

ScienceDaily (Aug. 19, 2007) — Shiite vs. Sunni. Red state vs. Blue state. Immigrant vs. native.

While it may appear that conflict is an inevitable part of interaction between groups, research actually suggests that fighting, hating and contempt between groups is not a necessary part of human nature, according to an Ohio State University professor of psychology.
...
Brewer has spent much of her career studying “ingroups” – the groups we belong to – and their relations with “outgroups” – those groups to which others belong.
...
Brewer said recent evidence suggests that people's attachment to their ingroups has nothing to do with conflict – or indeed any other kind of relation – to other groups.

Instead, people join groups to find a place of trust and security.

“Simply put, we prefer people of our kind, people we know we can rely on. That doesn't mean you have to hate anyone else. But you will be more likely to trust people from your own group,” Brewer said.

In one recent study, for example, Brewer found that people tended to put more trust in total strangers when they learned this stranger attended the same university they did.

“All you need is to have that shared group identity,” she said.

Saved!

This was inspired by the idea that we should believe a particular religion, just in case it is true.

Saved!
copyright 1992 Patricia M. Shannon

I have an acquaintance named Sue
who believes all religions are true
because she can't tell
which will send her to hell
if she doesn't sit in its pew!

Hunger Walk song music

I finally got an mp3 of Hunger Walk song made, so people can hear how to sing it.
The lyrics were posted at fighthunger.org, and they had asked my to send an mp3, so people would know how to sing it.
Since fighthunger.org has been shut down and replaced by http://www.wfp.org/english/
which is the United Nations World Food Program, I opened a myspace page and put it there.

This recording is not something you would listen to for enjoyment, but it does let people know how to sing it. If I had been paying for it instead of using a coupon, I would have sung it in a lower key than is in the hymnbook. It still wouldn't have sounded like a professional singer, but it would have been better. Well, you get what you pay for, in general. Eventually I'll put some songs up that were recorded by professionals.

It is freely available for the support of programs to help the needy on a non-sectarian basis.
Ie., a religious group may use it, but the help must be given on a non-sectarian basis.
I hope it might be used by church choirs, groups performing at a hunger walk event, people performing at a concert or open mic, etc.

Go to
www.myspace.com/patriciashannonsongs

(and no, the lady at www.myspace.com/patriciashannon is not me.)

If you've seen the words posted here, you might notice that I made a slight change to make it more singable ("community food banks" --> "that our food banks")

Growing Up or Growing Down?

That "science" article about animals remembering things from the past "proving" they don't have a conception of the past motivates this post.

Growing Up or Growing Down?
copyright 1987 Patricia M. Shannon

Most people I know are like ants in a hill,
not thinking, just acting as part of the mass.
Like half-alive puppets they walk in a daze,
when they try to converse, they just talk in cliches.

They say they worship different gods,
sometimes none at all.
But their gods are all the same,
"everybody else" and monetary gain.

Mixed feelings I get when I play with a child,
so eager to learn and so ready to grow;
such sorrow I feel when I see how we crush children's spirits
in order to make them like us.

Dumb humans

The article "Are Animals Stuck in Time" shows the desperation many humans have to prove that we are different from other animals in a qualitative way, not just a quantitative way. He finds that animals can remember if they did something in the past, then he claims that his research supports his theory that animals are stuck in time!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080403183024.htm

Animals Are 'Stuck In Time' With Little Idea Of Past Or Future, Study Suggests
ScienceDaily (Apr. 7, 2008)

William Roberts and his colleagues in Western’s Psychology Department found that rats are able to keep track of how much time has passed since they discovered a piece of cheese, be it a little or a lot, but they don’t actually form memories of when the discovery occurred. That is, the rats can’t place the memories in time.
...
“This research,” said Roberts, “supports the theory I introduced that animals are stuck in time, with no sense of time extending into the past or future.”

Low-carbon Living Takes Off In The US

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408102839.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — Cohousing offers a low-carbon lifestyle, and developers are poised for a market that could soon burgeon in the US, according to a new study. Until now, cohousing has occupied a niche market in the US, but the paper by Dr Jo Williams at UCL (University College London) suggests the situation is changing. Cohousing not only helps to halve energy use, it offers health and social benefits for families and older people seeking secure and affordable homes.

Cohousing in the US typically comprises private living units (houses or flats) with shared spaces such as a gym, office space, workshops, laundry facilities and a cafe. Those living in cohousing consume nearly 60 per cent less energy in the home, and operate car-sharing and recycling schemes that greatly reduce the pollution from travel and landfill. Having facilities such as office space, workshops and gym within the community also reduces travel and associated emissions. Residents’ direct involvement in the management and maintenance of these communities has also led to the adoption of more energy-efficient systems and renewable sources of energy.

Safe 'Green' Decontamination Method Detoxifies Nerve Agents In Chemical Weapons And Pesticides

Looks like some good news on the environmental front.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080408132133.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — Research by two Queen's University scientists has resulted in an exciting new method for rapidly and safely destroying toxic agents such as chemical weapons and pesticides.

Recently completed testing by an independent European defence corporation has shown the researchers’ method to be greater than 99 per cent effective when used on the deadly nerve agents Tabun, Soman and VX.

Prenatal Exposure To Drugs, Alcohol And Tobacco Affect The Brain Into Early Adolescence

Note this study does not mean that these drugs don't have an effect after adolescence. It's unlikely that they effects will suddenly stop at this point in time.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080407153034.htm

ScienceDaily (Apr. 8, 2008) — Although behavioral studies clearly indicate that exposure to drugs, alcohol and tobacco in utero is bad for a baby's developing brain, specific anatomic brain effects have been hard to tease out in humans. Often users don't limit themselves to one substance, and demographic factors like poverty can also influence brain development.

Now, a new study using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, led by Children's Hospital Boston neurologist Michael Rivkin, MD, suggests that prenatal exposure to cocaine, alcohol, marijuana or tobacco (alone or in combination) may have effects on brain structure that persist into early adolescence. The findings, published in Pediatrics, are of public health significance, the researchers say, since it's estimated that more than 1 million babies born annually in the United States have been exposed to at least one of these agents in utero.

Researchers at Children's and Boston Medical Center employed volumetric MRI imaging to study the brain structure of 35 young adolescents prenatally exposed to cocaine, marijuana, alcohol or tobacco. The children, who averaged 12 years old at the time of imaging, were part of part of an historic cohort of children assembled by Deborah Frank, MD at Boston Medical Center and followed there since birth. Prenatal exposures were confirmed by a combination of maternal history, urine testing of the mother or urine or meconium (stool) testing of the infants at birth.

"We found that reductions in cortical gray matter and total brain volumes were associated with prenatal exposure to cocaine, alcohol or cigarettes," says Rivkin, who is first author on the study. "Importantly, although volume reductions were associated with each of these three prenatal exposures, they were not associated with any one of these substances alone after controlling for other exposures."

Notably, the effects were found to be additive--the more substances a child was exposed to in utero, the greater the reduction in brain volume.

Studies' message to women: Keep your cool

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/yu-smt040208.php

Public release date: 2-Apr-2008
Contact: Bill Hathaway
william.hathaway@yale.edu
Yale University

New Haven, Conn.-Whether you are running for president or looking for a clerical job, you cannot afford to get angry if you are a woman, Yale University psychologist Victoria Brescoll has found.

Brescoll and Eric Uhlmann at Northwestern University recently completed three separate studies to explore a phenomenon that may be all-too-familiar to women like New York Senator Hillary Clinton: People accept and even reward men who get angry but view women who lose their temper as less competent

The studies, published in the March issue of Psychological Science, provide women with recommendations for navigating emotional hazards of the workplace. Brescoll says it pays to stay emotionally neutral and, if you can't, at least explain what ticked you off in the first place.

Clinton's presidential campaign has put a spotlight on the question of whether anger hurts a female candidate. The answer, according to the studies, appears to be an unequivocal yes - unless the anger deals with treatment of a family member.

"An angry woman loses status, no matter what her position,'' said Brescoll, who worked in Clinton's office as a Congressional Fellow in 2004 while she was preparing her doctoral thesis on gender bias. She noticed over the years that women pay a clear price for showing anger and men don't.

In all studies, both men and women were shown videos of actors portraying men and women who were ostensibly applying for a job. The participants in the studies were then asked to rate applicants on how much responsibility they should be given, their perceived competence, whether they should be hired, and how much they should get paid.

Both men and women in the reached the same conclusions: Angry men deserved more status, a higher salary, and were expected to be better at the job than angry women.

When those actor/applicants expressed sadness, however, the bias was less evident, and women applicants were ranked equally to men in status and competence, but not in salary.

Brescoll and her colleague then compared angry job applicants to ones who did not display any emotion. And this time the researchers showed study participants videos of both men and women applying for lower-status jobs. The findings were duplicated: Angry men were valued more highly than angry women no matter what level position they were applying for. However, the disparities disappeared when men and women who were emotionally neutral were ranked.

A final study showed another way bias against female anger could be mitigated. When women actors explained why they were angry, observers tended to cut them more slack. However, Brescoll noted a final gender difference: Men could actually be hurt when they explained why they were angry - perhaps, says the Yale psychologist, because observers tend to see this as a sign of weakness.

nutrient reduces risk of breast cancer

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/epr-enf040208.php

Public release date: 3-Apr-2008
Contact: Edelman Public Relations
Edelman Public Relations

Essential nutrient found in eggs reduces risk of breast cancer by 24 percent

Park Ridge, Ill. (April 3, 2008) Choline, an essential nutrient found in foods such as eggs, is associated with a 24 percent reduced risk of breast cancer, according to a study supported by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), to be published in The FASEB Journal’s print issue in June.(1) This study adds to the growing body of evidence that links egg consumption to a decreased risk of breast cancer.

In this new case-control study of more than 3,000 adult women, the risk of developing breast cancer was 24 percent lower among women with the highest intake of choline compared to women with the lowest intake. Women with the highest intake of choline consumed a daily average of 455 mg of choline or more, getting most of it from coffee, eggs and skim milk. Women with the lowest intake consumed a daily average of 196 milligrams or less.

“Choline is needed for the normal functioning of cells, no matter your age or gender,” says Steven H. Zeisel, MD, PhD, University of North Carolina, who is an author of the study and a leading choline researcher. “Increasing evidence shows that it may be particularly important for women, particularly those of child-bearing age.”

Only ten percent of Americans currently meet the recommended intake for choline, identifying a need to increase choline intake across the population.(2) According to the Institute of Medicine, adequate choline intake is 550 milligrams per day for men and breastfeeding women, 425 milligrams per day for women, and 450 milligrams per day for pregnant women.(3) One egg contains 125.5 milligrams of choline, or roughly a quarter the recommended daily supply, making eggs an excellent source of this essential nutrient.(4) Choline is found exclusively in the egg’s yolk. Other top food sources of choline include liver, wheat germ and cauliflower.

More on Bats

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/uom-olo040308.php

Public release date: 3-Apr-2008
Contact: Jim Erickson
University of Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---If you get a chance to sip some shade-grown Mexican organic coffee, please pause a moment to thank the bats that helped make it possible.

At Mexican organic coffee plantations, where pesticides are banned, bats and birds work night and day to control insect pests that might otherwise munch the crop.

Save the bats

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/stri-srs040308.php

Public release date: 3-Apr-2008
Contact: Beth King
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Smithsonian researchers show major role of bats in plant protectionResearchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute report that bats significantly reduce insect abundance and damage on plants. In a lowland tropical rainforest in Panama, bats can consume roughly twice as many plant-eating insects as do birds. This landmark study in the journal Science is the first to compare the ability of bats and birds to protect plants via insect predation in a natural forest ecosystem.A previous study by the authors suggested that bats were underestimated predators of plant eating insects, based on video recordings of feeding events. In the current study, Smithsonian short-term fellow Margareta Kalka, and co-authors Elisabeth Kalko, institute staff scientist and professor at the Institute of Experimental Ecology at the University of Ulm, and Smithsonian postdoctoral fellow Adam Smith, separated the insect-control effects of bats and birds by placing netting enclosures over five common tropical plant species only at night or only by day. Uncovered control plants accessed by both bats and birds lost merely 4.3 percent of their leaf area to insect herbivores. When only birds were excluded, plants lost 7.2 percent of their leaf area. When only bats were excluded, plants lost a striking 13.3 percent of their leaf area, demonstrating that in the tropical forest understory bats can be more effective pest control agents than birds.
...
It is clear from both studies that bats play an extremely important role in the food chain in the tropics and probably in temperate areas as well.

How much work does a husband create?

http://www.ns.umich.edu/htdocs/releases/story.php?id=6452

Apr. 3, 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Having a husband creates an extra seven hours a week of housework for women, according to a University of Michigan study of a nationally representative sample of U.S. families.

For men, the picture is very different: A wife saves men from about an hour of housework a week.
...
Certainly there are all kinds of individual differences here, but in general, this is what happens after marriage. And the situation gets worse for women when they have children."

Just a Dog

Just a Dog
copyright 1996 Patricia M. Shannon

She's just a dog, so some folks say,
but she's been a loyal friend to me;
so when she makes her final journey
I hope to keep her company.

She's by my feet, all thru the night,
where she keeps them comfy warm;
when anybody comes around,
she always gives a loud alarm!

She's not ashamed to let it show
how much she depends on me;
and that she's sad when I am gone,
co-dependent she'll gladly be!

She'll risk her life to keep me safe,
something no man I know could say;
when all my beaus have gone awy,
she has always faithful stayed.

She's just a dog, so some folks say,
but she's been a loyal friend to me;
so when she makes her final journey
I hope to keep her company.

The Light of Love

This could be about various kinds of love, including but not limited to romantic love,
so it can be considered a belated Valentine's Day poem/song.
I would say that this is how most of my dogs have felt about me!
============================================
The Light of Love
copyright 1991 Patricia M. Shannon

The glow of sunset paints the sky,
I wait for you to come to me,
and bring the sunrise to my life;
I'm filled with light when you're with me.

What a miracle is love;
how it transforms our very soul.
I felt that I had lived too long;
but now my love lights up the world.

Come and lie here in my arms,
and feel the healing glow of love;
feel the strength and peace that come
from communion with the ones we love.

A little anxiety pays sometimes

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-04/afps-ala040308.php

Public release date: 3-Apr-2008
Contact: Catherine West
Association for Psychological Science

Anxiety gets a lot of bad press. Dwelling on the negative can lead to chronic stress and anxiety disorders and phobias, but evolutionarily speaking, anxiety holds some functional value. In humans, learning to avoid harm is necessary not only for surviving in the face of basic threats (such as predators or rotten food), but also for avoiding more complex social or economic threats (such as enemies or questionable investments).

A team of psychologists at Stanford University have identified a region of the brain, the anterior insula, which plays a key role in predicting harm and also learning to avoid it. In a new study, Gregory Samanez-Larkin and colleagues scanned the brains of healthy adults while they anticipated losing money.

Adults with greater activation of their insula while anticipating a financial loss were better at learning to avoid financial losses in a separate game several months later. Conversely, participants with low levels of insula activation had a harder time learning to avoid losses and lost more money in the game as a result.

For these subjects, higher levels of insula activation helped them to learn to avoid losses months later. However, researchers have found that excessive insula activation might prove problematic. Previous research has shown that people who are chronically fearful and anxious have abnormal patterns of insula activation. So, while people with excessive insula activity are at risk for psychological disorders like anxiety and phobias, higher levels of insula activation in the normal range may allow people to avoid potentially harmful situations.

The findings, which appear in the April issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, point toward an optimal level of anxiety. While a healthy amount of anxiety grants some survival value, too much may lead to excessive worry and clinical conditions. This may help to explain why anxious traits persist in humanity's genetic endowment, even as environmental threats vary over the ages.

How to Make a Difference

http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/less_is_more/Content?oid=437104

Through rebates and incentives designed to entice customers to use less energy, California utilities were able to stabilize energy demand while its population and economy grew by 79 percent.

"Energy-efficiency improvements remain the fastest, cheapest, cleanest energy resource," says Dr. Marilyn Brown of Georgia Tech. It's the low-hanging fruit in terms of what utilities, states and consumers can pluck to achieve conservation. Along with phasing out coal-fired power plants, it's one of the recommendations made by the EIP report's authors for what states can do to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

"Energy efficiency in buildings has got to be your top priority," says Dennis Creech, executive director of Southface. He says customers can build or invest in energy-efficient homes and cut their power bills by up to 40 percent. The improvements sometimes pay for themselves in savings in as little as two years.

One approach states can use is advocated by experts such as Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute: demand-side management, a fancy term that essentially means utilities, such as Georgia Power, offer customers a financial or tax incentive to reduce energy use. Consumers would pay less for energy, and energy providers would save money because the conservation would mean less need for new power plants.

"What we don't have is the public policy for energy efficiency or solar," Creech says. "A lot of states now are offering tax credits, and a lot of utilities are offering incentives for energy efficiency – significant incentives. If you look at New York and California, their energy use has stayed flat over the last 10-20 years. And why is that? It's because they've had significant investment in efficiency, primarily by the utilities industry."

NSAIDs attenuate tumor invasion

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/sfeb-npi032608.php

Public release date: 26-Mar-2008
Dr. Wen-Chung Hung Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine

Researchers at the National Sun Yat-Sen University and Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan have revealed a new mechanism by which nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) attenuate tumor invasion and metastasis. The research, to be published in the April 2008 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, provides new insights for the understanding of the anti-cancer effects of NSAIDs.
...
we elucidated the underlying mechanism and demonstrated that up-regulation of SPARC in human lung cancer cells was mediated via inhibition of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) expression and promoter de-methylation. This is the first report to show that NSAIDs may inhibit the expression of DNMTs to reverse promoter methylation and to reactivate gene transcription.”

Methylation of genes because of lack of nutrition appears to play a role in the decreased cognitive ability caused by inadequate nutrition during the pre-natal and early childhood period, which may last several generations. Perhaps this research on reversing the methylation will lead to treatment in this area.

We're not What We Say We Are

We're not What We Say We Are
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 1991

We say that we're just below angels,
but we sit on our butts all day,
watching the boob tube and killing
our souls a little more each day.

We say we're the peak of creation,
master of all we survey,
but we're killing our rivers and forests,
and expecting our children to pay.

(chorus)
When will we learn, will be ever learn,
to be what we say we are?
Is it too much to expect us to try
to be what we say we are?

We say that we're rational creatures,
not animals, no not we,
but we think that the purpose of college
is to support the football team.

We say we're a Christian nation,
leaders of the free world we are,
but we're spending our money on weapons
and allowing our children to starve.

(chorus)

Family study bolsters link between pesticides and Parkinson's

Years ago, there was evidence that a common industrial chemical can cause Parkinson's. Look for the chemical industry to make sure these findings are not widely known.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/bc-fsb032608.php

Public release date: 27-Mar-2008 Charlotte Webber BioMed Central

For the first time, the association between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to pesticides has been shown in patients with the neurological disorder compared with their unaffected relatives, according to a study in the online open access journal BMC Neurology.

Parkinson’s disease is a common neurological disorder affecting about 1 million people in the USA. The disorder typically develops in later life resulting in symptoms such as tremors and muscle rigidity

Although variations in several genes have been identified that contribute to the disease, these rare genetic defects account for a small proportion of the overall prevalence of the disorder.

The majority of Parkinson’s disease cases are thought to be due to an interaction between genetic and environmental factors.

“Previous studies have shown that individuals with Parkinson’s disease are over twice as likely to report being exposed to pesticides as unaffected individuals” says the study’s lead author, Dana Hancock, “but few studies have looked at this association in people from the same family or have assessed associations between specific classes of pesticides and Parkinson’s disease.”

The authors detected an association between pesticide use and Parkinson’s disease. Among these, the strongest were between the disorder and use of herbicides and insecticides, such as organochlorides and organophosphates. No association was found between Parkinson’s disease and well-water drinking or living or working on a farm, which are two commonly used proxies for pesticide exposures.

Many studies have supported pesticides as a risk factor for PD, but “biological evidence is presently insufficient to conclude that pesticide exposure causes PD”, says Hancock.

Cooperative Classrooms Lead To Better Higher Achievement In Young Adolescents

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080327172216.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Students competing for resources in the classroom while discounting each others' success are less likely to earn top grades than students who work together toward goals and share their success, according to an analysis of 80 years of research.
...
According to the studies, adolescents in classrooms that supported cooperative learning -- studying together to complete a project or prepare for an exam -- got along better with their peers, were more accurate on academic tests and achieved higher scores on problem-solving, reasoning and critical thinking tasks compared to adolescents who were in classrooms geared toward competitive learning -- studying alone knowing that success would mean only one winner and plenty of losers.
...
This may also hold true for the adult worker whose organization supports cooperative interactions, Roseth said. "Some research has shown that high performing teams that cared about each other or had individuals who felt they had a good friend among them in business and industry succeeded in being more productive and effective."

Boosting Number Skills Of Low-income Preschoolers

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325083304.htm

Playing Numerical Board Games Boosts Number Skills Of Low-income Preschoolers

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Playing numerical board games can improve low-income preschoolers' number skills, offering a promising way to reduce the discrepancies in numerical knowledge between children from poor families and those from middle-income families.

Children vary greatly in the math knowledge they bring to school, with children from poor families tending to have far less math knowledge than their peers from middle-class families. These differences appear to have large and long-term consequences, with proficiency in math at the start of kindergarten strongly predictive of math achievement test scores years later. The gap in math knowledge likely reflects differences in exposure at home to informal numerical activities, including numerical board games.

Board games with consecutively numbered, linearly arranged spaces--think Chutes and Ladders--provide children with good opportunities to learn about the relation between numerals and their sizes.

superior to us?

When our sun becomes a red giant, maybe these will survive.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080325095239.htm

Common Aquatic Animals Show Extreme Resistance To Radiation

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Scientists at Harvard University have found that a common class of freshwater invertebrate animals called bdelloid rotifers are extraordinarily resistant to ionizing radiation, surviving and continuing to reproduce after doses of gamma radiation much greater than that tolerated by any other animal species studied to date.
...
Roughly a half-millimeter in size and commonly observed under microscopes in high-school biology classes, bdelloid rotifers are highly unusual in several regards: They appear to be exclusively asexual, have relatively few transposable genes, and can survive and reproduce after complete desiccation at any stage of their life cycle. Meselson and Gladyshev hypothesize that it's this last property that explains bdelloids' apparently unique resistance to radiation.

Compassion Meditation Changes The Brain

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080326204236.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2008) — Can we train ourselves to be compassionate? A new study suggests the answer is yes. Cultivating compassion and kindness through meditation affects brain regions that can make a person more empathetic to other peoples' mental states, say researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

This study was the first to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to indicate that positive emotions such as loving-kindness and compassion can be learned in the same way as playing a musical instrument or being proficient in a sport. The scans revealed that brain circuits used to detect emotions and feelings were dramatically changed in subjects who had extensive experience practicing compassion meditation.

The research suggests that individuals - from children who may engage in bullying to people prone to recurring depression - and society in general could benefit from such meditative practices, says study director Richard Davidson, professor of psychiatry and psychology at UW-Madison and an expert on imaging the effects of meditation. Davidson and UW-Madison associate scientist Antoine Lutz were co-principal investigators on the project.

My Computer Has a Mind of Its Own

My Computer Has a Mind of its Own
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 1998
(Can be sung to the tune : My Heart Has a Mind of its Own,
sung by Connie Francis)

I said to my PC, You are so mean to me,
why did you lose the file that my boss wants right now to see?
I try to type in “GO”, but my machine says “NO”!
Guess my computer has a mind of its own.

I never thought I’d be in abject slavery
to a glass and metal box on my desktop.

My deadline is past due; all my machine will do
is tell me “System Error SJ19342”.
I can’t save my spreadsheet, must Control-Alt-Delete.

Guess my computer has a mind of its own.
Yes, my computer has a mind of its own.

Ibuprofen Destroys Aspirin's Positive Effect On Stroke Risk

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080312171140.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2008) — Stroke patients who use ibuprofen for arthritis pain or other conditions while taking aspirin to reduce the risk of a second stroke undermine aspirin's ability to act as an anti-platelet agent, researchers at the University at Buffalo have shown.

Brains Are Hardwired To Act According To The Golden Rule

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080321131055.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2008)

Donald Pfaff, the author of the new book The Neuroscience of Fair Play: Why We (Usually) Follow the Golden Rule, thinks he has the answer. Our brains, he says, are hardwired to do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Individual acts of aggression and evil occur when this circuitry jams.

Oneness

The Oneness of Being
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 1992

The Earth is our mother, and the sun is our father,
They nourish us and sustain us.
Though I stand on a mountaintop alone.
I am not alone, for I am one with all.

The oneness is a blessing, a constant source of strength;
the loneliness of being will rend your heart no more.
But in this world imperfect, it also is a curse,
I feel the pain of others as if it were my own.

Let us work together, and join our hearts as one,
to make a world where children no longer die from guns.
Throw away your hatreds, your wars and your drugs;
the highest high you'll ever know is when you feel as one.

Money Buys Happiness When You Spend On Others

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080320150034.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2008) — Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Harvard Business School have found that it's possible to buy happiness after all: when you spend money on others.

In a series of studies, UBC Asst. Prof. Elizabeth Dunn found that individuals report significantly greater happiness if they spend money "pro-socially" -- that is on gifts for others or charitable donations -- rather than spending on themselves.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080321114214.htm

We Help Friends Due To Empathy; Relatives Due To Expectation Of Reciprocity

ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2008) — Empathy is an emotional reaction to the plight of others. Empathy can lead to altruistic behaviour, i.e. helping someone with the sole intention of enhancing that person’s wellbeing. If we see people in difficulty, for example, we feel the same emotions, and this may prompt us to help them. Yet the relationship between empathy and altruism is still far from clear. Psychologist Lidewij Niezink has researched this subject. She concluded that when we help friends in need, we are prompted by feelings of empathy, and that when we help relatives we do so because we have expectations of reciprocity.
...

Niezink also compared various studies of empathy, and concludes that the methods varied quite considerably. ‘They are not talking about the same concept. That makes it more difficult to study altruism.’ Niezink then developed the ‘altruistic choice model’. The model works as follows. You see the suffering of others and this leads to a feeling of empathy, over which you have no control. This can be followed by various emotional responses: sympathizing/identifying with the person in question, concern or ‘softheartedness’ (tender feelings). These are responses that we can influence. These responses, in turn, can lead to compassion and altruism, i.e. understanding the other person’s suffering and the willingness to alleviate it. According to Niezink: ‘Altruism is a choice and something that we can actively cultivate when we observe others in need.’

Negative perception unjustified

Niezink is surprised about the fact that altruism is undervalued in our society. ‘We are pack animals. We cannot exist in isolation, so it is no scandal if we are willing to help each other. I’m not saying we must, but we can. Altruism makes the world a more pleasant place.’ It is rewarding to help someone. ‘Some people say, therefore, that helping others is based on selfish motives. If you help someone and it has positive consequences for you, that does not mean to say that your underlying motives are not altruistic.'

Adapted from materials provided by University of Groningen.

spring is here

Yesterday was the first day of spring.
And my body sure felt it!

Spring Has Sprung
Spring has Sprung
copyright 1997 Patricia M. Shannon

Spring has sprung,
the flowers grow,
their pollen flows,
so does my nose.
Oh, hear it blow,
how it does glow.

declining U.S. wages

http://www.cjr.org/feature/red_ink_rising.php?page=2

The twin myths of over-consumption and the immoral debtor, to use Elizabeth Warren’s phrases, have been debunked for years. Warren documents that the average American household today actually spends less than in the 1970s on clothing, food, and major appliances, and that, after paying for education, housing, insurance, and health care, it has less disposable income, even though the household now has two wage earners.

Research shows, for instance, that nearly 30 percent of low and middle-income people with credit-card debt reported medical expenses to be a major contributor. And in a study cited by Warren, 87 percent of families with children filing for bankruptcy listed one of the “big three” reasons—divorce or separation, job loss, or medical expenses—as the cause.

Promote green buildings for biggest, easiest cuts in North American CO2 emissions

http://www.eurekalert.org/pubnews.php?start=75

Public release date: 13-Mar-2008
Contact: Eduardo Viadas
eviadas@cec.org
514-350-4331
Commission for Environmental Cooperation

Buildings responsible for over one-third of continent's CO2 emissions; Report prescribes policies to slash buildings' energy use

Promoting the green design, construction, renovation and operation of buildings could cut North American greenhouse gas emissions that are fuelling climate change more deeply, quickly and cheaply than any other available measure, according to a new report issued by the trinational Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC).

North America’s buildings cause the annual release of more than 2,200 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about 35 percent of the continent’s total. The report says rapid market uptake of currently available and emerging advanced energy-saving technologies could result in over 1,700 fewer megatons of CO2 emissions in 2030, compared to projected emissions that year following a business-as-usual approach. A cut of that size would nearly equal the CO2 emitted by the entire US transportation sector in 2000.

It is common now for more advanced green buildings to routinely reduce energy usage by 30, 40, or even 50 percent over conventional buildings, with the most efficient buildings now performing more than 70 percent better than conventional properties, according to the report.

Depression: the symptoms in children are not like in adults

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-03/dai-dts031408.php

Public release date: 14-Mar-2008
Contact: Dr. Stephan Mertens
mertens@aerzteblatt.de
Deutsches Aerzteblatt International
Depression: the symptoms in children are not like in adults

Depression is not always manifested in children as dejection and anhedonia. Depending on the age of the child, the dominant features may be weeping, irritability or defiance, as explained by Prof. Claudia Mehler-Wex and Dr. Michael Kölch of Ulm University in the new edition of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105(9): 149-55).

The signs of depression in infants are often screaming, restlessness, and weeping attacks for no clear reason. Preschool children may behave irritably and aggressively, while schoolchildren may be listless and apathetic. The symptoms in adolescents become similar to those in adults.
...
Depressive minors often exhibit other psychological abnormalities. Thus, anxiety disorders and disorders in social behavior occur widely, followed by substance abuse and aggression.

Not What We Say We Are

I haven't posted a poem here for awhile, so here's a cheerful one.

We're not What We Say We Are
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 1991

We say that we're just below angels,
but we sit on our butts all day,
watching the boob tube and killing
our souls a little more each day.

We say we're the peak of creation,
master of all we survey,
but we're killing our rivers and forests,
and expecting our children to pay.

(chorus)
When will we learn, will be ever learn,
to be what we say we are?
Is it too much to expect us to try
to be what we say we are?

We say that we're rational creatures,
not animals, no not we,
but we think that the purpose of college
is to support the football team.

We say we're a Christian nation,
leaders of the free world we are,
but we're spending our money on weapons
and allowing our children to starve.

(chorus)

Men who do housework may get more sex

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080306/ap_on_re_us/sharing_chores;_ylt=A0WTcSGcbtBHIQUBtQOs0NUE

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer Thu Mar 6, 1:51 PM ET

NEW YORK - American men still don't pull their weight when it comes to housework and child care, but collectively they're not the slackers they used to be. The average dad has gradually been getting better about picking himself up off the sofa and pitching in, according to a new report in which a psychologist suggests the payoff for doing more chores could be more sex.
...
Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of "The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework," said equitable sharing of housework can lead to a happier marriage and more frequent sex.

"If a guy does housework, it looks to the woman like he really cares about her — he's not treating her like a servant," said Coleman, who is affiliated with the Council on Contemporary Families. "And if a woman feels stressed out because the house is a mess and the guy's sitting on the couch while she's vacuuming, that's not going to put her in the mood."

Does Arts Training Make People Smarter?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080304150459.htm

Are Smart People Drawn To The Arts Or Does Arts Training Make People Smarter?

ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) — Learning, Arts, and the Brain, a study three years in the making, is the result of research by cognitive neuroscientists from seven leading universities across the United States. In the Dana Consortium study, researchers grappled with a fundamental question: Are smart people drawn to the arts or does arts training make people smarter?
...
Children motivated in the arts develop attention skills and strategies for memory retrieval that also apply to other subject areas.
...
4. In children, there appear to be specific links between the practice of music and skills in geometrical representation, though not in other forms of numerical representation.

Bacteria May Reduce Risk For Kidney Stones

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080305121018.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 6, 2008) — Researchers from Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center have found that the bacteria Oxalobacter formigenes (O. formigenes), a naturally occurring bacterium that has no known side effects, is associated with a 70 percent reduction in the risk of recurrent kidney stones.

New study shows low-fat diets more likely to reduce risk of heart disease than low-carb diets

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/mcow-nss022908.php

Public release date: 29-Feb-2008
[ Print Article | E-mail Article | Close Window ]

Contact: Toranj Marphetia
Medical College of Wisconsin

Low-fat diets are more effective in preserving and promoting a healthy cardiovascular system than low-carbohydrate, Atkins’-like diets, according to a new study by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

“Low-carbohydrate diets are significantly higher in total grams of fat, protein, dietary cholesterol and saturated fats than are low-fat diets. While a low-carbohydrate diet may result in weight loss and improvement in blood pressure, similar to a low-fat diet, the higher fat content is ultimately more detrimental to heart health than is the low-fat diet suggested by the American Heart Association,” points out Dr. Phillips.

“The higher fat content of a low-carbohydrate diet may put dieters at an increased risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) because low-carbohydrate diets often reduce protection of the endothelium, the thin layer of cells that line the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The reduced production from the endothelium of nitric oxide, a specific chemical, puts the vessel at higher risk of abnormal thickening, greater clotting potential, and cholesterol deposition, all part of the atherosclerosis process,” says Dr. Gutterman.

Over a six-week period, the researchers found reduced flow-mediated dilation in the arm artery in participants who were on the low-carbohydrate diet. Reduced flow-mediated dilation, as measured in this study, is an early indicator of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, flow-mediated dilation improved significantly in participants on the low-fat diet suggesting a healthier artery which is less prone to developing atherosclerosis.

“We observed a reduction in brachial artery flow-mediated dilation after six weeks of weight loss on a low-carbohydrate, Atkins’-style diet,” Dr. Gutterman says.

Low-carbohydrate diets were also found to have significantly less daily folic acid than low-fat diets. Folic acid is thought to be helpful in reducing the likeliness of heart disease. This protective effect results from the antioxidant property of folic acid and its ability to lower levels of homocysteine, a naturally occurring amino acid that can be dangerous at elevated levels.

The low-carbohydrate diet provided 20 grams of carbohydrates daily and was supplemented with protein and fat content according to the Atkins’ diet recommendations. The low-fat diet provided 30 percent of the calories as fat, and was modeled after the American Heart Association’s recommendations.

Vitamin E May Increase Tuberculosis Risk In Male Smokers With High Vitamin C Intake

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221101425.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — Six-year vitamin E supplementation increased tuberculosis risk by 72% in male smokers who had high dietary vitamin C intake, but vitamin E had no effect on those who had low dietary vitamin C intake, according to a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

Previous studies had suggested that vitamin E might improve the immune system. In animal studies vitamin E seemed to protect against various infections.

As usual, balance is important.

Good Ideas Distract Groups From Generating Great Ideas

I think cooperation is a great thing, but the following article indicates it might sometimes have negative effects.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220091419.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008) — Good ideas can have drawbacks. When information is freely shared, good ideas can stunt innovation by distracting others from pursuing even better ideas, according to Indiana University cognitive scientist Robert Goldstone.
...
In the "fully connected" group, everyone's work was completely accessible to everyone else -- much like a tight-knit family or small town. In the "locally connected" group, participants primarily were aware of what their neighbors, or the people on either side, were doing. In the "small world" group, participants also were primarily aware of what their neighbors were doing, but they also had a few distant connections that let them send or retrieve good ideas from outside of their neighborhood.

Goldstone found that the fully connected groups performed the best when solving simple problems. Small world groups, however, performed better on more difficult problems. For these problems, the truism "The more information, the better" is not valid.

Kava Linked To Liver Damage, New Evidence Shows

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080222111446.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) — Scientists have found new evidence, using innovative techniques, to support the growing body of literature that indicates kava may have a negative effect on the liver. Kava is a plant native to the South Pacific that has been used as a ceremonial beverage in the region for thousands of years, and, more recently, as a natural treatment for medical conditions such as anxiety. In recent years, serious concerns about the dangers of kava and the effects on the liver have resulted in regulatory agencies, such as the US Food and Drug Administration and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, banning or restricting the sale of kava and kava products.

I would be interested in a comparison of the effects of kava on people from cultures who have been using it for many generations, compared with others, to see if those whose ancestors used it have evolved mechanisms that protect them. I suspect the reason humans are able to eat caffeine and related chemicals in ratios that would kill a dog or cat is due to our ancestors having chosen to use foods containing them, for their stimulant effects, and evolving metabolic mechanisms to protect themselves.

Special Coating Greatly Improves Solar Cell Performance

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080222125628.htm

A team of Northwestern University researchers has developed a new anode coating strategy that significantly enhances the efficiency of solar energy power conversion.

Women Who Suffered Child Abuse Spend More On Health Care

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080219155648.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) — Middle-aged women who suffered physical or sexual abuse as children spend up to one-third more than average in health-care costs, according to a long-term study of more than 3,000 women.

Even decades after the abuse ended, these women used health services at significantly higher rates than did non-abused women, the research found.

Prenatal Exposure To Lead Linked To Obesity In Males

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080220141206.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) — Scientists know exposure to low levels of lead can result in learning disabilities, hearing loss, language impairments and vision loss, but a newly discovered side effect may be adult-onset obesity in men, according to a University of Houston professor.

Just what we need, another thing to increase the chances of obesity.

Children Who Do Not Get Enough Sleep Sustain More Injuries

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080221170127.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) — Lack of adequate sleep can lead to increased injuries among preschool children, new research shows. This study shows that the average number of injuries during the preschool years is two times higher for children who don’t get enough sleep each day as described by their mothers.

Can We Offset Global Warming By Geoengineering The Climate With Aerosols?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217094602.htm

ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2008) — Concerned that energy system transformations are proceeding too slowly to avoid risks from dangerous human-induced climate change, many scientists are wondering whether geoengineering (the deliberate change of the Earth's climate) may help counteract global warming.

Every technology has had unexpected consequences.
We might find out to late that we have increased the risk of an earthquake.
I would also be concerned about processes that could cause the sudden release of the sequestered gases in the future, such as an asteroid strike. There was one big enough to get in the newspapers just a few months ago.
A sudden release of carbon dioxide in the ocean would cause a sudden increase in the acidity of the water, causing a massive die-off of shell-forming organisms.

interesting site

http://economistsview.typepad.com/

This is an interesting web site. I post more comments there than I do on my own blog. Mostly because there is a conversation. Also, a lot more people read it, so I'm not just keeping a high-tech diary there.

2007 SECOND WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Indicators/Temp/2008.htm

January 10, 2008

2007 SECOND WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD
Northern Hemisphere Temperature Highest Ever

Frances C. Moore

With the record for 2007 now complete, it is clear that temperatures around the world are continuing their upward climb. The global average in 2007 was 14.73 degrees Celsius (58.5 degrees Fahrenheit)—the second warmest year on record, only 0.03 degrees Celsius behind the 2005 maximum. January 2007 was the hottest January ever measured, a full 0.23 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record. August was also a record for that month and September was the second warmest September recorded.
...
Although 2007 did not post a new record high, the year stands out as being extremely warm despite several natural factors that usually cool the planet. El Niño conditions in the southern Pacific tend to increase the global average temperature, and yet the second half of 2007 saw the opposite develop—a La Niña, which would usually depress global temperature. This is in stark contrast to conditions in 1998, the third warmest year, when temperatures were boosted around 0.2 degrees Celsius by the strongest El Niño of the century. In addition to the moderate La Niña, solar intensity in 2007 was slightly lower than average because the year was a minimum in the 11-year solar sunspot cycle. The combination of these factors would normally produce cooler temperatures, yet 2007 was still one of the warmest years in human history. This strongly suggests that the warming effect of increased greenhouse gas concentrations is now dwarfing other influences on the Earth’s climate.

This site also has some graphs which help illustrate the situation.
There are links to more graphs at the bottom of the page. Scary to anybody who doesn't have their head in the sand.

Why Perfect Dates Make Lousy Partners

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080212/sc_livescience/whyperfectdatesmakelousypartners;_ylt=AlntdCrYEYMWtzdQbe29qrOs0NUE

LiveScience.com Tue Feb 12, 10:46 AM ET

The best "catches" in dating land may be the worst choices in the long-run, new research shows.

Popular people who monitor themselves carefully in social situations and thereby appear to be the most socially appropriate are often highly sought after as romantic partners, a study finds, but these people show less satisfaction and commitment in relationships than socially-awkward people.

A good night's sleep reduces childhood obesity risk

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080207/hl_afp/healthchildrensleepobesity;_ylt=Ajqo4I0.0iRy5BNXqKTvRtTVJRIF

Thu Feb 7, 6:44 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Children lacking enough shut-eye face a greater risk of becoming obese than kids who get a good night's sleep

Each extra hour of sleep cuts a child's risk of becoming overweight or obese by nine percent, according to an analysis of epidiomogical studies by researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

By contrast, children who got the least sleep had a 92 percent higher change of being overweight or obese than children who slept enough, said the study published in the journal Obesity.

Motivated by a Tax, Irish Spurn Plastic Bags

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/world/europe/02bags.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: February 2, 2008

DUBLIN — There is something missing from this otherwise typical bustling cityscape. There are taxis and buses. There are hip bars and pollution. Every other person is talking into a cellphone. But there are no plastic shopping bags, the ubiquitous symbol of urban life.

In 2002, Ireland passed a tax on plastic bags; customers who want them must now pay 33 cents per bag at the register. There was an advertising awareness campaign. And then something happened that was bigger than the sum of these parts.

Within weeks, plastic bag use dropped 94 percent. Within a year, nearly everyone had bought reusable cloth bags, keeping them in offices and in the backs of cars. Plastic bags were not outlawed, but carrying them became socially unacceptable — on a par with wearing a fur coat or not cleaning up after one’s dog.

It does make a difference

McCain praises conservative judges like Alito
'That will go a long way' to reaching those Republicans, consultant predicts
AP
updated 5:20 p.m. ET, Sun., Feb. 3, 2008

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Republican John McCain says he will try to win over some conservative Republicans by promising to appoint judges in the mold of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

National champions: rewarding mediocrity

http://blogs.ft.com/undercover/

Thursday, January 31, 2008
National champions: rewarding mediocrity

I have a piece up at Forbes.com trying to unravel why governments so unerringly back losers:

There's a more sinister logic behind the pattern of government favoritism. Namely, firms in emerging, competitive industries have virtually no incentive to lobby for government hand-outs, while firms in aging, shrinking industries have the most to gain.
Here's why: Firms in an open, competitive, growing young industry have little to gain from government support. More government funding for, say, biotechnology, is going to mean more biotechnology companies, more competition and (perhaps) more innovation. That might be good for America, but probably not much good for any single biotech company. Sure, they'll all enjoy the government help, but each must weigh that assistance against the swarm of new competitors attracted by the handouts. No one firm would choose to hire top lobbyists and send them to D.C. to bring back the pork.
By contrast, firms in aging, shrinking, capital-intensive industries have everything to gain from government support. Because the industry is shrinking and it's expensive to enter--think steel mills--the government subsidies and tax breaks are probably not going to attract new competitors. If there are no new competitors, the old guard gets to pocket all the money.

Sounds like a reasonable argument.

Red Cross braces for huge staff cuts

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22956018/

updated 5:33 p.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 1, 2008

In its freshest set of troubles, the American Red Cross is cutting a third of the 3,000 jobs at its national headquarters in an overhaul intended to eliminate a $200 million deficit within two years.

The budget crisis is the latest blow to the 126-year-old Red Cross, America's foremost disaster-response organization, which was criticized for its handling of donations contributed after the Sept. 11 attacks
...
She also acknowledged that the Red Cross struggles to find steady fundraising. Donations surge during huge disasters like Katrina or last year's wildfires in California but generally subside thereafter — and the charity says its general disaster relief fund is now low.

"It's a challenge to continually remind the public that every day in America there's a disaster, a house fire, and the Red Cross is there, even though not all of them get the attention the wildfires did," DeFrancis said.

I couldn't understand all the criticism of the Red Cross for not using all of the donations designated for one disaster. It just makes sense that since they get more than they need for a widely publicized disaster, to save some of it for other disasters which need their help.

Mental And Physical Exercise Delays Dementia In Fatal Genetic Disease

Another example of the interaction between nature and nurture.
Huntington's disease is what killed Woodie Guthrie.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124092540.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2008) — Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have discovered that mental and physical stimulation delays the onset of dementia in the fatal genetic disease, Huntington's disease.

Personality can’t predict breast cancer

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902743/

updated 28 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The idea that a woman's personality traits can make her more prone to breast cancer appears nothing more than a myth, according to a Dutch study.

Women who were unemotional, depressed or anxious were no more or less likely to get breast cancer than any other women, the study found. Nor were women who were optimistic, angry or understanding, or had any combination of personality traits.

Environmental pollution and diabetes may be linked

http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/press/dpp/2008012501

In the most recent edition of the Lancet, Drs. Oliver Jones and Julian Griffin highlight the need to research the possible link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs, a group which includes many pesticides) and insulin resistance, which can lead to adult onset diabetes.

In their commentary, Dr Jones and Dr. Griffin cite peer reviewed research including that of Dr D Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.


Environmental pollution and diabetes may be linked
25 January 2008

Scientists call for more research into neglected area


Cambridge scientists are advocating additional research into the little understood links between environmental pollution and type 2 diabetes.

In the most recent edition of the Lancet, Drs. Oliver Jones and Julian Griffin highlight the need to research the possible link between persistent organic pollutants (POPs, a group which includes many pesticides) and insulin resistance, which can lead to adult onset diabetes.

In their commentary, Dr Jones and Dr. Griffin cite peer reviewed research including that of Dr D Lee, et al, which demonstrated a very strong relationship between the levels of POPs in blood, particularly organochlorine compounds, and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

“Of course correlation does not automatically imply causation,” says Dr. Jones. “But if there is indeed a link, the health implications could be tremendous. At present there is very limited information. Research into adult onset diabetes currently focuses on genetics and obesity; there has been almost no consideration for the possible influence of environmental factors such as pollution.”

Interestingly, in the Lee study an association between obesity and diabetes was absent in people with low concentrations of POPs in their blood. In other words, individuals were more at risk of diabetes if they were thin with high levels of POPs in their blood than if they were overweight but with low levels of POPs.

The Oneness of Being

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, and in sympathy for the Haitian earthquake victims.

The Oneness of Bein
copyright Patricia M. Shannon 1992

The Earth is our mother, and the sun is our father,
They nourish us and sustain us.
Though I stand on a mountaintop alone.
I am not alone, for I am one with all.

The oneness is a blessing, a constant source of strength;
the loneliness of being will rend your heart no more.
But in this world imperfect, it also is a curse,
I feel the pain of others as if it were my own.

Let us work together, and join our hearts as one,
to make a world where children no longer die from guns.
Throw away your hatreds, your wars and your drugs;
the highest high you'll ever know is when you feel as one.

Eat Your Leafy Vegetables To Decrease Your Risk Of Cataracts

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114162513.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2008) — Women who have higher dietary intake of lutein and zeaxanthin--compounds found in yellow or dark, leafy vegetables--as well as more vitamin E from food and supplements appear to have a lower risk for developing cataracts, according to a new article.

Calcium Supplements May Increase Heart Attacks In Older Women

Another darned if you do, darned if you don't problem, since osteoporosis can cause a broken hip, which often leads to premature death.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080116193102.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2008) — New research suggests that calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart attack in healthy postmenopausal women.

2007 Was Tied As Earth's Second Warmest Year

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080116114150.htm


ScienceDaily (Jan. 17, 2008) — Climatologists at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City have found that 2007 tied with 1998 for Earth's second warmest year in a century.

Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes In Human Study

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080109091102.htm

ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation.