the eye of Nova's mind

White privilege 101: Here's the basic lesson Paul Ryan, Tal Fortgang and Donald Sterling need -- Really insightful article that dovetails with my recent "microaggressions" post.

Fox's Keith Ablow: Schools should ban leggings because they distract my son -- This is one step away from, "She was wearing a short skirt--she was asking for it."

Why America's favorite anarchist thinks most American workers are slaves -- Bad title for an article that proposes a minimal lump salary for all adult citizens (which is an interesting idea).

How yawning could help cool down your brain

Soy Sauce May Hold Secret Ingredient In Treatment Of HIV/AIDS

New metal eating plant may help to clean contaminated soil

Focus: Why We Can’t Remember the Future

Certain parts of the brain activated in people who heard tailored health messages and quit smoking -- dorsomedial prefrontal cortex

NYU researchers identify neural circuits used in processing basic linguistic phrases -- "Surprisingly [...], "Broca's" and "Wernicke's" areas appeared to play no role in the comprehension of [...] basic phrases. Instead [...], results revealed increased activity in the left anterior temporal lobe, followed by increased activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex region of the brain during the processing of simple adjective-noun phrases."

Researchers have found how brain cells control their movement to form the cerebral cortex

Making the ‘Irrelevant’ Relevant to Understand Memory and Aging

A Grudge Match between Humanity and Death--Who Wins? -- "[N]ew research [...] shows that being a mindful person not only makes you generally more tolerant and less defensive, but it can also actually neutralize fears of dying and death."

New Baylor Study Shows Higher Job Performance Linked to People Who Are More Honest and Humble

Full Bladder, Better Decisions? Controlling Your Bladder Decreases Impulsive Choices

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Antimatter Trapped For the First Time (thanks, eposia)

Pope Benedict 'condones condom use in some cases' -- "In a book due to be published on Tuesday, he said they could reduce the risk of infection with HIV, such as for a prostitute." I am amazed & bemused that it took prostitution to get the Vatican to approve condom use.

Placenta 'has key role' in determining pregnancy length -- I have some issues with the language at the end. Striving for nutrients is not a "war", it's a contest. The placenta is not a "battleground". Words mean for a reason.

The Untold Story of Queen Aliquippa (thanks, johanna_hypatia)

California police report supports Prius driver -- This is what I suspected when I first heard about the doubts being cast about the driver's account. Toyota is simply engaged in damage control.

Game of Death: France's Shocking TV Experiment -- "Game of Death is an adaptation of an infamous experiment conducted by a team led by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s. In order to test people's obedience to authority figures, the scientists demanded that subjects administer increasingly strong electric shocks to other participants if they answered questions incorrectly."

Violence Prompts Debate Over Medical Marijuana -- "A shooting and a beating death linked to medical marijuana have prompted new calls by law enforcement officials and marijuana advocates for Washington State to change how it regulates the drug and protects those who grow and use it." (NYT)

New attack on cancer forces cells to grow old and die -- "Takeda Pharmaceutical Co's experimental cancer drug MLN4924" seems to be able to "[block] a cancer-causing gene called Skp2 [which] force[s] cancer cells to go through an aging process known as senescence--the same process involved in ridding the body of cells damaged by sunlight."

Insurer targeted HIV patients to drop coverage -- Assurant Health (formerly Fortis)

Fish oil supplements 'beat psychotic mental illness': Taking a daily fish oil capsule can stave off mental illness in those at highest risk, trial findings suggest

Study links hormone to addiction, risk-taking -- "Scientists from Denmark and Japan said they had proved in research that a need for stimulation is greater on average among those who have more of the gratification hormone, dopamine, in their brains, partly because of their lower sensitivity to it."

Fish caught evolving into three different species

HIV/AIDS drug puzzle cracked: Scientists say they have solved a crucial puzzle about the AIDS virus after 20 years of research and that their findings could lead to better treatments for HIV -- "British and U.S. researchers said they had grown a crystal that enabled them to see the structure of an enzyme called integrase, which is found in retroviruses like HIV and is a target for some of the newest HIV medicines."

Subtle thinking problems may up stroke risk: study

Study links infections in womb to asthma -- "A 16-year study following nearly 400,000 births in California found that when mothers had an inflammation known as chorioamnionitis and if a baby was born pre-term, that child was more likely to develop asthma by age 8."

Johnson & Johnson criticized in Tylenol recall: FDA accuses drugmaker of dragging its feet in recall of tainted Tylenol, Motrin and other over-the-counter medications -- The company knew back in 2008 of problems

Loss of Smell Function May Predict Early Onset of Alzheimer's Disease

Words Used to Describe Substance-Use Patients Can Alter Attitudes, Contribute to Stigma -- "Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have found that health professionals' answers to survey questions about a hypothetical patient varied depending on whether he was described as a 'substance abuser' or as 'having a substance use disorder.'"

Massive AIDS Claim A Hoax | Woman: AIDS video hoax meant to be public service

Video of admitted HIV transmission draws concern, skepticism -- Setting aside the fact that transmission of HIV from a female to a male is around 26% effective (as opposed to 75% male-to-female), the fact that someone would feel the need to do this is, well, rather unfathomable to me.

In Washington, D.C., "condoms can be used as a factor leading 'an officer to suspect that a person is engaged in prostitution'" (thanks, supergee)

'The Y chromosome appears to be the most rapidly evolving of the human chromosomes' -- the genetic palimpsest

Doomsday Deferred: End-of-World Clock Set Back 1 Minute

Britain apologizes 50 years after Thalidomide scandal

Mozart Effect Helps Premature Babies Get Stronger

It's not lunacy, probes find water in moon dirt -- Was there a copyeditor involved in this title? *sigh* The article's content is decent, however (despite the fact that one of the scientists interviewed has a name that would befit an erotic dancer). Here's NYT's take.

A world first: Vaccine helps prevent HIV infection -- "The vaccine--a combination of two previously unsuccessful vaccines--cut the risk of becoming infected with HIV by more than 31 percent."

Circumcision helps protect men, not women from AIDS -- With Bush gone, what is the reason the U.S. isn't pushing for condom use in the fight against HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa?

Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says