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Radiation: It's just what the doctor ordered | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Thu, 24 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

thebulletin.org - By Dawn Stover - May. 24 (Special Report) - "Thirty years ago, these sources accounted for approximately 15 percent of the public's total radiation exposure. Today, that figure has more than tripled, so that nearly 50 percent of the public's overall radiation exposure can be attributed to medical sources."

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The Pacific Ocean Is Dying

Fri, 18 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - May. 18 (Special Report) - Just prior to the Supermoon of March 18th, 2011, the world witnessed a natural and manmade disaster of epic proportions. What transpired off the coast of Honshu Island, Japan on March 11 has forever altered the planet and irremediably affected the global environment.

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How the five web literacies are becoming essential survival skills

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Nieman Journalism Lab - By Justin Ellis - May. 13 (News Report) - Howard Rheingold isn’t too concerned about whether Google is making us stupid or if Facebook is making us lonely. Those kind of criticisms, Rheingold says, miscalculate the ability humans have to change their behavior, particularly when it comes to how we use social media and the Internet more broadly. “If, like many others, you are concerned social media is making people and cultures shallow, I propose we teach more people how to swim and together explore the deeper end of the pool,” Rheingold said Thursday. Rheingold was visiting the MIT Media Lab to talk about his new book, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online, which examines how people can use the Internet not just to better themselves, but also society as a whole. Rheingold has a longer online history than most, going back to The WELL, one of the first online forums back in the 1980s. Ever since writing about that experience, Rheingold has developed a habit for dropping the kind of book that not just probes what it means to be online, but charts what that means for all of us.

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Role Reversal: Why TV Is Replacing Movies As Elite Entertainment

Sun, 13 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

The Hollywood Economist - By Edward Jay Epstein - May. 13 (News Analysis) - Once upon a time, over a generation ago, The television set was commonly called the “boob tube” and looked down on by elites as a purveyors of mind-numbing entertainment. Movie theaters, on the other hand, were considered a venue for, if not art, more sophisticated dramas and comedies. Not any more. The multiplexes are now primarily a venue for comic-book inspired action and fantasy movies, whereas television, especially the pay and cable channels, is increasingly becoming a venue for character-driven adult programs, such as The Wire, Mad Men, and Boardwalk Empire. This role reversal, rather than a momentary fluke, proceeds directly from the new economic realities of the entertainment business. Consider what happened to Pay-TV. Back in the 1970s, HBO provided something home viewers could not get elsewhere: movies uninterrupted by commercials. It was, as a HBO executive put it, “the only game in town,” so its subscribers paid a monthly fee, no matter how little or often they watch it, to their local cable provider who in turn forked over a share to HBO. As the cable systems grew, so did HBO. By 2010, it had (including its Cinemax unit) over 40 million subscribers, and just the monthly fees produced cash flow of over $1.5 billion a year. Getting new movies was no problem. HBO simply licensed them from a few major studios for an exclusive period (which began a few months after they were released on video and DVD) in so-called “output deals.” To continue to harvest this immense bounty, HBO had merely to stop subscribers from ending their service.

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Emotion can shut down high-level mental processes without our knowledge, in our native language

Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ScienceDaily - By Bangor University via Science Daily - May. 08 (Research) - Psychologists believe that they have glimpsed for the first time, a process that takes place deep within our unconscious brain, where primal reactions interact with higher mental processes. They have identified a reaction to negative language inputs which shuts down unconscious processing. The psychologists extrapolate this from their most recent findings working with bilingual people.

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The PolitiFact guide to Medicare attack lines

Sun, 06 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan, Louis Jacobson - May. 06 (Fact Check) - Barack Obama has slashed Medicare by $500 billion. Mitt Romney and House Republicans want to end Medicare. And a new board is going to ration care so Washington can waste more money. Believe any of that? You shouldn’t. But it’s what the political ads likely will be saying between now and Election Day in November. We have some advice for voters sorting out the claims: Believe nothing you hear in a 30-second TV ad. Here are a few facts about Medicare: • It’s the government-run health insurance for Americans over age 65. • It’s a Canada-style, single-payer system. Liberals love that; conservatives don’t. • It has approximately 50 million people on its rolls. • That 50 million will grow to 80 million as baby boomers retire. Paying for that will be a challenge. Those realities about Medicare have sparked a full-fledged political brawl for 2012.

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Scientists show how a gene duplication helped our brains become 'human'

Thu, 03 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ScienceDaily - By The Scripps Research Institute - May. 03 (Research) - ScienceDaily (May 3, 2012) A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has shown that an extra copy of a brain-development gene, which appeared in our ancestors' genomes about 2.4 million years ago, allowed maturing neurons to migrate farther and develop more connections.

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Why Is the Conservative Brain More Fearful? The Alternate Reality Right-Wingers Inhabit Is Terrifying

Wed, 02 May 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joshua Holland - May. 02 (News Analysis) - Consider for a moment just how terrifying it must be to live life as a true believer on the right. Reality is scary enough, but the alternative reality inhabited by people who watch Glenn Beck, listen to Rush Limbaugh, or think Michele Bachmann isn't a joke must be nothing less than horrifying. Research suggests that conservatives are, on average, more susceptible to fear than those who identify themselves as liberals.

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Experimental Study of Informal Rewards in Peer Production

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Stony Brook University - By Michael Restivo, Arnout van de Rijt - Apr. 29 (Research) - We test the effects of informal rewards in online peer production. Using a randomized, experimental design, we assigned editing awards or “barnstars” to a subset of the 1% most productive Wikipedia contributors. Comparison with the control group shows that receiving a barnstar increases productivity by 60% and makes contributors six times more likely to receive additional barnstars from other community members, revealing that informal rewards significantly impact individual effort.

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'Junk DNA' can sense viral infection: Promising tool in the battle between pathogen and host

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ScienceDaily - By American Friends of Tel Aviv University - Apr. 24 (Research) - ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2012) Once considered unimportant "junk DNA," scientists have learned that non-coding RNA (ncRNA) -- RNA molecules that do not translate into proteins -- play a crucial role in cellular function.

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Gulf Oil Spill: BP Execs Escape Punishment as Fallout From Disaster Continues To Impact Sea life

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 23 (Special Report) - Two years since the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, we look at its impact on the Gulf of Mexico's residents and wildlife even as no BP officials have faced criminal prosecution for the disaster. Eleven workers died when the Deepwater Horizon well exploded and almost five million barrels of crude oil leaked into the ocean before the well was plugged after 51 days. BP maintains the Gulf is rapidly recovering thanks to the company's efforts, but Al Jazeera reporter Dahr Jamail describes how scientists say shrimp, fish and crabs in the Gulf of Mexico have been deformed by oil and chemicals released during the spill clean-up effort. Meanwhile, ProPublica’s environmental reporter Abrahm Lustgarten says the company failed to learn from past mistakes that could have helped avoid the explosion. He is the author of the new book, “Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster.” [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Eyeless Shrimp and Fish With Tumors: The Horrific Consequences of BP's Spill

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lisa Kaas Boyle - Apr. 19 (Special Report) - Disturbingly, the allowable levels set by the government for the toxins in our seafood are based on health impacts for a 176 pound adult eating less than 2 medium shrimp a day. The testing is for 1 chemical out of a crude oil mixture containing thousands of chemicals. No synergistic effects are considered. This in no way protects children, fetuses, people who weigh less than 176 pounds or anyone who eats seafood on a daily basis like the folks here on the Gulf Coast.

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Latin America v. Obama: U.S. Policy on Cuba, Drug War, Economy Under Fire at Colombian Summit

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 16 (News Analysis) - Historian Greg Grandin analyzes the U.S.-Colombia "free trade" deal and the deepening split between much of Latin America and Washington following the Summit of the Americas in Colombia. The summit, which was marred by a U.S. prostitution scandal, concluded Sunday without agreement on the key questions of whether Cuba should be allowed to attend the regional meetings and on the issue of the legalization of drugs. Latin American leaders said Cuba should be invited to the next Summit in Panama in 2015, but the United States and Canada dissented. Ecuador's President Rafael Correa boycotted this year’s meeting because of Cuba's exclusion. On Sunday the United States announced that a free trade agreement with host country Colombia will come into effect in May, far earlier than expected. The agreement had earlier been deferred because of Colombia's weak record on workers rights, including murders and attacks on union activists. [Transcript to come. Check back soon.]

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Gay Marriage Foes May Share Psychological Quirk, Study Suggests

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stephanie Pappas - Apr. 16 (Special Report) - .The study is a demonstration of the "third-person perception," a common psychological bias in which people are convinced that others are much more influenced by outside sources such as media and advertising than they themselves are. In the realm of same-sex marriage, people who strongly value authority and tradition were the most likely to demonstrate this third-person effect.

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Listen up, parents: For toddlers (and chimps), the majority rules

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

ScienceDaily - By Cell Press via Science Daily - Apr. 12 (Research) - A new study offers some news for parents: even toddlers have a tendency to follow the crowd. That sensitivity isn't unique to humans either; chimpanzees also appear more likely to pick up habits if "everyone else is doing it."

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Are Homophobes Just Repressing Their Homosexual Desires? New Study Says Yes

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd - Apr. 09 (Special Report) - repressed-homosexual homophobics are more likely to come from authoritarian homes. He also discusses a methodology as to how a study like this could even be conducted. Fascinating.

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Fall Preview: Obama vs. Romney (and Ryan)

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

FactCheck - By Eugene Kiely - Apr. 07 (Fact Check) - President Obama says Mitt Romney has embraced a budget that could throw hundreds of thousands of children out of Head Start classrooms, eliminate air traffic control services in some places, and “ultimately end Medicare as we know it.” Romney says that’s just “rhetorical excess”

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Sandra Fluke: Bills Going After Women's Health 'Dangerous' But Affordable Care Act 'Amazing'

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By The Huffington Post News Team - Apr. 05 (News) - While Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke calls some legislation that targets women's health "dangerous," she only has good things to say about President Obama's health...

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Gulf of Mexico Dolphins Sick, Dying After BP Oil Spill

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - Apr. 03 (News Report) - Bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana now are showing signs of severe ill health after coming in contact with oily waters from the BP oil spill nearly two years ago, warn NOAA marine mammal biologists and their local, state and federal research partners in a study released this week.

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As Fukushima Worsens, US Approves New Nukes

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Common Dreams - Mar. 31 (News Report) - Despite reports this week that the Fukushima nuclear situation may be even worse than previously thought, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has given approval today for two combined licenses for two nuclear reactors in South Carolina, only the second time in the last three decades that new nuclear plants have been approved in the nation. read ...

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Coffee Makes Hard Workers Lazy, Rat Study Suggests

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jennifer Welsh - Mar. 31 (Special Report) - Caffeine also turns hardworkers into slackers, but doesn't make lazy rats into productive superstars the way amphetamines do. The results of the study appear today (March 28) in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

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Why the Right's Zombie Lie About Gas Prices Is Wrong But They'll Never Let it Die

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Joshua Holland - Mar. 29 (News Analysis) - That narrative will be debunked again and again in news stories and editorials. The self-appointed fact-checking organizations that have proliferated in recent years will rate the claim “untrue,” or “pants on fire,” or give it “3 Pinocchios.” The dwindling ranks of “serious” conservative commenters will also call out the fallacious argument for what it is. But for many on the right, objective reality simply won't penetrate. That Obama is responsible for high gas prices – that he wants them high – will become another un-killable “zombie lie” in our political discourse.

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Label It Yourself Campaign: Citizen Action to Label GMOs

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - Mar. 29 (News Report) - Citizens from across the country, concerned by the increasing scientific data indicating serious economic, environmental and public health risks associated with GMOs (genetically modified organisms), have taken matters into their own hands, labeling foods that may contain GMOs in a nationwide campaign to “Label It Yourself” (#LIY).

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Wall Street Journal Claims War on Women a "Myth"

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Robin Marty - Mar. 27 (Fact Check) - in essence, what Eberstadt really wants to talk about is whether women are “happier” now than they were back when you only had sex while married and for the purpose of making babies. And, in case you didn’t know this, you aren’t.

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Polluters Dump 226 Million Pounds of Toxins into U.S. Rivers

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

care2.com - By Jennifer Mueller - Mar. 24 (Investigative Report) - Industrial polluters dumped 226 million pounds of toxic chemicals in to U.S. waterways in 2010, according to a new report by Environment America. The group analyzed government data on industrial facilities to reveal total discharges by state and which U.S. rivers bear the heaviest toxic chemical burden.

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