Politics

A new French study indicates that heavy metal exposure may cause autism in children, prompting researchers to wonder if autism could be treated by flushing heavy metals out of the body. The study examined urine samples from hundreds of French children and discovered that the levels of some byproducts of heavy metal exposure were up to 2.6 times more concentrated in children with autism. It is unknown whether this is a symptom or a cause of autism, as researchers are continuing to investigate. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19025535.400&feedId=online-news_rss20

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/07/04/korea.missile/index.html?section=cnn_topstories North Korea attempted to test fire a new version of their Taep'o Dong-2 ICBM earlier today. It failed less than a minute into the flight. Is this just sabre rattling, or should it be construed as an act of aggression? Is the US foreign policy towards North Korea effective, or is it putting us all in harm's way?

"WHEN, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these Rights, Governments are institute…

Here's a link to the surgeon general's report, released today amidst great hoopla, with all the major news networks headlining tonight's broadcasts with the story: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/report/ I haven't read it yet (so I will try to keep an open mind), but as I understand it, the report offers no new science whatsoever. No causal evidence has ever been offered that secondhand smoke causes anything at all! It's all simple statistical correlations, many of which are within the margin of error of the study! I guess I can understand the aspect of this that relates to smoking parents raising children in smoking environments. Ir…

NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery took off at 2:38 Eastern Time on July 4th, 2006 after being delayed since July 1st. It was the first launch since last year, and the second since about 3 1/2 years when a large piece of fuel tank insolation foam brought down Space Shuttle Colombia. A slice of foam that was no bigger than a crust of bread fell off of Discovery's external fuel tank following the delay on July 2nd. Engineers said that the foam was not big enough to cause any problems. Source: Yahoo news

I was wondering what y'all would think about using metaphors to talk about political issues, the writing of stories to write about political issues, so that it doesn't infuriate certain people, and so certain things that require intelligence to discern can be said, with less danger of worrying whether you'll be imprisoned. What do you think?

I was wondering if the world in general, is moving, and has moved to the point where we should be extremely discrete about exactly what we say, politically wise. Now I'm not talking things that are Dae Sure illegal, but things are not exactly wise to talk about against certain figures, which might get one penalized in indirect measures. Anyway, what's your opinion?

Producers of the new Superman movie removed the phrase "... and the American way" from Superman's motto. http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2006/06/superman_the_am.html Guess that's Hollywood for ya. But there's also an economic aspect, in the sense that this movie will be sold in overseas markets. Bah, some things just aren't right.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/06/29/scotus.tribunals/ Wait... I thought this was supposed to be an ultra-conservative court, packed with Bushie's friends?! What the heck is going on here?!

Fascinating example of politics in action. The US Senate defeated a no-flag-burning amendment tonight by a single vote. A similar amendment has already passed the House, enjoys the support of the President, and every single state's legislature (which, if I remember correctly, is where the final votes on amendments takes place) has written to Congress asking for the amendment, so this has to be viewed as a close decision. There's a fairly comprehensive story here: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2126480 One of the more interesting aspects of this story is that it was supported by a number of Democrats, including liberal icon Dianne Feinstein. …

While it may conjure up images of Spiderman for some, researchers have actually entered clinical trials in a drug to treat brain cancer with a particularly odd chemical: radioactive scorpion venom. The drug is an artificial version of the venomous protein attached to radioactive iodine. The compound attaches to the cancer cells and the iodine promptly irradiates them, killing the cells with minimal damage to the surrounding area. The treatment has already increased patient survival rates and helped treat tumors, and many hope it will pass clinical trials and become one of the many cancer-fighting drugs in the medical arsenal. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases…

hello it say first up, this question will be taken by many to be in bad taste, or heartless and politically incorrect. the question however is what has been the direct benefit to you by zarqawi's death. currently living the united states, and have found the price of petrol has dropped from approx. $3.35 a gallon to $3.02 a gallon. as since the man's death gas prices have fallen as world producers feel there will be a more stabile supply, hence more competition so the need to lower prices. so everyone says this war in the gulf is a war over oil\gas, so we the western nations are eliminating people who could disrupt our fuel supplies. if you accept this is a …

Good for them. I don't think the portrayal of withdrawl-advocates as "cut and runners" is fair, but I still think it's a bad tactical move to set a timetable, and setting a timetable has always been more about politics than realities anyway, so it's just a bad idea. If you want to see how your congresscritter voted, this article has a list of each vote, broken down by state. My critter voted for the resolution. I guess the down side of this story is that the House spent 13 hours debating a non-binding resolution instead of getting on with the business of government. There's something to be said for that, but I think this was the right thing to do.

A new silicon-germanium semiconductor chip produced by IBM reached 500 GHz in tests recently, setting a new speed record for a computer chip. The test was conducted at 4.5 Kelvin (-451 degrees Fahrenheit), but the chip still reached 350 GHz at room temperature. It promises to start the next generation of powerful computing chips before quantum computing becomes feasible. http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189500692

Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys has suddenly and inexplicably stopped working, says a NASA spokesman. The problem appears to be increased voltages from a faulty power supply, although it could also be caused by corrupted memory or some other unknown problem. Scientists are confident they can resolve the problem, but it goes to show how desperately Hubble needs maintenance to continue operating. It is estimated that Hubble will cease working in 2008, when its batteries and gyroscopes will fail. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060624/ap_on_sc/hubble_camera_problem

I was wondering what everybody's opinion is/was of Peak Oil. What they thought would happen, if they think it's real, what they think the implications will be, when they think it will be ect...

Can anyone find a link for the detailed study? All I can find is the appalling conclusion: I'm feeling much better about the relative state of America's educational system.

A recent study suggests that caffeine can actually increase your chances of being convinced by an argument, after other studies suggested that it can also improve cognitive performance. The study shows that those who drink a significant amount of caffeine and then read articles opposed to their point of view are more likely to change their opinions than those who had no caffeine. Other factors indicate that it may be due to increased cognitive functions that allow greater analysis of the subject, rather than simply a better mood. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9280

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6DBn0BncMk Soo... what the hell? The MPAA is getting our government to threaten trade sanctions against Sweden because some of their citizens run a service which facilitates technology for pirating movies. The Pirate Bay hosts no illegal content, only metainformation, and the Swedish government has determined that this is legal. Why does the MPAA get priority over US companies who rely on Swedish products? What about US citizens who use Swedish products? Should they all suffer just so the MPAA gets their way? This is absolutely ridiculous. Words cannot express my contempt. I absolutely loved in the interview in the end …

I mean come on we won, it was a LONG time ago. They shouldnt be able to get out of paying taxes any more. They drive on our roads and benefit from US citizens but dont have to pay themselves. Think of the way we treated black people. Why dont we give them anything?(just an example, i know that there were different situations) I can see why reservations were implimented at first but i think its time to move past it. Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?

hello not sure if this should be here or in religion or politics. some time ago public television in the u.s. ran program on the scope's monkey trail. the link is to the transcript of the program. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/monkeytrial/filmmore/pt.html thought it might prove of some interest to see site members. the supposed creationism verus evolution trial becoming a platform for freedom speech verus social darwinism. how scopes' voluteered to the aclu to be prosecuted not over evolution but freedom of speech. and how the town authorities encouraged him to do so to attract business to their town. it bit long to read, but i believe worth the ti…

While regular soccer World Cup '06 has taken over Germany, a lesser known Robo World Cup 2006 has also been going on over there. I found this really interesting article on Technology Review about the Robo World Cup 2006, and the fact that scientists have developed robots to not only play in the games, but actually act as commentators as well. This is the first year that robots have done this, and, while still only making basic comments, they actually come up with what they say by themselves, without someone telling them to say it at a certain time. I'm sure the the article explains it much better! Check it out here: http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?ch…

The very first clinical trials for a stem-cell based product are just around the corner, for a treatment for damaged spinal tissue. The treatment can quite possibly help patients with damaged spinal cords regain movement in their body, and scientists say the risks are minimal. This represents a major step forward in medical science, being the first clinical use for embryonic stem cells since their culturing in 1998. There may be opposition from ethics groups, but researchers say the treatment itself should be safe, and it could be the first of many revolutionary new treatments. http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9349

A new study on rodents suggests that our own good hygiene may be at fault for the broad range of allergies we suffer from, saying that early exposure to potential allergens can allow our body to easily adapt to them. The study collected rats from the wild and from a laboratory and compared levels of an antibody in their bloodstream. The wild rodents had much higher levels of a particular antibody that is produced in response to foreign particles, and the researchers believe high levels of this antibody may prevent chronic overreaction when exposed to the particles (allergies). http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9357

http://media.libsyn.com/media/sciencefriday/scifri-2006061623.mp3 Tom Bethell, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, debates Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science. I can't believe how many blatant falsehoods Bethell manages to bilge throughout this piece. I may be a bit biased having worked in climate science/global warming research, but I can assure you that those who dissent from the majority opinion absolutely do not see their funding pulled simply because they dissent. I used to work for such an individual. He served on a number of influential committees including the National Research Council. His opinion was very much appr…