JAMES WATSON, the 1962 Nobel laureate, recently asserted that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” and its citizens because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really. ”

Dr.
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(natgeo) Startling new evidence suggests the chain of volcanoes and earthquake zones surrounding the Pacific Ocean may be getting more dangerous. Follow the scientists racing to understand the danger and what we can do to protect ourselves. . . .  More...

(gq) Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?. . .  More...

(gq) Let’s say you run a multibillion-dollar football league. And let’s say the scientific community—starting with one young pathologist in Pittsburgh and growing into a chorus of neuroscientists across the country—comes to you and says concussions are making your players crazy, crazy enough to kill themselves, and here, in these slices of brain tissue, is the proof. Do you join these scientists and try to solve the problem, or do you use your power to discredit them?. . .  More...

(lat) Gertrude Baines, a former maid who was born before the discovery of penicillin and was the world's oldest person, died today in Los Angeles. She was 115. She died at Western Convalescent Hospital, according to the hospital's administrator, Emma Camanag. The Shellman, Ga. , native, whose father was believed to have been a slave, was born April 6, 1894, when the U.  More...

(nyt) When Mrs. Hall-Massey and 264 neighbors sued nine nearby coal companies, accusing them of putting dangerous waste into local water supplies, their lawyer did not have to look far for evidence. As required by state law, some of the companies had disclosed in reports to regulators that they were pumping into the ground illegal concentrations of chemicals — the same pollutants that flowed from residents’ taps. But state regulators never fined or punished those companies for breaking those pollution laws. This pattern is not limited to West Virginia.  More...

(msnbc) For some women, a lonely heart may lead to actual heart damage. A new study has linked feeling forlorn to a nearly 80 percent increase in the risk of heart disease — but only in women. Other studies have shown that depressed and socially isolated people are at a greater risk for developing heart disease, said the study’s lead author Rebecca C. Thurston, an assistant professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Both of these factors can lead to stress, which can ultimately lead to heart disease.  More...

(discovery) Canine influenza, the potentially deadly H3N8 virus commonly known as dog flu, is spreading. So far the virus has led to the death of one dog last week, closed down the kennel at Virginia's Fairfax County Animal Shelter, and, according to experts, is now affecting dogs in at least four other states: Colorado, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. While the reason for the shelter outbreak, which killed a 15-year-old whippet owned by a clinical technician and sickened 26 dogs, remains unknown, it's possible that one or more infected dogs from Philadelphia or D. C. introduced the illness to Virginia.  More...

(msnbc) A Spanish woman believed to have become the world's oldest new mother when she gave birth at 66 has died at 69, leaving behind twin toddlers, newspapers reported Wednesday. Maria del Carmen Bousada, who reportedly died Saturday, gave birth in December 2006 as a single mother after getting in vitro fertilization treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles. The births ignited a firestorm of debate over how old is too old for a new mother, and how much responsibility fertility clinics have over who gets treatments. Bousada told an interviewer she lied to the fertility clinic about her age, and maintained that because her mother had lived to be 101, she had a good chance of living long enough to raise a child. .  More...

(time) A month after Melanie Blocker-Stokes gave birth, she stopped eating and sleeping. She had convinced herself that she was a terrible mother, and she was paranoid that the neighbors thought so too. Over two months, Blocker-Stokes was repeatedly hospitalized for postpartum psychosis; prescribed a cocktail of antipsychotic, antianxiety and antidepressant drugs; and treated with electroconvulsive therapy. Despite her family's efforts to help, Blocker-Stokes leaped to her death from the 12th story of a Chicago hotel in 2001, when her daughter was 3½ months old. Now the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act, familiarly known as the Mothers Act, has passed the House and is headed for the Senate.  More...

(nyt) Now a new study of more than 500,000 Americans has provided the best evidence yet that our affinity for red meat has exacted a hefty price on our health and limited our longevity. The study found that, other things being equal, the men and women who consumed the most red and processed meat were likely to die sooner, especially from one of our two leading killers, heart disease and cancer, than people who consumed much smaller amounts of these foods. . . .  More...

(nytjournalism) When Stephen Guerra checked the back side of drywall in his 72-year-old mother’s newly renovated home and found that it had been made in China, the mysterious smells and rusted metals in the house suddenly made sense to him. Guerra’s discovery explained the periodic smell of rotten eggs in the home, the spots of rust covering the metal clock in the bathroom — and perhaps his mother’s illnesses, including a recurring rash that she and her other son, Paul, suffer from. His mother, Darlyn Guerra, said she also has a corneal ulcer and that even her 5-year-old white Maltese dog, Itsy, has been suffering from a rash since moving into the home, in the Upper Lake Shore area of New Orleans. Across Lake Pontchartrain in a quiet Covington, La. , development, Raymond Hickey, 86, and his wife, Elizabeth, 85, are still waiting for results of home inspections done a month ago by several agencies, including the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.  More...

(msnbc) Boys who have a so-called "warrior gene" are more likely to join gangs and also more likely to be among the most violent members and to use weapons, a new study finds. "While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a 'low-activity 3-repeat allele,' play a significant role," said biosocial criminologist Kevin M. Beaver of Florida State University. In 2006, the controversial warrior gene was implicated in the violence of the indigenous Maori people in New Zealand, a claim that Maori leaders dismissed. But it's no surprise that genes would be involved in aggression.  More...

(Frontline/PBS) A far-reaching investigation into America's great waterways. They are in peril. There's a new wave of pollution that's killing fish, causing mutations in frogs -- threatening human health. . .  More...

(uktel) Proving that you don't need Google's billions or the BBC weather centre's resources, the four Spanish students managed to send a camera-operated weather balloon into the stratosphere. Taking atmospheric readings and photographs 20 miles above the ground, the Meteotek team of IES La Bisbal school in Catalonia completed their incredible experiment at the end of February this year. Building the electronic sensor components from scratch, Gerard Marull Paretas, Sergi Saballs Vila, Marta­ Gasull Morcillo and Jaume Puigmiquel Casamort managed to send their heavy duty £43 latex balloon to the edge of space and take readings of its ascent. Created by the four students under the guidance of teacher Jordi Fanals Oriol, the budding scientists, all aged 18-19, followed the progress of their balloon using high tech sensors communicating with Google Earth. Team leader Gerard Marull, 18, said: "We were overwhelmed at our results, especially the photographs, to send our handmade craft to the edge of space is incredible.  More...

(msnbc) Unhappy people glue themselves to the television 30 percent more than happy people. The finding, announced on Thursday, comes from a survey of nearly 30,000 American adults conducted between 1975 and 2006 as part of the General Social Survey. While happy people reported watching an average of 19 hours of television per week, unhappy people reported 25 hours a week. The results held even after taking into account education, income, age and marital status. In addition, happy individuals were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read a newspaper more often than their less-chipper counterparts.  More...

(guardian) James Hansen, one of the world's leading climate scientists, will today call for the chief executives of large fossil fuel companies to be put on trial for high crimes against humanity and nature, accusing them of actively spreading doubt about global warming in the same way that tobacco companies blurred the links between smoking and cancer. Hansen will use the symbolically charged 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking speech (pdf) to the US Congress - in which he was among the first to sound the alarm over the reality of global warming - to argue that radical steps need to be taken immediately if the "perfect storm" of irreversible climate change is not to become inevitable. Speaking before Congress again, he will accuse the chief executive officers of companies such as ExxonMobil and Peabody Energy of being fully aware of the disinformation about climate change they are spreading. In an interview with the Guardian he said: "When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime. " He is also considering personally targeting members of Congress who have a poor track record on climate change in the coming November elections.  More...

(ap) World food production must rise by 50 percent by 2030 to meet increasing demand, U. N. chief Ban Ki-moon told world leaders Tuesday at a summit grappling with hunger and civil unrest caused by food price hikes. The secretary-general told the Rome summit that nations must minimize export restrictions and import tariffs during the food price crisis and quickly resolve world trade talks. "The world needs to produce more food," Ban said.  More...

After delaying a decision for several weeks, the U. S. government today listed the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), creating new protections for the bears in their Alaskan habitat. But officials emphasized that the decision will not be used to determine U. S.  More...

One-third of parents of babies have a surprisingly low knowledge of child development, including basic concepts about what their children should know or how they should act, a new study finds. For instance, the study found that many parents don't know that 1-year-olds can't tell the difference between right and wrong, and often don't cooperate or share when playing with other children. The results are surprising because the parents who took part in the survey had young children, said lead author Dr. Heather Paradis, a pediatric fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in New York. "They were watching or had just watched their kids go through this development, and they were probably the most knowledgeable of anybody.  More...

(wapo) For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women. In nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s, according to a study published today. The downward trend is evident in places in the Deep South, Appalachia, the lower Midwest and in one county in Maine. It is not limited to one race or ethnicity but it is more common in rural and low-income areas. The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County), where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983.  More...

(science daily)The World Health Organization has released new data showing that while progress has been made, not a single country fully implements all key tobacco control measures, and outlined an approach that governments can adopt to prevent tens of millions of premature deaths by the middle of this century. Unless urgent action is taken, tobacco could kill one billion this century. In a new report which presents the first comprehensive analysis of global tobacco use and control efforts, WHO finds that only 5% of the world’s population live in countries that fully protect their population with any one of the key measures that reduce smoking rates. The report also reveals that governments around the world collect 500 times more money in tobacco taxes each year than they spend on anti-tobacco efforts. It finds that tobacco taxes, the single most effective strategy, could be significantly increased in nearly all countries, providing a source of sustainable funding to implement and enforce the recommended approach, a package of six policies called MPOWER.  More...

(historychannel) What would happen to planet earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear forever? Would ecosystems thrive? What remnants of our industrialized world would survive? What would crumble fastest? From the ruins of ancient civilizations to present day cities devastated by natural disasters, history gives us clues to these questions and many more in the visually stunning and thought-provoking new special LIFE AFTER PEOPLE, premiering Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 9:00 p. m. ET/PT on The History Channel. Abandoned skyscrapers would, after hundreds of years, become "vertical ecosystems" complete with birds, rodents and even plant life. One small animal might be responsible for bringing down the Hoover Dam hydroelectric plant.  More...

(healthday) Two out of five American children between the ages of 8 and 10 have already taken a few sips of alcohol, a new study shows. However, one in three parents whose child reported having tasted alcohol was unaware that their youngster had done so, the researchers noted. The number of 8-to-10-year-olds who've downed a whole drink are much lower, however. "Nearly 40 percent of children aged 8 to 10 have sipped or tasted alcohol, whereas only 6 percent have ever had a drink of alcohol," corresponding author John E. Donovan, an associate professor of psychiatry and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a prepared statement.  More...

(reuters/bbc) The World Cancer Research Fund carried out the largest ever inquiry into lifestyle and cancer, and issued several stark recommendations. They include not gaining weight as an adult, avoiding sugary drinks and alcohol, and not eating bacon or ham. Everyone must also aim to be as thin as possible without becoming underweight. People with a Body Mass Index (BMI), a calculation which takes into account height and weight, of between 18. 5 and 25, are deemed to be within a "healthy" weight range.  More...