Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
The vaunted human capacity for reason may have more to do with winning arguments than with thinking straight.CreditIllustration by Gérard DuBois Barrier Status: ‘none’ In 1975, researchers at Stanford invited a group of undergraduates to take part in a study about suicide. They were presented with pairs of suicide notes. In each pair, one…
The Wild Boars of Fukushima Six years after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, the evacuation zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains devoid of humans—but the boars have moved in. Reuters reports that after the people left, wild boars living in the nearby hills came down to the towns…
How can you tell when a rat is happy? The answer may be to look at its ears. A recent study has found that in a similar way to how humans smile when expressing pleasure, the rodents relax their ears, which then flush pink. There have been plenty of studies looking into how rats behave…
Because we are in a very strange time in politics now, there’s some governmental tanning news to talk about that has nothing to do with our unnaturally orange president. The Obamacare health plan included a 10 percent tax for customers who used tanning bed salons. The new and very contentious Republican health plan calls for…
Google Microdata Mobile only ad Article “Cover” Five neuroscientists argue that fancy new technologies have led the field astray. Google Metadata A rat’s brain activity is recorded by sensors connected to its head. Reuters It’s a good time to be interested in the brain. Neuroscientists can now turn neurons on or off with just a…
Careful, now—that sword is 3,000 years old. (Image: GUARD Archaeology) In what archaeologists are calling the “find of a lifetime,” a horde of Late Bronze Age weapons has been discovered at a Scottish construction site. Among the items found is a gold-decorated spearhead, and a 3,000-year-old bronze sword in remarkably good condition. The artifacts were…
President Trump and many of his top aides have expressed skepticism about climate change, while others say human activity is to blame for global warming. So what’s the administration’s real position? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) This story has been updated. Scott Pruitt, the nation’s top environmental official, strongly rejected the established science of climate change…
During a March 9 debate on GOP plans to revise Obamacare, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) questioned why men are required to pay for prenatal care as part of essential care required by the Affordable Care Act. (NARAL/House Energy and Commerce Committee) In the 27 hours the House Energy and Commerce Committee spent debating Republicans’ Obamacare…
The Big Apple is on a weather roller coaster — and New Yorkers don’t know how to dress anymore. Temperatures rose from the low 40s on Sunday to the mid-50s on Monday and Tuesday, before surging to a balmy 70 degrees on Wednesday. The city was then hammered with heavy winds topping 50 mph on…
Story Highlights Five years ago the U.S. saw one of its most extreme weather months in history. February 2017 shares similarities with March 2012 because of the widespread early-season warmth. The eastern U.S. experienced a rash of extreme weather in February 2017, from record warmth that has led to the early blooming of trees and…