Slow Wave is a comic strip based on dreams people submit to the cartoonists. Revealing, and it really makes sense to me to use the comic strip medium to render dreams!

Return of the Snapper:

An English photographer tracks down the

anonymous subjects of his photographs from

the 1970s and asks them to pose for him

again, is staggered by the response. [The Irish Times]

Gel Prevents Chemotherapy Hair Loss in Rats

“A clear gel rubbed on the scalps of rats was able to prevent hair loss from

chemotherapy, one of the most distressing side effects of cancer treatment, scientists said. A researcher for developer Glaxo Wellcome said the company hopes to start human tests of

the gel, which includes a drug known as GW8510, to see if it could help reduce the trauma of

chemotherapy.” Exciting news if true, but I’m skeptical. The drug apparently works by seeping into hair follicles and temporarily inhibiting their cell division, which means they are spared by chemotherapy drugs which essentially work by targeting fast-growing and -dividing cells throughout the body. Because the new gel is topical, it will not affect the internal targeted cancer cells. But could the cure be worse than the disease? Can we really turn cell replication on and off with precision?

TV Ad Roach Frightens Viewers

“Television ads for (Orkin) that feature a realistic-looking cockroach scurrying across the screen have left some viewers

laughing, others upset and a few broken TVs.”

Scandalous Doin’s in the Ruins of Pompeii

The contents of

the Secret Cabinet that

were so scandalous they

were kept locked up for

most of the last 200 years

will be unveiled to the

public next week.

Schoolchildren visiting

the National

Archaeological Museum of

Naples, however, will

need parental permission

to see the exhibition.

Curators delicately refer

to the Secret Cabinet or the “Forbidden Collection,” but

museum guards loudly direct visitors to “il pornografico.” [New York Times]

Your Mail Isn’t Spying on You Thoughtful reflections by a colleague of mine on the privacy-violating fears raised by completing the census questionnaire make the New York Times op-ed page.

The number purple: exploring color-number synaesthesia. [New Scientist]

Netscape 6 Preview Release 1 is here for download. Playing with it tonight, what I can say so far is that it’s fast. Major frustrations: blogger editing windows don’t work; and I can’t find a way to import my Netscape 4.7 bookmarks en masse.