You’re an excellent host. “Parasites can castrate their hosts, take

over their minds and short out their DNA. They can turn

healthy organisms into the living dead. And they can be

found anywhere — in our legs, our brains, our intestines, our

kitty litter.

Science writer Carl Zimmer’s new book, Parasite Rex:

Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous

Creatures, introduces readers to some of nature’s most

sinister characters: nematodes that cause blindness, worms

that swell up a scrotum until it fills a wheelbarrow,

60-foot-long tapeworms and deadly creatures so tiny they

hitchhike on the back of a fly.” Salon

A Hot-Button Issue. “The presidential campaign has

stopped talking about nuclear

defense because married women, the

critical swing voters, aren’t supposed

to be interested. (Our motto: If it

hasn’t come up on Regis it can’t be all

that important.)

Look, we’re not going to be satisfied

with six weeks of prescription drug coverage and dragging

Dick Cheney to kindergarten show-and- tell sessions. We are

thinking people. We ponder the big stuff…

You’re ready to talk weaponry, and you probably already

know more than you think. Check your nuclear I.Q. New York Times

Researchers Trace Roots of Vivid Memories, “…have found that calling up vivid

memories—the face of a loved one

or the chords of a favorite

song—activates regions of the

brain responsible for processing

sensory experiences. When a

person recalls a vivid memory,

some of the sensory regions of the

brain responsible for etching the

original memory are reactivated.”

Here’s a summary by Ian Pitchford, the moderator of the excellent evolutionary psychology mailing list, of the extensive discussion thus far on that listserv of the controversy ripping through American anthropology and related disciplines about James Neel, the Yanomami and measles vaccine. Links to further discussion. I blinked the BBC’s coverage of the issue below.

Slate‘s Ad Report Card column considers the offensive Nike ad everybody’s buzzing about. The ad’s been pulled, but you can click on links here to view it in Quicktime or the Windows Media Player. The columnist’s take: it’s not nearly as bad as everybody made it out to be. My take: Everybody wants to know how Nike could risk advertising budget on such a colossal flop. But Nike is thriving on the buzz, negative as it is. They knew exactly what they were doing. And see? I’m doing involuntary Nike advertising by discussing it here…

Michael Kinsley: Every politician’s favorite verbal tic: “…

when a

pol begins every third sentence with the word frankly,

what are we supposed to assume about the other two?” Slate

“Here’s a theory: (FBI Director) Louis Freeh has

photographs of key Republican

congressmen in compromising

positions with young boys.

What else could explain his J.

Edgar Hoover-esque immunity

on Capitol Hill?” The thesis is that Republicans bypass criticism of Freeh — e.g. for the pursuit of Wen Ho Lee — to get at Janet Reno at every opportunity. Because, since Watergate, the FBI has been insulated structurally from the Administration (the FBI director serves a ten-year term and can only be removed for cause), Freeh has been free to “cultivate his Republican paymasters”, in particular charming Sens. Orrin Hatch and Arlen Spector, using “leaks” to publicize FBI conflicts with Reno and the Dept. of Justice to use them for political gain.

Freeh’s invincibility depends heavily on Reno’s weakness. A

different attorney general might not have tolerated such

contrariness from the FBI. But Reno dislikes conflict, is

uninterested in political gamesmanship, and is willing to play

fall gal in cases embarrassing to the DOJ and the FBI. She

doesn’t want to alienate Freeh—they reportedly have a very

cordial private relationship. And unlike Freeh, she lacks a

power base on Capitol Hill, because she has never cultivated

legislators. Republicans have made Freeh her foil: Reno’s lack

of support and perceived incompetence make him gleam.

Freeh and his FBI profit from their alliance with the Hill and

the press. They escape interference by the AG and the

president, and they increase their budget. But the country pays

a price. The FBI has become a congressional tool. As the Lee

probe suggests, agents may be more inclined to pursue

investigations that interest Hill legislators. And the FBI now

functions as a congressional bludgeon against an unpopular

attorney general.

Slate