Most galaxies have a single nucleus, but the fascinating object in today’s APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) appears to have four. In fact, astronomers have concluded that the nucleus of the galaxy is not at all visible in this extraordinary photo of the Einstein Cross gravitational lens. The central cloverleaf is light emitted from a quasar directly behind the galaxy in our line of sight. The gravitational field of the foreground galaxy bends the light from the quasar into four distinct images.

“Britain and the United

States are developing a fungus that attacks

opium poppies, but the project aimed at

withering the heroin trade could end up

producing a dangerous biological weapon,

the BBC reported today.” ABC News

Dig-dug, think-thunk. Alot’s at stake in studying the past tense, as this review by a Yale linguist of Steven Pinker’s Words and Rules: the ingredients of language asserts. London Review of Books

Twenty of the last twenty years’ greatest scientific blunders. Few surprises here, but it’s inspiring to see them all together on the same page. Discovery

Bioethics comes of age. Arthur Caplan, prominent University of Pennsylvania bioethicist, was named along with several Penn doctors and hospitals in a lawsuit brought by the family of an 18 year-old who died last year during treatment for his inborm metabolic disorder. The suit charges that Caplan’s advice to enroll only consenting adults in the research protocol — the gene therapy researchers had originally designed a study to treat infants — led to the recruitment of their son, and eventually to his death. Some say that while Caplan’s advice satisfies the letter of ethical standards of informed consent, it defies the common sense that would inhere in treating critically ill infants instead of adults who have their illness under control and who might end up worse off than if they hadn’t undergone the intervention. A twist: bioethicists like Caplan are joining the boards of biotechnology firms which fund the research into their controversial potential products; the university researchers are often stockholders in the firms backing their research. Salon

A labor of love: a collection of references to the Parable of the Monkeys (you know, the one about how they’d eventually type all of Shakespeare’s works if they had enough time banging away at random) through the decades, since its first appearance in 1913.

Don’t give cash to street beggars, the English public is urged in a major pre-Christmas government advertising campaign. Guardian

From Sam Smith’s Undernews, Ralph Nader’s version of what happened at UMass. I can’t believe this outrageous violation isn’t being flogged with more concern and outrage in the media.

[From a letter written by Ralph Nader to the Commission on Presidential Debates]

RALPH NADER: On Tuesday night October 3, 2000, I attempted to view the first presidential debate

hosted by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) at the University of Massachusetts. Though I

have been excluded from participating in the debates by the arbitrary and unfair standards set by your

private, bi-partisan company, I was given a transferable ticket by a university student to observe the

debates in a separate auditorium reserved apart from the corporate-sponsored audience in attendance for

the two-party show. I planned to view the debates so that I could appear as a guest to comment on the

debates later that evening on a live broadcast by Fox News Channel from a trailer occupied by them, at

the debate site, with the full permission of the CPD.

En route to the event, ticket in hand, and members of the press present and recording everything at my

side, I was met by a security consultant, Mr. John Vezeris, who was flanked by three uniformed state

troopers. The security consultant, while declining to present any credentials, told me that he was

“instructed by the Commission” to advise me that “it’s already been decided that, whether or not you

have a ticket, you are not invited.” One of the police officers told me that I would face arrest if I continued

to remain on the premises. The security consultant repeatedly refused to divulge who from the CPD

ordered this action and subsequent attempts by my campaign to establish who ordered this coercive

expulsion with the aid of police officers have not resulted in any names.

I was stopped a second time by the same police when I attempted to visit the news trailer for a broadcast

I was formally invited to do by Fox News Chief Executive Roger Ailes and which had been arranged from

the premises. According to today’s media reports, Mr. Kirk claims I was excluded as a “point man for the

protests,” when I took no part in those protests and when demonstrations by pro-Gore supporters did not

result in similar exclusionary treatment for Vice-President Gore. As the Green Party candidate for the

office of President, I am not used to being barred by police officers from attending public events for which

I hold a ticket. Nor am I accustomed to being physically prevented from attending approved on-site

newscasts and reaching national audiences from venues where I am invited to appear. Indeed, the

Commission’s decision to deploy public officers at a public university to bar me from viewing the

presidential debates and participating at a subsequent onsite newscast because of my political

viewpoints and affiliation with the Green Party violates both Massachusetts State and federal civil rights

laws.

Science Proves It: Restraining Your Emotions Is Not Very Smart. “Keeping a stiff upper lip during stressful situations can take an unexpected toll: It appears to interfere with the ability to think clearly during the event and to recall the details afterward.” Washington Post

Phil Agre, in Red Rock Eater Digest, takes another stab at describing the lunacy of the Presidential campaign and, in particular, Dubya’s one-trick pony approach: ‘The US presidential election campaign has descended into lunacy.

George W. Bush lacks the mental capacity to explain his own policies,

which is just as well, given that he is on the losing side of just

about every major issue. Instead, he, his staff, and most of the

media are engaged in a campaign of character assassination. That’s

the only word for it. They’ve decided that their strategy is “Al

Gore’s tendency to exaggerate”, and they are mass-producing factoids

that fit the pattern, accompanied by frequent, pointed suggestions

that Gore is mentally ill. The trouble is, the vast majority of

these factoids are false, exaggerated, or trivial. They are bunk.’

Appended to the essay is a forwarded message from Vinton Cerf who, if anyone, can comment definitively on what credit, if any, Vice President Gore should take for the development of the Internet.

I am taking the liberty of sending to you both a brief summary of

Al Gore’s Internet involvement, prepared by Bob Kahn and me. As you

know, there have been a seemingly unending series of jokes chiding

the vice president for his assertion that he “took the initiative in

creating the Internet”.

Bob and I believe that the vice president deserves significant credit

for his early recognition of the importance of what has become the

Internet.

And while we’re at it, you might want to look at First Monday, a peer-reviewed monthly journal on internet issues. The current issue, to which this link points, has another article on the Al-Gore-and-the-internet issue by Richard Wiggins, as well as a number of other interesting examinations of the sociology of the cyberspace world.

Some of the least-understood and least-well-treated phenomena in psychiatry and neurology are the varieties of dissociative phenomena. Autoscopic or doppelganger experiences, in which a person believes he has seen himself, are among the most bizarre. Here’s a description of one case and a discussion of a possible explanation. Tell me if this interests you lay readers…Psychiatric Times

Conservation by Cloning: Cow Carries Endangered Ox Species, Study Reports. Scientists expect the cow will be able to carry the implanted embryo of the endangered Asian gaur to term in late November. The embryo was grown from skin cells of a deceased gaur fused to an extracted cow egg. The procedure is a prelude to growing clones of frankly extinct species; the team plans to clone a species of Spanish mountain goat that became extinct nine months ago. They temper their self-congratulation with the caveat that biotechnological maneuvers are no substitute for protecting species in their natural habitats in the first place.

Quietly, Booksellers Are Putting an End to the Discount Era: “…the discount era in the bookstore business has

virtually come to an end. With none of the fanfare

surrounding new markdowns, the dominant bookstore chains,

Barnes & Noble and Borders, have quietly raised their prices.

So have the online stores Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com,

and Borders.com, just a year after their discounts of up to 50

percent on best-selling books escalated the price wars to a

new height.” Online book purchases are no bargain anymore given added shipping charges; so head back to your local independent bookseller! New York Times

Clinton Plans to Issue Rules Expanding Patients’ Rights. Again, the timing is crafty. ”

White House officials said they saw the new rules as a way

to get around an impasse in Congress on patients’ rights

legislation. Publication of the rules could also yield political

dividends for Vice President Al Gore, allowing him to boast

that the administration is moving to protect patients while

the Republican- controlled Congress fails to act.” New York Times

Inside the Death House: “And I said, `I don’t feel good.’

And tears, uncontrollable tears, was

coming out of my eyes and she says,

`What’s the matter?’ And I told her. I said, `I just thought

about that execution that I did two days ago, and everybody

else’s that I was involved in.’ And what it was, something

triggered within, and it just, everybody — all of these

executions all sprung forward.” A powerful NPR radio documentary, “Witness to the Execution,” to be broadcast this week considers the stresses accompanying the accelerated pace of executions in Texas. New York Times

Brain Pioneers — Two Americans, One Swede — Share Nobel Medicine Prize for elucidating the mechanisms of neurotransmission in the brain. One (Greengard) was my teacher in medical school. BBC