Miromi’s sketchblog

Moral maze: “Greenpeace vows not to disrupt trials of the GM
rice that prevents blindness in poor countries…
The announcement, at the BioVision conference on
biotechnology in Lyon, France, signals a significant softening in
Greenpeace’s trenchant opposition to GM food.” New Scientist

BSE spreads: “Two Thais are reported to have the human
form of mad cow disease, the first outside
Europe if confirmed.” New Scientist

The Notional Missile Defence site solicited e-mails contributing
notions on how to construct a missile defence system, then wrote to apologize to contributors: “A
one-character error in a one-line computer script at an
Internet service provider sent all your messages to South
Africa–fortunately, and very strangely, to someone known to
NMD,” the NMD message says. “You’ll get an answer as soon
as the person there returns from their travels and sends your
message back. Or you can now visit http://www.nmd.org.uk.”

The message continues: “Of course, the hundred-million-line
computer programs on which the competing National Missile
Defence scheme would rely will contain no errors at all. Oh
no.”

Interesting email address of the month at Wordsmith.org, originators of the word-a-day list. This month’s Email Address of the Month, for example, is mylettersareonfire@hotmail.com. Click on the link for a complete list.

The Biology of Skin Color: ‘Some theories
advanced before the 1970s tended to be racist, and others were
less than convincing. White skin, for example, was reported to
be more resistant to cold weather, although groups like the Inuit
are both dark and particularly resistant to cold. After the 1970s,
when researchers were presumably more aware of the
controversy such studies could kick up, there was very little
work at all. “It’s one of these things everybody notices,”
(anthropologist Nina) Jablonski says, “but nobody wants to talk about.” ‘ Discover

An Astronomical Alphabet [from Abby]

Genome Map Could Change Mental Care. A new paper in Science by two preeminent psychiatrists, Eric Nestler and Peter McGuffin, waxes enthusiastic about the value sequencing the human genome will have for the treatment of mental illness, drug addiction and even deviant behavior… but don’t hold your breath, IMHO. This rush to jump onto the bandwagon of biogenetic determinism ignores the fact that psychiatry is still mired in the dark ages of arguing nature-versus-nurture in the etiology and treatment approach to most disorders. Furthermore, it’s not likely to be soon that we begin sequencing individuals’ genetic sequences as a routine clinical tool paid for by health insurance as opposed to research grants.

A unified theory of cognisance by curt cloninger, drawing upon semiotics (Eco), neuropsychology (Cytowic), Van Morrison, Olivia Tremor Control, and Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. Spark

Human genome helpless in the face of chocolate EurekAlert!

Men Are Crazy for Women Who Are, Too New York Times

McVeigh Wants Execution Broadcast. The official answer — not on your life. Our Puritanism about not allowing public viewing of executions makes further hypocrisy of the claim that capital punishment is a socially acceptable sanction, doesn’t it?

But in McVeigh’s case, I am persistently nagged by the idea that he’s angling for martyrdom in the militia movement. They’ve already got their own national holiday in Patriot’s Day, the anniversary of both the denouement at Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing. Some suggsted that McVeigh’s timing in rejecting further appeals of his death sentence and asking that an execution date be set was an attempt to get put to death on that date as well.

“I wake up at night in a cold sweat thinking about this”, says Marsha Ivins: Cosmic Construction Worker. ‘The future of NASA’s $60 billion International Space Station
construction project now rests squarely on the shoulders of a diminutive American astronaut
facing “a sequential series of miracles.” ‘

Painkiller Makes It Big on Black Market. The DOJ is becoming concerned about the extent of diversion of Oxycontin (the time-release version of the narcotic analgesic oxycodone) into the street trade. The appeal of this drug is familiar to me from seeing the high proportion of drug-abusing patients admitted to my psychiatric hospital who have found a way to arrange to have this drug prescribed for them legitimately, far out of proportion to their pain-control requirements.

Smokers Denied Transplants at Australian Hospital: ‘Surgeons at The Alfred Hospital here are demanding that
smokers stop the habit before undergoing major heart and lung surgery, according to a
report by the Australian daily newspaper The Age and other media services. The reported
ban has raised a storm of controversy in Australia.

The hospital says asking lung and heart transplant recipients to give up smoking is done as a
way to define who is most likely to do well after a transplant.

“The scarcity of organ availability obliges the Hospital to ensure that the best outcome
from the ‘gift of life’ of an organ donation occurs,” according to a statement from the
hospital.’ Reuters

I must say that, at first blush, I find this appealing but it’s clearly the start of a slippery slope. Where should the line be drawn about controlling lifestyle contributions to ailments before you’ll be allowed to receive effective therapy?

Genome Map Could Change Mental Care. A new paper in Science by two preeminent psychiatrists, Eric Nestler and Peter McGuffin, waxes enthusiastic about the value sequencing the human genome will have for the treatment of mental illness, drug addiction and even deviant behavior… but don’t hold your breath, IMHO. This rush to jump onto the bandwagon of biogenetic determinism ignores the fact that psychiatry is still mired in the dark ages of arguing nature-versus-nurture in the etiology and treatment approach to most disorders. Furthermore, it’s not likely to be soon that we begin sequencing individuals’ genetic sequences as a routine clinical tool paid for by health insurance as opposed to research grants.