Abstract: The human penis as a semen-displacement device: “We examine some of the implications of the possibility that the human penis may have evolved to compete with sperm from other males by displacing rival semen from the cervical end of the vagina prior to ejaculation. The semen displacement hypothesis integrates considerable information about genital morphology and human reproductive behavior, and can be used to generate a number of interesting predictions.” — Gordon G. Gallup, Jr. and Rebecca L. Burch (Human Nature)

“Review of Disease Pairings Could Provide New Therapeutic Approaches: The knowledge that one disease may prevent the onset of another is not new. For example, the discovery that cowpox vaccines can prevent smallpox dates back to 1798.

Dr. E. Richard Stiehm, a professor of pediatrics at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, researched examples throughout medical history of ways that one disease prevents another.

His findings suggest that genetic, infectious and metabolic influences should be considered when looking for treatments, particularly in regard to HIV/AIDS.

“Clinical observations of disease-versus-disease interactions have led to an understanding of the mechanisms of several diseases,” Stiehm said. “In turn, these observations have led to the development of vaccines, therapeutic antibodies, medications and special diets.”

Detailed in the January 2006 issue of Pediatrics, the official peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Stiehm’s research illustrated 12 disease pairs, reviewed their therapeutic implications and suggested additional applications.” (UCLA)

Too many owners remain unaware of toxic dog food: “Even though Diamond, Country Value and Professional brand dog foods have been recalled for containing highly toxic aflatoxins, they have caused at least 100 dog deaths in recent weeks, say Cornell University veterinarians, who are growing increasingly alarmed. Some kennels and consumers around the nation and possibly in more than two dozen other countries remain unaware of the tainted food, and as a result, they continue to give dogs food containing a lethal toxin.” (Cornell Veterinary School)

“A secret Pentagon study has found that at least 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to their upper body could have survived if they had extra body armor. That armor has been available since 2003 but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.” (New York Times )

The end of the global warming debate: “…to the extent that facts can settle anything, the debate over human-caused global warming has been settled. Worldwide, 2005 was equal (to within the margin of error of the stats) with 1998 as the warmest year in at least the past millennium.

More significantly, perhaps, 2005 saw the final nail hammered into the arguments climate change contrarians have been pushing for years. The few remaining legitimate sceptics (such as John Christy), along with some of the smarter ideological contrarians (like Ron Bailey), have looked at the evidence and conceded the reality of human-caused global warming.” (Crooked Timber)

“A new chord has sounded in the world’s slowest and longest concert, which will take 639 years to perform.

An abandoned church in eastern Germany is the venue for the 639-year-long performance of a piece of music by American experimental composer John Cage.

The performance of “organ2/ASLSP” (or “As SLow aS Possible”) began in the Buchardi church in Halberstadt on September 5, 2001, and is scheduled to last until 2639.

The first year-and-a-half of the performance was total silence, with the first chord, G-sharp, B and G-sharp, not sounding until February 2, 2003.” (ABC.net.au)

“Relatively confined magnetic fields like those in the Earth and Sun are generated by the turbulent mixing of conducting fluids in their cores. But large-scale fields tangled within galaxies and clusters of galaxies are harder to explain by fluid mixing alone. That is because most galaxies have rotated only a few dozen times since they formed.

…Now, researchers led by Kiyotomo Ichiki of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan in Tokyo have used standard physics to explain the seed field. They say the field began before the first atoms formed, when the universe was a hot soup of protons, electrons and photons – a state that lasted for the first 370,000 years after the big bang.” (New Scientist)

“Speakers of the spicy tongue that can make words of love sound like a fight are having to learn its linguistic kin, the mellower Mandarin.” (Los Angeles Times)

Vietnam war ‘deserter’ charged: “In a possible message to would-be deserters in Iraq, the US marines have charged a pensioner for not going to war in Vietnam 40 years ago.

Former marine private Jerry Texiero was found selling boats and classic cars in Florida under a false name. He was identified as a result of a fraud conviction in 1998, which he said was the result of wrongdoing by a former partner.

Seven years later marine investigators from an “AWOL apprehension unit” compared his fingerprints with their records of deserters. He was first arrested by Florida police in August and handed over to the military on December 21.

Mr Texiero, 65, is being held in Camp Lejeune, a marine base in North Carolina.” (Guardian.UK)

Evangelist links Sharon’s stroke to ‘dividing God’s land’: “Television evangelist Pat Robertson suggested Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was divine retribution for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, which Robertson opposed.”(CNN)

“The stranger the battle, the better the game, or so hopes Zygote Games of Hadley, Massachusetts, which has just introduced ‘Bone Wars’. Players take on the roles of legendary palaeontologists Edward Cope, O. C. Marsh, Charles Sternberg and Barnum Brown, all competing to find dinosaur bones, name fossils and accumulate scientific prestige in the late 19th century.

Along the way they must survive assorted natural disasters. Other players are liable to try dirty tricks, including stealing or destroying the bones.” (New Scientist)

“Next time you go to the airport be sure to put on a happy face, even if you’ve been informed that your flight has been delayed by an hour and that you’ll miss all your connections. You’ll need this cheerful fa?ade to make it through the TSA airport security checkpoint.

As if being asked to strip off shoes, coats, belts and other clothing before going through a metal detector and getting your personal belongings x-rayed is not enough, the TSA will begin psychoanalyzing air travelers in 40 major airports next year. TSA screeners, who are not even fully trained law enforcement personnel, let alone professional psychologists, will perform behavior analysis screening on all passengers. The screeners will look for “suspicious” signs that might indicate a passenger could be a terrorist: having dry lips or a throbbing carotid artery (I’m not kidding), failure to make eye contact with or say hello to the screener, or evasive or slow answers to casual questions asked by the screener. Travelers who exhibit such nefarious characteristics will undergo extra physical searches—the infamous “pat down” frisk and bag rummage—and could even face police questioning.” (The Independent Institute)

“The White House is moving to distance itself from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff – who raised thousands for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

…On Wednesday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan announced that President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign will donate $6,000 in contributions linked to Abramoff to the American Heart Association. According to the Republican National Committee, which is handling the distribution, the campaign will donate three $2,000 checks from Abramoff, his wife and the Saginaw Chippewa Indian tribe, which paid Abramoff tens of millions of dollars in lobbying fees to press lawmakers on gambling issues.

The move follows other top politicos in Washington, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert and former House majority leader Tom DeLay, who have announced plans to donate Abramoff-linked contributions to charity. All told, lawmakers from both political parties have given up nearly $300,000 in contributions with ties to the embattled lobbyist in recent weeks. Bush’s decision, McClellan told reporters Wednesday, was a “typical step” in the wake of Abramoff’s guilty plea on charges that he bribed public officials and their aides in exchange for official favors.

Yet the Bush-Cheney campaign is returning only a fraction of the campaign contributions it received with Abramoff connections. During the 2004 campaign, Abramoff was a top fund-raiser for the Bush re-election effort, raising more than $100,000 for the campaign…” (truthout)

“More U.S. soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.” (Salon )

“Two new vaccines against rotavirus, the leading known cause of deaths from diarrhea among infants around the world, have proved safe and effective in two of the largest clinical trials in the history of medicine.

Studies of the two vaccines, one made by Merck and one by GlaxoSmithKline, are to be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine. Each trial enrolled more than 60,000 infants, in part to avoid the fate that befell the last licensed rotavirus vaccine, which was withdrawn seven years ago after it was blamed for dangerous bowel obstructions in 1 in 10,000 children.” (New York Times )

“Displaying a hostility to President Bush and the Iraq war similar to that expressed by Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart, on Tuesday’s Late Show David Letterman went further than I’ve ever heard him in revealing his derision for President Bush’s decision to launch the Iraq war and contempt for anyone who dares to criticize Cindy Sheehan.

Letterman normally tries to make the guest look as good and entertaining as possible. But he greeted FNC’s Bill O’Reilly with disdain. When O’Reilly urged an end to tagging Bush as a “liar,” scolded Cindy Sheehan for calling the insurgents “freedom fighters” and urged people to be “very careful with what we say’ in disparaging others, Letterman took him to task: ‘Well, and you should be very careful with what you say also.’ Letterman demanded: ‘How can you possibly take exception with the motivation and the position of someone like Cindy Sheehan?’ And he tried to discredit O’Reilly’s contention: “Have you lost family members in armed conflict?’ When O’Reilly conceded that ‘no, I have not,’ Letterman castigated him: ‘Well, then you can hardly speak for her, can you?'”

“His writing has been called “sly cultural commentary”, “subversive and observant” and “an uncommon degree of political awareness”, often with bright ideas and biting wit in the strong Scottish characters reflecting his home country. He writes with a loving respect for the SF greats.”

“Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a serious stroke on Wednesday night and underwent emergency brain surgery in an effort to save his life, a hospital official said.” (New York Times )

Revive your old PC with a little Linux: “Now that you’ve unwrapped and fired up that new Christmas PC (is it your third or fourth?), have I got a project for you: We’re going to fix your old PC.

Boy, are we gonna fix it. I can almost guarantee you it will run appreciably faster than your new unit. It won’t ever get clogged up with spyware. It will never crash. And it will come with all the software you’ll ever need, and if you need more, you can download it for free. A nice one-day project.” (NY Newsday)

“Scientists who study the evolution of visual signaling have identified a wide and still expanding assortment of features and behaviors that make something look cute: bright forward-facing eyes set low on a big round face, a pair of big round ears, floppy limbs and a side-to-side, teeter-totter gait, among many others.

Cute cues are those that indicate extreme youth, vulnerability, harmlessness and need, scientists say, and attending to them closely makes good Darwinian sense. As a species whose youngest members are so pathetically helpless they can’t lift their heads to suckle without adult supervision, human beings must be wired to respond quickly and gamely to any and all signs of infantile desire.

The human cuteness detector is set at such a low bar, researchers said, that it sweeps in and deems cute practically anything remotely resembling a human baby or a part thereof, and so ends up including the young of virtually every mammalian species, fuzzy-headed birds like Japanese cranes, woolly bear caterpillars, a bobbing balloon, a big round rock stacked on a smaller rock, a colon, a hyphen and a close parenthesis typed in succession.

The greater the number of cute cues that an animal or object happens to possess, or the more exaggerated the signals may be, the louder and more italicized are the squeals provoked.” (New York Times )

Woman marries dolphin: “Sharon Tendler met Cindy 15 years ago. She said it was love at first sight. This week she finally took the plunge and proposed. The lucky “guy” plunged right back.

In a modest ceremony at Dolphin Reef in the southern Israeli port of Eilat, Tendler, a 41-year-old British citizen, apparently became the world’s first person to “marry” a dolphin.&rdquo (age.com.au )

“…[A]s Europeans rave about their bands and their balloons, many American doctors have remained suspicious, regarding the techniques as not terribly effective and even dangerous.

Bands, used for more than a decade in Europe, are just catching on in the United States; balloons are not in the pipeline for approval from the Food and Drug Administration yet.

“There are really profound differences in how we think about weight-loss surgery,” said Dr. Sayeed Ikramuddin, a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the chief of bariatric surgery at the University of Minnesota.

Eighty percent of weight-loss surgery in the United States involves a far more arduous and technically demanding bypass operation in which the stomach is cut and made smaller with staples, then reconnected far down in the intestine.

While the initial weight loss is often more rapid, complications are more common and many patients are loath to undergo the larger procedure.” (New York Times )

“Speculation is mounting that Google will this week unveil a no-frills personal computer costing as little as $200.” (Guardian.UK)

…otherwise known as “buffing the chart”: “Medicine has two faces: the iodine-stained, glass-splintered messy reality we all work in, and the clean, quiet, dignified prose we use to record it for posterity. No absence of order penetrates our documents of record. The journals’ glossy pages – or, now, neat online screens – are serene and pristine, rational and assured. Every study has a conclusion. Every case has a diagnosis. Every necessary test is performed, without fuss or muss.

If there has been any drama finding a vein, or cajoling a claustrophobic patient into the M.R.I. scanner, or debating a practicing pagan who is refusing his blood tests because the moon is waxing gibbous, you certainly aren’t going to read about it in the literature. Yet, it all happens, all of that and more.” (New York Times)

Whatever happened to Uncle? “The British are not noted for their warmth towards children. Britain is the country that invented the boarding school for seven-year-olds and the maxim that “children should be seen and not heard”. How odd then, that it should also have been the source of so many of the classics of children’s literature. From Winnie the Pooh to Alice in Wonderland and from J.R.Tolkien to J.K.Rowling, British authors and storytellers have stuffed the children’s sections of the western world’s bookstores and provided Hollywood with a stream of material.

Yet not all the gems of Britain’s children’s literature have enjoyed endless reprints and the Hollywood treatment. The “Uncle” stories of J.P. Martin, which focus on the doings of the eponymous hero, an elephant and benevolent dictator, were first published in the 1960s, and still enjoy a cult following. But they are now out of print. Indeed much of the “Uncle” canon is virtually unobtainable. Second-hand copies are snapped up by fanatical devotees and first editions go for hundreds of pounds.&rdquo (The Economist )

Coal mine reports spate of citations: “A coal mine where 13 miners were trapped after an explosion Monday was cited 208 times for alleged safety violations in 2005, up from just 68 citations the year before.

Federal regulators’ allegations against the Sago Mine included failure to dilute coal dust, which can lead to explosions, and failure to properly operate and maintain machinery, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Ninety-six of the citations were considered ‘significant and substantial’ by inspectors.

An official with the International Coal Group, which has owned the mine since March, said the Labor Department could have closed the mine if it were deemed unsafe.” (Boston Globe)

Military Times Poll: “Support for President Bush and for the war in Iraq has slipped significantly in the last year among members of the military’s professional core, according to the 2005 Military Times Poll.&rdquo

…Bush Is Reading Again: “The Reader-in-Chief is at it again, and anti-imperialists around the world have reason to be concerned.

According to the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush has taken two books with him to Texas for his holiday reading, which he will presumably indulge between his favourite ranch pursuits – clearing brush and biking.

The first is about his most admired role model, Theodore Roosevelt, the other on the wonders being achieved by U.S. soldiers around the world.

The choices are not unimportant. Indeed, Bush is known to read so little – both for official business and for diversion – and to be so impressed by the few books he does read that it is imperative for people who are paid to know what’s happening in Washington to find out what’s on the president’s nightstand when he turns out the light.” (ZNet )

100 things we didn’t know this time last year:“Each week the Magazine picks out snippets from the news, and compiles them into 10 Things We Didn’t Know This Time Last Week. Here’s an end of year almanac.” (BBC)

“A third of people suffering serious depression recover with the first antidepressant they try, and well-educated white women are most likely to benefit, according to initial results of an eagerly awaited study on the controversial drugs.

One key finding: Patients whose depression symptoms disappeared took higher than typical drug doses, and received close monitoring and frequent dose adjustments in the first three months – a level of care that few U.S. patients today receive.

Stay tuned.

The main goal of the government-funded study is to identify what harder-to-treat patients should try when initial treatment fails, instead of abandoning therapy in frustration. Those results are due in a few months.&rdquo (Optimum Online )

“The distant universe came into unprecedented focus in 2005, as astronomers found the source of some of the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, imaged the first extrasolar planets, and detected what may be the light of the very first stars.&rdquo (New Scientist)

Broadcasters Try Putting a New Spin on Auld Lang Syne: “Around Times Square on Saturday night, as the sky was filled with a blizzard of confetti and the hour approached midnight, a handful of television personalities including Ryan Seacrest, Regis Philbin, Carson Daly and Stuart Scott were jockeying to become the next king of New Year’s Eve, the next Dick Clark.

But as it approached time for Mr. Clark to make his appearance at 11:35 on his annual “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” show, more than a year after a stroke forced him to miss last year’s broadcast, another question waited to be answered: would Dick Clark be Dick Clark, the symbol of youthfulness and constancy on television for nearly a half-century?

Mr. Clark, 76, had made no public appearances since his stroke, and in the weeks leading up to the show there had been wide, sometimes grotesque speculation in the news media about whether Mr. Clark would be fit to be on the show.&rdquo (New York Times )

“The Sunday Times of London decided to update an old, but effective experiment from 30-odd years ago: take a book that was published and well-reviewed, take the author’s name off the cover and submit it as if it were an unpublished partial to agents and publishers. Would they regard it as the classic it was, or reject it wholesale? Well, in the case of Jerzy Kozinski, it was the latter. And now, the same goes for V.S. Naipaul and Stanley Middleton…&rdquo (Media Bistro )

What is Your Dangerous Idea? “The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?&rdquo — John Brockman

Stirling Newberry writes on Daily Kos:“The march of Iran to deterrent state status are prompting “use it or lose it” pressures for preventative – that is aggressive – strikes against Iran and its atomic weapons program, as Iran declares that it has a right to enrich Uranium on its own soil. The Ukraine-Russia gas stand off escalates as Russia accuses Ukraine of stealing Natural gas. In Iraq insurgent threats keep a major refinery shut down in Iraq.

On this, the first working day of the New Year, we are already getting a good stiff taste of the running theme of 2006. If 2004 and 2005 saw resource inflation, 2006 is the year when resource rich countries begin using those resources as weapons, and resource poor countries begin taking aggressive steps to secure resources. The current world market approach to energy is going to break down, as more and more nations are forced to jostle for position.

Somewhere in the next two years it will dawn on the American public that we live in the pre-war, not post-war, era, and that Iraq was a foreshock.&rdquo

Private military men patrol Iraq in constant jeopardy of stepping on legal landmines. “You won’t find the word ‘mercenary’ on the homepage of the International Peace Operations Association, the trade group for the private military industry. While many of the IPOA’s member companies are staffed by elite former soldiers of the United States military who now make a living hiring themselves out, the so-called ‘M word’ isn’t in the IPOA’s corporate vocabulary. Members are known as private military companies (often called PMCs) or military service providers, who specialize in ‘private peace operations.’ Their model isn’t ‘Mad’ Mike Hoare, who gained notoriety for his exploits in the Congo during the 1960s and in a failed 1981 coup attempt in the Seychelles; it’s the management consultants of McKinsey & Company. ” (Legal Affairs)