tisiwoota

1. Selfish Impulse Set Free by Magnetic Pulse to Brain: New research finds that damping down prefrontal cortex activity boosts selfish behavior (or more scientifically put, derepresses it). The article breezily closes with the reassurance that “[T]he technology is not likely to show up in salesrooms anytime soon, thankfully; it takes at least 15 minutes of direct application to the skull to induce the changes . . . and they only last a short while.”

Personally I’m not so reassured– as far as I’m concerned, this is another step closer to manipulation that could be rather bad in the wrong hands. (e.g., could this lead to a method for extracting information from someone who is withholding it for altruistic reasons of country or justice? As desirable as that might be for terrorist interrogations, it would equally be kryptonite for the Jack Bauers of the world– and what a short season of 24 that would be…)

2. The 2006 Ig Nobel Prizes: An unusual hiccup cure, why woodpeckers don’t beat their brains out, and the sound of a three-pronged garden rake on slate is the Most Annoying Sound Ever.

3. Software to Monitor Political Opinions: Ah, even more Orwellian possibilities! I remember thinking when I first read about social networking both how contructively useful it would be for political/humanitarian movements to be able to identify the superconnected keystone links most important for making a group successful– and how that knowledge might be used to thwart progressive momentum. (Um. Am I sounding dark and paranoid this week? Must be the sudden cold snap… and lack of functioning heat in this house…)

4. Cola Wars in Mexico: a story of religious factions and water privatization… (Did you know it takes three cups of water to make one cup of coke?)

Like fireworks and copal, pox is a sacrament in a local religion that blends Catholicism with elements of native tradition. It is a sacred drink that cleanses the soul; the more pox one drinks, the greater the purification. Over the past several decades the caciques—local elites who wield economic and political power and control the soft drink concession—have convinced the faithful that pox should be drunk with Coke or Pepsi, depending on who is doing the proselytizing. They say the cola induces burping, which releases evil from the soul.

The caciques and their affiliated drink companies do a booming business—nevermind that the beverages sell for 50 U.S. cents a can, exactly the average daily income. Purchasing a soda often means not purchasing food, and Chiapas has one of the highest rates of both malnutrition and Coke consumption in Mexico.

5. Starbucks Workers Quasi-unionize. Sort of. Baristas are joining the Industrial Workers of the World, despite pressure from their employer.