Links of the Fortnight… ish
1. The Gregarious Brain. Fascinating article about Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes people to have no fear of social interaction– making them friendly, and gullible, to an extreme. Especially great for its discussion of the implications for understanding our evolutionary past.
2. Cut the Farm Bill Fat A short op-ed in the NY Times about the need to phase out farm subsidies, pointed out by a friend who works for Bread for the World.
3. Transplastics Exhibition: Natural Fibers as Immune Response. I like the premise of this installation: “…the collection tells the (fictional) story of a world made of synthetics that’s overgrown by natural fibers as an immunological response”.
4. Legally Sweet. An interesting article about interpreting Splenda’s claims that its product is “made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar” from the perspectives of chemistry and patent law.
5. Our Biotech Future. One of my favorite reads in a while. Freeman Dyson argues, among other things, that a future full of genetic engineering would not be a total departure from evolutionary history, but rather a renaissance of the horizontal gene transfer that typified early life. Talk about putting things in perspective! (Oh yes and as if that weren’t enough THEN he segues into a discussion of rural poverty and green technology).
