Clipmarks |

Look Closely..It's Not What You Think

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:49:54 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes
clipper's remarks: Sand sculptures...gasp!

Clip Source: www.moillusions.com

The Real Important Stuff

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:58:00 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.nataliedee.com

Tags: smoochie

Turkish lawmakers remove head scarf ban

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 01:03:36 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Islamists and nationalists, hand-in-hand... The harbinger of an anti-secular disaster on the horizon?

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

ANKARA, Turkey - Lawmakers voted early Thursday to approve a constitutional amendment allowing female students to enter universities wearing Islamic head scarves — a move some Turks see as a threat to the traditional separation of church and state.

The head scarf issue is a source of tension in Turkey and has divided the population among those who consider the ban an affront to the religious freedoms of pious Muslims and those who fear removing the ban would erode Turkey's secular education system.

Secularists regard the head covering as a political statement and argue it has no place in schools. They also fear that lifting the ban at universities would pressure all female students to cover themselves up.

On Wednesday, about 200 people gathered near the parliament building to protest the government's proposal as lawmakers convened. Hundreds of riot police, reinforced by armored vehicles, set up barricades to prevent them from marching to parliament.

Tags: islam, fundamentalism, turkey, headscarf, secularism

Marriage may tame genius

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:37:14 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, compiled a database of the biographies of 280 great scientists, noting their age at the time when they made their greatest work.

"Scientific productivity indeed fades with age," Dr Kanazawa says.

"Two-thirds (of all scientists) will have made their most significant contributions before their mid-30s."

But, regardless of age, the great minds who married virtually kissed goodbye to making any further glorious additions to their CV.

Within five years of making their nuptial vows, nearly a quarter of married scientists had made their last significant contribution to history's hall of fame.

"a single psychological mechanism" is responsible for this: the competitive edge among young men to fight for glory and gain the attention of women

Dr K

suggests

That craving drives the all-important male hormone, testosterone.

after a man settles down, the testosterone level falls, as does his creative output

Tags: study, 2003

DNA Breakthrough Could Give Humans Lifespans of Hundreds of Years

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 22:23:50 GMT

clipped by: dulios

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

DNA Breakthrough Could Give Humans Lifespans Lasting Hundreds of Years

The science world is divided on a discovery that could soon have humans living for multiple lifespans -- if we want to.

A genetically engineered organism that lives 10 times longer than normal has been created by scientists in California. It is the greatest extension of longevity yet achieved by researchers investigating the scientific nature of ageing.

If this work could ever be translated into humans, it would mean that we might one day see people living for 800 years. But is this ever going to be a realistic possibility?

The Secret Stories Behind Your Favorite Toys

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 23:35:22 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Pretty much Boomer's favorites.

Clip Source: www.mentalfloss.com

1. How the Slinky got stuck between a cult and a mid-life crisis

2. Why the guy behind the Erector Set Saved Christmas

3. Why Lincoln Logs are the most deceptively named toys in the business

4. Captain Kangaroo saved Play-Doh

5. Etch-a-Sketch used to be played like an Atari

6. Why Trivial Pursuit Almost Never Happened

7. How Mr. Potato Head became a political activist

Hit them back!

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:41:48 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.latimes.com

Lebanon cleric advises 'modern Shiites'

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah's liberal fatwas, or edicts, have shocked conservative Muslims around the world.

The ayatollah has a simple piece of advice for any Muslim woman being abused by her husband: Hit him back.

"A woman can respond to physical violence inflicted on her by a man with counter- violence as a self-defense measure," Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanon's senior-most Shiite cleric, wrote in a fatwa late last year that shocked conservative Muslims around the world.

Tags: muslims, women

Abraham Lincoln on religion

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:46:16 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Two lesser-known pieces of writing from Lincoln that give some hints about his religious beliefs. Lincoln was notoriously cagey about his religious commitments -- he never attended church regluarly, nor did he ever make a public proclamation of faith.

Clip Source: showcase.netins.net

Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity

To the Voters of the Seventh Congressional District.

Clip Source: showcase.netins.net

Meditation on the Divine Will

Washington, D.C.
September, 1862

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of either party -- and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true -- that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

Tags: religion, christianity, history, america, primary_source, post:facebook(clip)

Embryos created with DNA from 3 people

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:12:46 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Babies with 3 parents...

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

LONDON - British scientists say they have created human embryos containing DNA from two women and a man in a procedure that researchers hope might be used one day to produce embryos free of inherited diseases.

Though the preliminary research has raised concerns about the possibility of genetically modified babies, the scientists say that the embryos are still only primarily the product of one man and one woman.

"We are not trying to alter genes, we're just trying to swap a small proportion of the bad ones for some good ones," said Patrick Chinnery, a professor of neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the research.

The research was presented at a scientific conference recently, but has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.

Tags: biology, dna, genetics, embryo, science

Three-parent embryo formed in lab

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:31:47 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists believe they have made a breakthrough in IVF treatment by creating a human embryo with three separate parents.

The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy.

The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests.

It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

The technique is intended to help women with diseases of the mitochondria - mini-organs that are found within individual cells.

They are sometimes described as "cellular power plants" because they generate most of the cell's energy.

Faults in the mitochondrial DNA can cause around 50 known diseases some which lead to disability and death.

About one in every 6,500 people is affected by such conditions, which include fatal liver failure, stroke-like episodes, blindness, muscular dystrophy, diabetes and deafness.

Tags: ivf, embryo, genetics

Dali Atomicus

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:55:42 GMT

clipped by: coconutshell
clipper's remarks: I found it interesting how they got the shot and how many tries it took to get it.

Clip Source: www.flickr.com

"Dali Atomicus" by Philippe Halsman - 1948

You can find out more about Halsman here : www.temple.edu/photo/photographers/halsman/phbio.html and i fully reccomend looking at some more of his work - his collaborations with Salvador Dali were some of the most innovative work around.

And something to note - you could do this in photoshop now easily but Halsman did not - this was shot live. It took 26 tries to get it over five hours - Halsman counted to four, Dali leapt, 3 assistants threw the cats, one threw the water from a bucket and Halsman's wife held the chair. Its all done in the camera.

Tags: salvador, dali, philippe, halsman, photography, art, photograph

LIFE: A GENE-CENTRIC VIEW

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:11:21 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.edge.org

Craig Venter & Richard Dawkins: A Conversation in Munich

(Moderator: John Brockman)

"Individuals are not stable things," he wrote, "they are fleeting. Chromosomes too are shuffled into oblivion, like hands of cards soon after they are dealt. But the cards themselves survive the shuffling. The cards are the genes. The genes are not destroyed by crossing over, they merely change partners and march on. Of course they march on. That is their business. They are the replicators and we are their survival machines. When we have served our purpose, we are cast aside. But genes are the denizens of geological time: genes are forever."

"Notions like Selfish Genes, memes, and extended phenotypes are powerful and exciting," notes computer scientist W. Daniel Hillis. "They make me think differently. Unfortunately, I spend a lot of time arguing against people who have over interpreted these ideas

They're too easily misunderstood as explaining more than they do. So you see, this Dawkins is a dangerous guy.

Tags: venter, dawkins, evolution, dna