"No one would find the star-nosed mole ugly if its star were iridescent blue,” said Denis Dutton, professor of the philosophy of art at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Runny noses, aching hearts

Researchers have achieved similar results by squirting oxytocin into people’s nostrils — not terribly sexy, but it seems to enhance feelings of trust and empathy....They couldn’t guess what was in the potion, but then, they didn’t have the benefit of Dr. Young’s research with prairie voles at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University.

Sentence deemed too large to fail

According to a Chi-square statistic on contingency table, significant differences (Chi-square-test p <>L2 versus L2-->L4, L2-->L2 versus L3-->L3, L2-->L2 versus L4-->L4, L2-->L2 versus L5A-->L4, L2-->L2 versus L5A-->L5A, L2-->L2 versus L6-->L6, L2-->L3 versus L3-->L3, L2-->L3 versus L4-->L4, L2-->L3 versus L5A-->L5A, L2-->L4 versus L3-->L2, L2-->L4 versus L3-->L3, L2-->L4 versus L3-->L5B, L2-->L4 versus L4-->L2, L2-->L4 versus L4-->L3, L2-->L4 versus L4-->L4, L2-->L4 versus L4-->L5A, L2-->L4 versus L5A-->L5A, L2-->L5A versus L4-->L4, L2-->L5A versus L5A-->L4, L2-->L5B versus L5A-->L4, L2-->L6 versus L4-->L4, L3-->L2 versus L5A-->L4, L3-->L2 versus L6-->L5A, L3-->L2 versus L6-->L6, L3-->L3 versus L3-->L4, L3-->L3 versus L5A-->L2, L3-->L3 versus L5A-->L4, L3-->L3 versus L5A-->L6, L3-->L3 versus L5B-->L2, L3-->L3 versus L5B-->L3, L3-->L3 versus L5B-->L4, L3-->L3 versus L5B-->L5A, L3-->L3 versus L5B-->L5B, L3-->L3 versus L6-->L4, L3-->L3 versus L6-->L5A, L3-->L3 versus L6-->L5B, L3-->L3 versus L6-->L6, L3-->L4 versus L4-->L3, L3-->L4 versus L4-->L4, L3-->L4 versus L5A-->L5A, L3-->L5A versus L4-->L4, L3-->L5B versus L5A-->L4, L3-->L5B versus L6-->L5A, L3-->L5B versus L6-->L6, L3-->L6 versus L4-->L4, L4-->L2 versus L5A-->L4, L4-->L2 versus L6-->L5A, L4-->L2 versus L6-->L6, L4-->L3 versus L5A-->L4, L4-->L3 versus L5B-->L3, L4-->L3 versus L5B-->L4, L4-->L3 versus L5B-->L5A, L4-->L3 versus L6-->L5A, L4-->L3 versus L6-->L6, L4-->L4 versus L4-->L5A, L4-->L4 versus L4-->L5B, L4-->L4 versus L4-->L6, L4-->L4 versus L5A-->L2, L4-->L4 versus L5A-->L3, L4-->L4 versus L5A-->L4, L4-->L4 versus L5A-->L5B, L4-->L4 versus L5A-->L6, L4-->L4 versus L5B-->L2, L4-->L4 versus L5B-->L3, L4-->L4 versus L5B-->L4, L4-->L4 versus L5B-->L5A, L4-->L4 versus L5B-->L5B, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L2, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L3, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L4, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L5A, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L5B, L4-->L4 versus L6-->L6, L4-->L5A versus L5A-->L4, L4-->L5A versus L6-->L5A, L4-->L5A versus L6-->L6, L4-->L5B versus L5A-->L4, L5A-->L2 versus L5A-->L5A, L5A-->L3 versus L5A-->L5A, L5A-->L4 versus L5A-->L5A, L5A-->L4 versus L5A-->L5B, L5A-->L4 versus L5B-->L5B, L5A-->L5A versus L5A-->L6, L5A-->L5A versus L5B-->L2, L5A-->L5A versus L5B-->L3, L5A-->L5A versus L5B-->L4, L5A-->L5A versus L5B-->L5A, L5A-->L5A versus L5B-->L5B, L5A-->L5A versus L6-->L4, L5A-->L5A versus L6-->L5A, L5A-->L5A versus L6-->L5B, L5A-->L5A versus L6-->L6.

Professor Abbott Fearmonger, PhD

Dr. Abbott said. “Then you would hear a big bang, maybe a series of bangs, something that sounded like gunfire or cannons. It would be a really, really loud noise. And then you would be knocked to the ground by the air blast. And then you would be inundated by the tsunami.”

World to end in plague of colorful blobs, not fire

Humans have long lived in dread of such nightmare scenarios in which swarms of creatures attack.

Opinion: shedding light on epilepsy

In his mind, subjecting epileptic users to flashing lights was justified.

Cut off the arm & sell it on eBay

"With the exception of the cross-burning episode. ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published Friday.

Freshwater used a science tool known as a high-frequency generator to burn images of a cross on students' arms in December, the report said. Freshwater told investigators he simply was trying to demonstrate the device on several students and described the images as an "X," not a cross. But pictures show a cross, the report said.

Other findings show that Freshwater taught that carbon dating was unreliable to argue against evolution.

The whole thing, right on your computer screen. More RAM, please

The universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. Click here for the full graphic.

In these times of stress

In times of stress, some members of a colony respond by building thousands of toxin molecules and then burst open, killing off the unrelated E. coli around them. Their fellow clones survive, though, and thrive without the competition.

-NYTimes

The end, theoretically speaking

Doomsday from particle physics is part of the culture.

-NYTimes

Another Minnesota asshole

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ― A baby who from Liberia came to Minnesota about a month ago for life-saving surgery is now happy and healthy.

Emmanuel Johnson Junior is from a small town in Liberia where medical care is hard to come by. Emmanuel was born without an anus and a year after he was born, he and his mother came to Minnesota.

"Behavioral Ecologist" admits to perverted hobby

LITCHFIELD, Conn. — “This guy’s the champion,” said Patricia Brennan, a behavioral ecologist, leaning over the nether regions of a duck — a Meller’s duck from Madagascar, to be specific — and carefully coaxing out his phallus.

-New York Times

Sexual orientation expert expresses doubt

“If you can’t make a male attracted to other males by cutting off his penis, how strong could any psychosocial effect be?” said J. Michael Bailey, an expert on sexual orientation at Northwestern University.

-New York Times

Whale-vomit expert not on staff

Larry Penny, 71, director of East Hampton’s natural resources department, said he had no way of making a definite determination, because “we don’t keep a certified whale-vomit expert on staff.”

nyt dec18,2006

Primitive desires unlocked

The sleeping pill Ambien seems to unlock a primitive desire to eat in some patients, according to emerging medical case studies that describe how the drug's users sometimes sleepwalk into their kitchens, claw through their refrigerators like animals and consume calories ranging into the thousands.

NYTimes, March 14, 2006-03-14