Science Etcetera Mercuryday, 20080206

February 6th, 2008

Two analyses of the Bush budget, one for Science Funding and one for the Environment. It’s a mixed bag on both accounts.

UN University launches an OpenCourseWare portal, contributing even more resources for free higher-education online for the world to access (maybe even on their OLPCs).

The Tempest Prognosticator is a Barometer that uses leeches to predict storms. Yeesh.

Holly Hostess won’t take her meds to kill off all the parasites she has living on her because she’s a lonely girl and they are her only friends. That’s the story behind the Parasite Pals Kids Site. Pardon me while I curl up in a corner and suck my thumb until the world gets less disturbing. (HT Science Punk)

Garson Romalis, who has survived two nearly-successful murder attempts on his life, explains Why he is an abortion doctor, and the stories he tells show how the Anti-Choice movement is more inhumane than the medical procedure they fight against.

Bioethicists have a new conundrum to ponder as Scientists make embryos with DNA from 3 people. The process may be used to eliminate genetic predispositions to diseases in children whose parents carry the genes.

After poachers hunted them to dangerously low numbers, Rhinos are Recovering nicely.

The same cannot be said for the Polar Bear, which Activists want put on the endangered list before Alaska oil sale this week.

Fat People are Cheaper to Treat medically, because they die much earlier than healthy people.

People are visiting the Great Outdoors less as Virtual Worlds take over. Who needs AI’s to build the Matrix, when we’re more than happy to jump into it and forget about reality on our own?

This documentary about virtual worlds, Second Skin, further support the above statement: