If you're like me, maybe 70-90% of your work communication now happens over the computer, and a quick scan of past emails will probably reveal a cringe-worthy amount of repeated phrasing: sounds good, works for me, when you get a chance, watch this video of a hedgehog, etc. What might surprise you (or not, if your job involves a lot of TPS reports), is that these textual tools in our office toolbelt appear to be pretty widespread, and some of them are heavily tied to certain power dynamics. In other words, there seems to be a common language of workplace hierarchy.
Read MoreMy Bloody Valentine
To mark the day, a love story between a geometric shape and the organ we know as the heart, spanning centuries and traversing medieval battlefield, cathedral, gambling hall and bedroom. Author Iain Gately details the long and meandering path the figure ♥ or cardioid, and the organ that pumps blood, took before they were united in current culture as the icon of love we call "heart." The ♥ symbol has been attributed to regeneration as a Classic Greek image of vine leaves, Viking tributes to Odin signaling battle madness, a sign of courtly love in medieval times, sacred love of Christ for the church, and low connotations of various body parts. As for the organ, its biological function was mysterious until the 17th century, and throughout history the physical seat of love has wandered to other organs, notably including the liver.
Read MoreMind-controlling cat parasites
Theories that a cat parasite can alter the minds of humans — triggering sexual desire, testosterone levels, recklessness, suicidal urges, and now even schizophrenia — are gaining momentum. A fascinating Atlantic profile of the Czech scientist leading the theories about Toxoplasma documents the mind-control hypotheses as they've grown from crackpot fringe science to heavily studied phenomena. Once seen as mainly a threat to pregnant women (it can cause brain damage in fetuses), Toxoplasma then became known as "zombie rat parasite," then "crazy cat lady parasite," and now it's gaining a reputation as the "all kinds of scary shit parasite." NPR, Radiolab, and Carl Zimmer's parasite chronicling have made it a star.
Read MoreUnder the ice, the unknown
Russian scientists pierced a 2.2-mile-thick shell of ice that protected an inky, alien lake untouched for millions of years this week, and briefly, the world seemed deeper, older, and more mysterious that it did the week before. Cloudy, unconfirmed reports started trickling in Monday about a sub-glacial lake in Antarctica, and the isolated team that had been boring into it for 20 years in the coldest place on Earth (a recorded low of minus 128.6F).
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Human brain develops slowly, sets us apart from chimps
A major question of human evolution is, given that we are 98.8% genetically the same as a chimpanzee, and that we diverged as a species in a relatively short period of time, how is that you and I are able to play the piano? (I can't actually play the piano, but I could.) How can we be so similar to our relatives, and be so different in our capacity for social behavior, abstract thought, and reasoning, which has made humans stand out so drastically from any other animal? Our DNA sequences are only 1.2% different, but what a whopping 1.2%. A study published this week in the journal Genome Research attempts to shed some light on that question. And like so many things, it's all about timing.
Read MorePenguin Stew
Turn-of-the-century Antarctic explorers had a cute, disgusting secret for fending off scurvy in a wasteland lacking fruits and vegetables. They ate wild, vitamin C-rich penguins. They ate penguin steak, they ate penguin stew, they ate penguin eggs, they fed them to dogs, they burned their fat for fuel. Sometimes the poor, unsuspecting creatures would waddle right into camp, unaware of this strange new animal wandering toward the South Pole for the first time. Other times, the men would lure their happy feet in with a song. Discoblog has a gross little history of penguin cuisine among late 19th century explorers, referencing a recent paper in Endeavor, and the journals of Frederick Cook.
Read MoreYou're wrong about your favorite team
Sports fans may owe the referees of the world an apology. In fact, a lot of us may owe a lot of people apologies. A recent study suggests that the outrage behind a “bad call,” and the all-too-common dead certainty that our team outperformed the other, is more than just loyalty. It’s a product of our brains perceiving events incorrectly based on our affiliation with the team.
Read MorePaying for it
Originally posted on mrchair March 17, 2011.
Within minutes of the email and website announcement of the NYT paywall details, Twitter was all aflutter.
Cory Doctorow made his rote attack against all things not free and open to the public. His basic argument is, this paywall is flawed as a way to keep freeloaders out of their content. It will piss people off, and people will stop linking to the Times because they won't want to, by extension, piss of their readers.
The other general negative sentiment is that the site will hemorrhage traffic, lose ad revenue, etc. This may all be correct, but I'd wager, and the Times is wagering big time, that none of that matters.
Read MoreSpilled ink over Borders bankruptcy
Originally posted on mrchair 2/17/2011.
The coincidence is not lost on me that the week I purchased a Kindle is the week Borders Books & Music — the big box version of a bookstore that I grew up on — filed bankruptcy and announced it would be closing 30% of its stores.
Nor do I take it lightly.
When I was an all-joints adolescent growing up in suburban Phoenix, Borders served as an entry point and an escape for me. In the same way media conglomerate Blockbuster introduced me to all the movies I’d never seen before (and my first job), so did the towering brick and mortar bookstore facilitate my introduction to the joys of reading, but also just spending time around books.
Read MoreIt's major surgery
Originally published in The Arizona Daily Star, 2000.Tate Williams
An average patient for one Northwest Side hospital has gastrointestinal discomfort, needs immediate surgery, has a preference for standing upright and weighs upwards of 1,100 pounds.
Aside from the obvious, what sets Cortaro Equine Hospital apart from every other area clinic is that a case of gut pain sends Dr. Larry Shamis plunging into a couple hundred pounds of intestine to save a patient's life.
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