Let There be Light

“Popular Science” doesn’t have to be an oxymoron.

Exciting, entertaining, and even sexy news emerges daily from the bright world of scientific innovation. For instance:

From The Washington Post – How to de-stress law school students before exams?  Puppies!

CLICK HERE for irresistible puppy video you know you want to see!

Equal time for cats (or cat scans) of course.

How to scan a Stradivarius?  NPR Music:   CT Scans Re-Create 307 Year Old Violin

Courtesy of RSNA.org & NPR

Here’s a fish that must be low in calories. What is an x-ray fish, you may ask?  Why, here is a brief description: ehow.com

the x-ray fish

“Baby, baby, can’t you hear my heartbeat?”

“A new study shows that 3-month-old infants and their mothers can synchronize their heartbeats to mere milliseconds.”

ScienceShot: Human Hearts Beat Together  by Meghan Rosen  http://bit.ly/vbQLmX

Saved the best for last.  Here’s a HOT news flash:

MRI scan video shows female orgasm ‘illuminates’ every region of brain (news.bioscholar.com)

I'll have what she's having!

>>  CLICK RIGHT HERE  <<

Enlightening article from Time Magazine:

OR HERE http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/01/first-3d-movie-of-orgasm-in-the-female-brain/?xid=newsletter-weekly

HERE’S A GOOD SPOT, TOO.

Photo credits: x-ray fish (forum.rpg.net) and puppy (wikimedia commons)

Related articles

• MRI scan video shows female orgasm ‘illuminates’ every region of brain (news.bioscholar.com)
• X-ray images help create best Stradivarius rip-offs (newscientist.com)

Funny Or Die – Cats with hats http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/690d

I Talk to The Animals

The academics are at it again with a brilliant (okay, blindingly stupid) study.

According to The Journal of Animal Ethics,

          “Despite its prevalence, “pets” is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers.”

“Pet” is a derogatory term?

Hola!

Are Fido, Lucky, and Coco really offended by “Pet?”  Animals that lick their balls at the dinner table, eat everything and anything under the sun, beneath the moon, in the yard (you know what I mean), and chase Ford Explorers with the intent of catching them?

Dogs and cats are probably more offended by albeit loving (but fairly idiotic) baby talk and endearments like “baby boo””poochie boy” “sweetie pie.”   (Pie? Did someone say “pie?” Woof!)

Let’s not insult them. A dog has pride. Cats have hubris.  A little R-E-S-P-E-C-T please!

I suggest they are more offended by being dressed up in holiday costumes and leopard print ski sweaters. (A turtleneck does not flatter a Pekingese… then again, what does?)

Beware of dog!  Soon, Fido will be lawyering up. There will likely be harassment charges over that undue stress you inflicted upon him as a puppy when you desperately encouraged that paper training debacle.

The JAE continues…

          “In addition, we invite authors to use the words “free-living”, “free-ranging” or “free-roaming” rather than “wild animals”… For most, “wildness” is synonymous with uncivilized, unrestrained, barbarous existence. There is an obvious prejudgment here that should be avoided.”

“Girls Gone Wild” is fine, but “An orangutan is a wild animal. Do not shack up with him like he’s your boyfriend. Someone just might get hurt!” is insensitive.

photo credit:dipity.com

Dr. Dolittle may not have done a lot, but he sure said a lot – to the monkeys, giraffes, elephants, cougars (four-legged variety). And he didn’t whisper, he sang!

FYI: “The JAE has been launched by a US and UK academic partnership with the goal of widening international debate about the moral status of animals, and is the result of years of collaboration between the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics and the University of Illinois Press.”

Link to study:

http://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/?p=7710