What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? - WSJ.com

What Makes Finnish Kids So Smart? - WSJ.com: "High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.

Yet by one international measure, Finnish teenagers are among the smartest in the world. They earned some of the top scores by 15-year-old students who were tested in 57 countries. American teens finished among the world's C students even as U.S. educators piled on more homework, standards and rules. Finnish youth, like their U.S. counterparts, also waste hours online. They dye their hair, love sarcasm and listen to rap and heavy metal. But by ninth grade they're way ahead in math, science and reading -- on track to keeping Finns among the world's most productive workers."

DailyTech - Accidental Discovery During Surgery Reverses Memory Loss

DailyTech - Accidental Discovery During Surgery Reverses Memory Loss: "A 50 year old man, dangerously obese, goes to the hospital for experimental brain surgery to suppress his appetite. A small piece of his skull is removed, and an electrical probe inserted deep into his brain tissue. It reaches his hypothalamus and current is switched on. Suddenly the patient -- awake through the procedure -- begins to speak uncontrollably about events in his past, events he had long forgotten. He remembers a day's walk in the park 30 years ago, complete with what people were wearing, all in vivid color. He sees them speaking to him, every motion they made. The intensity and level of detail of the memories is frightening."

DailyTech - Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age

DailyTech - Solar Activity Diminishes; Researchers Predict Another Ice Age: "Dr. Kenneth Tapping is worried about the sun. Solar activity comes in regular cycles, but the latest one is refusing to start. Sunspots have all but vanished, and activity is suspiciously quiet. The last time this happened was 400 years ago -- and it signaled a solar event known as a 'Maunder Minimum,' along with the start of what we now call the 'Little Ice Age.'"

Afghanistan mission close to failing - US | World news | The Guardian

Afghanistan mission close to failing - US | World news | The Guardian: "After six years of US-led military support and billions of pounds in aid, security in Afghanistan is 'deteriorating' and President Hamid Karzai's government controls less than a third of the country, America's top intelligence official has admitted."

U.S. Navy ships move closer to Lebanon - CNN.com

U.S. Navy ships move closer to Lebanon - CNN.com: "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy has moved the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole and other ships to the eastern Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon, Pentagon officials said Thursday."

DailyProgress.com | Security code easy hacking for UVa student

DailyProgress.com | Security code easy hacking for UVa student: "A University of Virginia graduate student and two fellow hackers say they have cracked the encryption code that protects billions of credit cards, subway passes and security badges.

With readily available equipment that cost less than $1,000, 26-year-old Karsten Nohl and his two Germany-based partners dismantled a tiny chip that is found inside many “smartcards” and mapped out its secret security algorithm."

Hands up! How your fingers reveal so much about you... | the Daily Mail

Hands up! How your fingers reveal so much about you... | the Daily Mail: "When we look at our fingers, we may think they are beautiful, ugly, refined, or stubby. We use them to eat, gesticulate, carry, point. But what do they tell us about our personalities?"

Blind Irishman sees with the aid of son's tooth in his eye - Yahoo! News

Blind Irishman sees with the aid of son's tooth in his eye - Yahoo! News: "'I thought that I was going to be blind for the rest of my life,' McNichol told RTE state radio.

After doctors in Ireland said there was nothing more they could do, McNichol heard about a miracle operation called Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis (OOKP) being performed by Dr Christopher Liu at the Sussex Eye Hospital in Brighton in England."

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin E linked to lung cancer

BBC NEWS | Health | Vitamin E linked to lung cancer: "Taking high doses of vitamin E supplements can increase the risk of lung cancer, research suggests."

Israel threatens to unleash 'holocaust' in Gaza - Times Online

Israel threatens to unleash 'holocaust' in Gaza - Times Online: "An Israeli minister gave warning today that the army may unleash a “holocaust” on the Gaza Strip if Islamists there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles."

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hezbollah says US ship is threat

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Hezbollah says US ship is threat: "A Hezbollah MP has condemned the deployment of the USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon as a threat to Lebanese sovereignty and independence."

Vegetarianism proves to be perversion of nature - Pravda.Ru

Vegetarianism proves to be perversion of nature - Pravda.Ru: "Vegetarians can be referred to as true fanatics. On the other hand, they are seriously misled in their beliefs. Practically nobody argues with them, since it is really difficult to convince a vegetarian of his or her self-deception."

DailyTech - Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling

DailyTech - Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling: "Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it."

Reason Magazine - Why are People Having Fewer Kids?

Reason Magazine - Why are People Having Fewer Kids?: "Population stability is achieved when each woman bears an average of 2.1 kids over the course of her lifetime—one for her, one for her male partner, and a little overage to make up to childhood deaths. Today, there are sixty countries in which TFRs are below 2.1. For example, the European Union's TFR is 1.5 and no EU member state has a TFR at replacement or above. Even high population developing countries have seen steep declines in fertility. Since 1970, China's TFR fell from 5.8 to 1.6; India's from 5.8 to 2.9; Indonesia from 5.6 to 2.4; Japan's from 2.0 to 1.3; Mexico's from 6.8 to 2.4; Brazil's from 5.4 to 2.3; and South Africa's from 5.9 to 2.7. The U.S. TFR dropped from 2.55 in 1970 to around 2.1 today, largely because of the influx of higher fertility immigrants."

Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age

Forget global warming: Welcome to the new Ice Age: "The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January 'was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average.'"

Depression drugs don’t work, finds data review - Times Online

Depression drugs don’t work, finds data review - Times Online: "Millions of people taking commonly prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat might as well be taking a placebo, according to the first study to include unpublished evidence.

The new generation of antidepressant drugs work no better than a placebo for the majority of patients with mild or even severe depression, comprehensive research of clinical trials has found."

Philharmonic plays US anthem in N. Korea - Yahoo! News

Philharmonic plays US anthem in N. Korea - Yahoo! News: "PYONGYANG, North Korea - The New York Philharmonic performed 'The Star-Spangled Banner' for North Korea's communist elite Tuesday — a feat of musical diplomacy aimed at improving ties with the isolated nuclear-armed country that considers the U.S. its mortal enemy.
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The Philharmonic is the first major American cultural group to perform in the country and the largest delegation from the United States to visit its longtime foe.

The unprecedented concert represents a warming in relations between the nations that remain technically at war and locked in negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs."

Top of the Ticket : Los Angeles Times : Ron Paul reactivates GOP candidacy, vows to fight this year and beyond

Top of the Ticket : Los Angeles Times : Ron Paul reactivates GOP candidacy, vows to fight this year and beyond: "Wait, hold on! Don't toss those Ron Paul signs quite yet.

The 72-year-old, 10-term Republican congressman has just vowed to continue his current campaiRonpaul_jvugbqnc_3gn for the Republican presidential nomination."

The Raw Story | Jon Stewart takes on the 'uncensored' history of the 9/11 Commission

The Raw Story | Jon Stewart takes on the 'uncensored' history of the 9/11 Commission: "'It is remarkable the efforts that the Bush White House went through to try to prevent the 9/11 Commission from getting the information it needed,' Shenon told Stewart. 'The person who was most responsible for that tension was former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who was then the White House Counsel.'"

Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us | Environment | The Observer

Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us | Environment | The Observer: "Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters..

A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a 'Siberian' climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world.

The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents."

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Antarctic glaciers surge to ocean: "UK scientists working in Antarctica have found some of the clearest evidence yet of instabilities in the ice of part of West Antarctica.
If the trend continues, they say, it could lead to a significant rise in global sea level."