And other news from the technological frontier.

Latest Human Nature columns: 1) The pseudo-feminist show trial of Larry Summers. 2) Life arrives on a moon of Saturn. 3) The creature genetic engineers fear most. 4) The creepy solution to the stem-cell debate.

You can't patent a hybrid animal that's substantially human. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected a patent for a method of making a creature from human and monkey cells. The creature's stated purpose was to test toxins or grow tissue for transplants, but the applicant's real goal was 1) to win the patent and prevent others from making such a creature or 2) to lose and set a precedent against patenting part-human life. Patent office's rationales for saying no include: 1) Patenting such a creature might preclude it from procreating without your permission, thus violating its right to privacy. 2) A patent would prevent others from employing the creature, thus violating the constitutional ban on slavery. Loophole: Since mice with human ingredients are already patented, you just have to keep the human percentage below a certain threshold, which nobody has yet defined.

Only 135 people are frozen in the two full-service U.S. cryonic facilities. The companies freeze your body or head in the hope that future technology can revive you. More than 700 people have signed up to be frozen, but the disclosure that one company has the head of baseball slugger Ted Williams hasn't brought in much business. Spin from a client: I'm afraid it won't work, "but it beats the alternative." Spin from the client's then-living dad, Walter Matthau: I'm more afraid it might work, so no thanks.

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005

The California Supreme Court says IQ is not a sufficient basis to decide who may be executed. Prosecutors suggested anyone with an IQ of 70 or higher was not retarded and therefore could be executed. But the court decided 1) "IQ tests are insufficiently precise to utilize a fixed cutoff" and 2) death-row inmates can get their sentences changed to life in prison if a judge rules that they've probably had "significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning" and other mental disabilities since they were minors. IQ can be a factor, but not the sole factor. Victim advocate's spin: The ruling will create "a lot of work" for prosecutors fighting off appeals. Anti-death penalty spin: A little work never killed anyone. Implication: Our understanding of intelligence is becoming more complex. ... 7:30 a.m. PT

Thursday, Feb. 10, 2005

Emotional stress can fatally weaken your heart. Researchers have documented some cases of stress cardiomyopathy ("broken heart syndrome") and suspect many more. The probable mechanism is adrenaline stunning the heart muscle; the victims are almost all women. Bad news: In extreme cases it can kill you if untreated. Good news: You heal completely if treated. Pop spin: Your heart really can be broken. Highbrow spin: Your mind really can control your body.

Kids whose moms work the late shift lag in cognitive development. Why? Anti-feminist spin: 1) You're too tired to be a good mom when you're home. Classist spin: You have to work the late shift because you're uneducated, which makes you a bad mom. Liberal spin: Your inconvenient hours force you to leave your kids with friends or family instead of in day care, where they'd learn more.

Massachusetts is at war over human research cloning. The state senate president wants to make it easier to do human embryonic stem cell research, including cloning. The governor accepts research on embryos left over from fertility treatments but wants to ban the creation of new embryos for research that requires their destruction. Researchers' spin: The governor is against curing diseases. Governor's spin: "Creation for the purpose of destruction is wrong." Lawmakers' spin: If we ban it in Massachusetts, biotech companies will move to California and other states that are offering public money to do it. Media question: Why do the Associated Press and the New York Times avoid the word "cloning," instead calling it "embryonic stem cell research"?

Californians are trying to stop the biological alteration of pets. One company has sold two cloned cats; another is selling fish genetically modified to glow. California has barred sales of these fish to its residents, and lawmakers are now pushing to ban the sale of cloned pets and the cropping of dogs' ears. Animal rights spin: Cloning is harmful to our furry friends. Cynical spin: So is eating them. ... 1:30 p.m. PT