Gizzards in Your Gas Tank
And other news from science and technology.
A UNICEF report says 130 million women have endured female genital mutilation. Previous estimates said 2 million girls were mutilated each year; the new estimate is 3 million each year. But the increase is due to better reporting, and the trend actually seems to be going down: In Egypt and Guinea, where nearly all women aged 15-49 have had FGM, only half of these women said their daughters have had it.
A genetic mutation correlates with antisocial behavior in kids with ADHD. In a six-year sample of 240 ADHD kids, "Early-onset antisocial behavior" was "predicted by a specific COMT gene variant" even after accounting for IQ, age, and sex.
Latest Human Nature columns: 1) The pope's antigay tendencies. 2) The overconfidence of stem-cell liberals. 3) Pat Robertson vs. the pope on intelligent design. 4) Does Alito treat women like girls? 5) Monty Python's flying creationism. 6) Two breakthroughs in the stem-cell war. 7) Bill Bennett's racial determinism. 8) The mainstreaming of anal sex.
Oxford Town, Red Hook, and Every Other Place Bob Dylan’s Ever Sung About, Mapped
Teenagers Hate Facebook, but They're Not Logging Off
This Is a Blog Post. It Is Not a “Blog.”
Will Saletan covers science, technology, and politics for Slate and says a lot of things that get him in trouble.