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Here are today’s most interesting science, health, and tech news reports. For analysis and commentary from around the Web, check out the hot topics page. For Human Nature’s takes, visit the blog. To add your own take, open or join a discussion thread in the Fray—and please link to the original story so others can participate intelligently in the conversation.
June 13
Japan will fine companies whose employees are too fat
(Norimitsu Onishi, New York Times)
U.S. says improved cultivation techniques have doubled marijuana’s potency since 1983
(Office of National Drug Control Policy / Hope Yen, AP)
Denmark arrests couple for genital mutilation of daughters
(AFP)
Caribbean jail official urges conjugal visits so inmates will stop passing HIV through gay sex
(AFP)
Child deaths inspire movement to punish parents for trusting prayer instead of medicine
(Suzanne Sataline, Wall Street Journal)
Number of Japanese gangsters linked to UCLA liver-transplant program grows to five
(Charles Ornstein and John Glionna, Los Angeles Times)
Dentist apologizes for stealing dead body parts and selling them for transplant
(Edith Honan, Reuters)
Swiss court forbids monkey experiments as harmful and lacking immediate humanbenefits
(Alison Abbott, Nature News)
The latest updates on tiny aerial surveillance drones
(Anne Casselman, Discover / Kristina Grifantini, Technology Review)
A progress report on turning sewage into drinking water
(Jennifer Barone, Discover)
Judge requests investigation of porn found on his family’s Web site
(Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times)
House committee questions Major League Baseball’s candor about steroid testing
(Duff Wilson, New York Times)
Understanding anorexia as addiction to starvation
(Trisha Gura, Scientific American)
Female high-school athletes are twice as likely as boys to suffer major knee injuries
(Ellen Yard et al, American Journal of Sports Medicine / Anne Harding, Reuters)
June 12
Senior U.S. judge suspends obscenity trial after sexual images are found on his family’s Web site
(Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times / Adam Liptak, New York Times / Carrie Johnson, Washington Post)
U.S. life expectancy rises above 78
(David Brown, Washington Post)
Norway joins list of countries offering tax-funded fertility treatment for lesbian couples
(Sven Goll, Aftenposten)
Robots learn to distinguish multiple voices
(Colin Barras, New Scientist)
Data suggest old-age deafness, previously considered natural, is largely preventable
(Nora Schultz, New Scientist)
Bacterial evolution experiment yields breakthrough akin to intelligent design
(Bob Holmes, New Scientist)
Lab rats in cleaner cages are twice as likely to eat their young
(New Scientist)
Cloned cow produces eight calves in U.K.
(Graham Tibbetts, Daily Telegraph)
Exposure to sexual images and clothing increases men’s disposition to seek immediate gratification generally
(Bram Van Den Bergh et al, Journal of Consumer Research / Robin Nixon, LiveScience)
A button-operated, rotating ice cream cone for everyone too lazy to lick
(Steven Morris, Guardian)
“Unicorn” deer discovered
(Marta Falconi, AP)
June 11
Man with stopped heart revives during preparations to remove his organs
(Estelle Shirbon, Reuters)
More on the rise of virginity-restoration surgery
(Elaine Scoilino and Souad Mekhennet, New York Times)
Teens and young adults who take virginity pledges are somewhat less likely than peers to have sex
(Rand Corporation / (Maggie Fox, Reuters)
Is the spread of oral sex causing the increase in HPV-related throat cancer?
(Jeremy Manier, Chicago Tribune)
Global AIDS official says “It is very unlikely there will be a heterosexual epidemic” outside sub-Saharan Africa
(Jeremy Laurance, Independent)
More reports of pro players using Viagra for athletic enhancement
(Teri Thompson et al, New York Daily News / Scott Hensley, Wall Street Journal)
Dogs grapple with the mystery of robotic vacuum cleaners
(Andrew Lavallee, Wall Street Journal)
Child bride case in Yemen inspires calls to raise the age of marital consent
(Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times)
Consumers in U.K. say cloned meat is inevitable but must be labeled
(James Meikle, Guardian)
Legislative fights spread over calorie labeling on restaurant menus
(Stu Woo, Wall Street Journal)
Monkeys that fish
(Erik Meijaard et al, International Journal of Primatology / Michael Casey, AP)
Egypt urges parents not to have more than two kids
(Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post)
Another suspect dies after being shot by a Taser
(Bill Mason, Newsday)
U.K. pilots its Afghan aerial drones from Nevada
(BBC)
British high court will hear arguments for assisted suicide
(David Batty, Guardian)
Google co-founder joins the space tourism business
(John Schwartz, New York Times)
June 10
36 percent of adult women in New York City have genital herpes infections
(New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene)
ADHD gene may be advantageous in nomadic life
(Dan Eisenberg et al, BMC Evolutionary Biology / AFP)
France debates virginity-restoration surgery
(Stacy Meichtry and Max Colchester, Wall Street Journal)
Obesity programs for toddlers
(Shirley Wang, Wall Street Journal)
New York police expand use of Tasers as alternative to lethal force
(Al Baker, New York Times)
Synapse complexity may explain human brain supremacy
(Seth Grant et al, Nature Neuroscience / AFP / Nicholas Wade, New York Times)
Amputees fight insurers to pass laws requiring coverage of artificial limbs
(Dave Gram, AP)
Fetal surgery at 22 weeks saves baby’s leg
(AFP)
Canadian laws require shops to hide cigarettes from customers
(Jonathan Spicer, Reuters)
Cell phones allow tracking of three billion people
(Robert Lee Hotz, Wall Street Journal)
Wine is good for your liver
(Jeffrey Schwimmer et al, Hepatology / Nicholas Bakalar, New York Times)
June 9
Contrary to obesity theories, physical activity has not declined since 1980s
(K.R. Westerterpand J.R. Speakman, International Journal of Obesity)
Big Brown finishes last at Belmont after going off steroids
(Joe Drape, William Rhoden, New York Times)
China will reverse sterilizations for couples who lost kids in quake
(Du Guodong , Xinhua / Kirby Chien, Reuters)
U.S. bill to control global warming is dead till next year
(David Herszenhorn, New York Times)
Argentine courts virtually decriminalize drug abuse
(Monte Reel, Washington Post)
Company peddles contact lenses for 8-year-olds for sports and “self-esteem”
(Shirley Wang, Wall Street Journal)
The California backlash against medical marijuana
(Jesse McKinley, New York Times)
Senator investigates transplants for “foreign criminal figures” while Americans were on waiting list
(Charles Ornstein and John Glionna, Los Angeles Times)
$300 headset will let your brain directly will action in video games
(Anne Eisenberg, New York Times)
Cuba begins approving sex-reassignment surgery
(Rosa Tania Valdes and Nelson Acosta, Reuters)
Norway prosecutes immigrant couple for female genital mutilation
(AFP)
MuscleTech model loses his job after admitting steroid use
(Stephanie Clifford, New York Times)
Did Major League Baseball deceive Congress about its testing program for performance-enhancing drugs?
(Michael Schmidt, New York Times)
The movement to wear firearms openly
(Nicholas Riccardi, Los Angeles Times)
Volunteers repair eagle by attaching a prosthetic beak
(Nicholas Geranios, AP)
Justice Department plans to put bestiality filmmaker on trial
(Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times)
