Here are some of this week’s Human Nature short takes on the news. To get them in real time, subscribe to the HN Twitter feed .
1. Mayor on Chicago’s surveillance network: “cameras are the next best thing” to cops. http://bit.ly/syCfU Prediction: Domestic drones are next.
2. Latest totalitarian hubris: central weather planning http://bit.ly/47M3a6 Didn’t work for shamans, won’t work for China, Cuba, or Venezuela.
3. GPS tracking is being extended from felons to old folks: http://bit.ly/1ufgAa And that’s good for both of them. http://slate.com/id/2118117/
4. Penis-numbing spray prevents premature ejaculation: http://bit.ly/3bsu8i Overdose might have saved Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Mark Foley…
5. If Pistorius’ artificial legs aren’t faster than real ones ( http://bit.ly/10eGGM ), the next generation will be. http://slate.com/id/2191801/
6. Dispersed insurgents force US to disperse surveillance & communications to soldiers: http://bit.ly/4sspv2 Infantry is becoming white-collar.
7. “Data does not tell us what to do” in medicine; we must consult “values.” GOP on stem cells? No, Dems on breast cancer: http://bit.ly/2axkNH
8. Stupak consolation: No abortion coverage, but contraceptive coverage would cut your risk of having to pay for abortion. http://bit.ly/3nUFke
9. Latest female arousal drug: http://bit.ly/1YjUYL I’ve seen such hype before. But at least they’re targeting the brain now, not the vagina.
10. Palin denies we evolved from “monkeys who …swung down from the trees.” http://bit.ly/3h6VMc So do scientists, dingbat! http://bit.ly/N8k1N
11. As smokers decline to 20% or 15% of population, it becomes economically logical to ban them from apartment buildings. http://bit.ly/4hPmjk
12. “The IED has now replaced direct-fire weapons as the enemy’s weapon of choice.” http://bit.ly/31auLJ Surveillance, not combat, is the future.
13. God bless this effort to teach mullahs contraception: http://bit.ly/1JcRXf But the surest way to control population is to empower women.
14. 26 gallons of water from a single moon probe impact: http://bit.ly/4pxXSK That’s a lot of water. Moon habitation is looking more plausible.
15. Scary theory: By boosting your impression of alertness, caffeine dangerously masks the intoxicating effects of alcohol. http://bit.ly/1ofV83
16. The Vatican may burn a heretic now & then, but the arc of Catholic science bends toward curiosity: http://bit.ly/2HeIZp Also best lede ever.
17. Regrowing penises http://bit.ly/3b83l0 and breasts http://bit.ly/2KDjGT : Will it become possible to alter (or double) your sex “naturally”?
18. Laptop porn-viewing in public: http://bit.ly/2CrSyH Another sign we’re mentally drifting out of physical/social reality and into cyberspace.
