July 19, 1836, is the day that the Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated in Paris, France, and the monument stands to honor those who died during the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars.
- A Race to Save the Orange by Altering Its DNA – We build a better fruit, and nature will build a better bug. From Amy.
- Has Carl June Found a Key to Fighting Cancer? – Gene therapy and a man who was losing his battle to leukemia.
- Twitter under fire after bank note campaigner is target of rape threats – What is your opinion about this? From James.
- In 1955, Aldous Huxley Wrote This Very Creepy Story for The Atlantic – I enjoyed Brave New World so I am definitely going to read this later.
- Mind-control study gives mouse false memory – I thought the Men in Black already had one of these? From Buzz Parsec.
- Difficult Women: How “Sex and the City” lost its good name – I was a fan, and I enjoyed this article.
- 10 Things I Plan to Tell My Daughter About Sex That Aren’t That Purity Movement Crap – Do you have any advice you’d like to share? From bluebottle.
BONUS: Tales from the Genome is a free genetics class, exploring topics like “the genetic basis of lactose intolerance, skin pigmentation, dwarfism, breast cancer, and much more!” If you’ve always wanted to learn something new, now is your chance! (From Anne.)
“If you get an abusive message, you can fill in an online form and make a complaint”
This is Twitter’s problem – it’s easier to abuse someone on Twitter than it is to report the abuse, which is exactly backwards. If it was easier to report the abuse (and the reports were dealt with swiftly) than it was to abuse in the first place, the abuse would stop.
So an organized harassment campaign in response to (among other things) Charles Darwin being replaced on the 10 pound note… anyone else think this might be coming from douchebag brigade in the atheist community?
I tried looking up the accounts of people who had sent harassing tweets to confirm my suspicions but they’ve all been suspended.
Mary
I personally find the idea that people could one day alter or erase my memories rather unsettling
What did you say?
I’m actually cautiously optimistic about this technology. Imagine being able to download memories from other people. That time you walked on the moon (courtesy of Buzz Aldrin), that time you were the President (five of them are still alive), those years you went to medical school (what are skills but memories and habits [can this technology be used to give you false habits {could it be used to get rid of old, unwanted habits}])?