- All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others – Fact-cheecking politicians, with a handy chart showing the percentage of truths vs. lies per candidate. From Veronica.
- No, poverty is not a mysterious, unknowable, negative-spiral loop – “Poverty is only a ‘mysterious, unknowable, negative spiral-loop’ if you specifically ignore the lack of money that is its proximate cause. Sure, spend your whole life wondering about the mysteries of human variation — but could we agree to do that after taking care of people’s basic needs?”
- A Protein In The Gut May Explain Why Some Can’t Stomach Gluten – “But those who shun gluten (and don’t have celiac disease) may not be food faddists after all. Researchers are finally homing in on markers for gluten sensitivity in the body. A study from Giovanni Barbara and his team at the University of Bologna, Italy, suggests that gluten-sensitive individuals may harbor high levels of a molecule called zonulin that is linked to inflammation.” (Of course, this is just early research, there is no scientific consensus yet, but it’s still interesting, so far.)
- Indian Women Flout Menstrual Taboos By Saying They’re #HappyToBleed – “In November, reporters asked the new president of the temple’s governing board, Prayar Gopalakrishnan, whether he’d consider lifting the ban on women aged 10 to 50. His response: ‘The day there will be a machine to detect if it’s the “right time” for women to enter temples, that day they will be allowed in Sabrimala.’ ” From Rachelle.
- Invisible Patients – Check out this illustrated article on the toll that dementia takes not only on the sufferers but also their caregivers.
- Robot Clubs Draw Girls into Science – “Cyber Blue, the robotics club at Perry Meridian High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, is working to change that by creating a robotics competition that puts girls in charge.” From CriticalDragon1177.
- Tinder’s New, But the Freakout Isn’t: Looking for Love in an 1880s Matrimonial Journal – “Matrimonial advertisements were common in mainstream newspapers beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, and they had their critics. ‘A marriage based on such an acquaintance must almost necessarily be a disastrous venture,’ wrote an unnamed columnist in an 1894 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. ‘The man who would make a desirable husband, like the woman who would prove a loyal wife is not hunting for a companion for life in the personal columns of newspapers.’ “
We already knew that celiac disease was a thing, though. People with celiac disease shouldn’t be confused with those who just read about gluten in some diet book.