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Newswise – In the mid-1800s, a monk named Gregor Mendel experimentedwith bean plants and developed the first scientific laws ofinheritance. These ideas have been accepted by science forover 100 years, but now they’ve suddenly been eclipsed by anew study, showing that plants can inherit genes carried bytheir grandparents, rather than their parents, in order toavoid genetic abnormalities carried by both parents. Ifhumans could do this, we would be able to avoid passing ongenetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cellanemia.
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Newswise – On Monday, 16-year-old Jeffrey Weise, a high school studenton the Red Lake Chippewa Indian Reservation in northernMinnesota, shot and killed his grandparents, five fellowstudents, a teacher and a security guard, as well ashimself–and Dreamland guest Loren Coleman, author ofthe Copycat Effect predicted it.Like the Columbine killers, Weise frequented aNeo-Nazi internet website. For years, psychologists havebeen saying that exposure to violent media imagesdoes notlead to violent actions, but now they’re changing theirminds. According to the British medical journal The Lancet,violent imagery can increase aggressive behavior in kids.
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I have always been puzzled by Christians who oppose the idea of disabled and severely ill people ending their lives. I feel this way about Terri Schiavo, the brain dead Florida woman whose parents oppose the removal of her feeding tube. One of the wisest things I ever heard about this was said by a woman whose husband had just died of prostate cancer: “At least he finally got rid of that awful body.” If these people believe in the existence of the soul, as they say they do, why are they so afraid to let the souls of those who are so damaged leave their bodies and journey to a better place?
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Australian scientists have discovered that vegetablesplanted in rock dust grow to an extraordinary size. Thedust, a byproduct obtained from rock quarries, rejuvenatestired soil. By mixing the rock dust with compost,researchers have been able to produce football-sizedcabbages, coconut-sized onions, and plum-sized strawberries.Best of all, the rock dust absorbs the CO2 that is emittedfrom car exhausts. Moira Thomson says we could “cover theEarth with rock dust” and solve many of our environmentalproblems.
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