As the gypsies traveled across the country, a plant followed them, since they dropped its seeds along the way. Biologists are using this plant to trace the tracks of US gypsies. It’s not particularly beautiful: It’s a foot-high plants with leaves that look like blades of grass. But it turned up in a Mississippi cemetery four years ago, botanist were puzzled, because it had never been seen in North America before.
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Researchers used to think that marijuana was the "entrance drug" that lead to taking "hard" drugs, such as cocaine and heroin. But now they think it’s coffee (and if you’re "hooked" on java, be sure to drink it out of a Dreamland mug!) And new research shows that caffeine may help ward off skin cancer.
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At least that’s what psychologists say–but only just barely and mostly to other men. The oft-repeated stereotype is than women can’t tell a joke properly, but psychologist Laura Mickes says, "The differences we find between men’s and women’s ability to be funny are so small that they can’t account for the strength of the belief in the stereotype."
The standard explanations for this are usually variations on an evolutionary sexual-selection argument that likens a man’s humor to a peacock’s fancy tail or a deer’s rack of antlers, useful primarily for showing off and impressing potential mates. But if this was the case, the male sense of humor would appeal more to WOMEN.
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Whitley Strieber created Darkness Visible for Halloween, 2011. The story is a darkly beautiful contemplation of what might happen if the nature of reality changed very suddenly, and we found ourselves, in a matter of moments, living in a new word.
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