Is money the root of all evil? (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to these shows). Computers promised us a paperless society, but that hasn’t come to pass. Now debit cards promise us a cashless society–will this vision of the future come true?
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Secret government documents and emails reveal that a $214 million CDC bioterror germ lab in Atlanta has had repeated problems with airflow systems designed to help prevent the release of infectious agents. The lab is violating basic laboratory operating standards, which is used for experiments with anthrax, dangerous strains of flu, SARS, monkeypox and other microbes that have the potential to be used as bioweapons.
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Unlike our closest cousins the chimpanzees, we don’t live in groups in which the males share (and fight over) females–instead, we tend to pair up. How did this happen?
A new study shows that weak males who were inferior fighters chanced upon a winning solution: Pick one female out of the group and treat her especially well, so she’ll stay with you. It was the beginning of monogamy.
In the May 28th edition of the Los Angeles Times, Rosie Mestel quotes biomathematician Sergey Gavrilets as saying that this mating strategy may "have triggered a key step in the very long process of the evolution of the family. Without it, we wouldn’t have the modern family."
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Is email evil? People are doing so much texting that they’re getting arthritis in their thumbs. One French internet executive has banned internal email, starting in 2014.
In BBC News, Tom Chatfield quotes author Kevin Kelly as saying that the idea of "wanting is not just for humans. Your dog wants to play Frisbee. Your cat wants to be scratched, Birds want mates. Worms want moisture. Bacteria want food." And, he says, email wants your time and thought, as it demands a reply.
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