France. Sex. Problem? - NYTimes.com

I would've liked to be brought up in a society with this sense of "equality" (if I could use that word). This can change humanity as a whole can it not ? If we have a different (more equal) status of women in every day life, then maybe we all will be more tolerant of other identities. But somehow this seems to be not so close to reality. I wonder what brings about such revolutions ? It definitely cannot be something "silent" as the article seems to suggest. Or can it be ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/fashion/30cliente.html?_r=1&em=&pagewanted=all --- The posters were advertising "Cliente," a popular movie that revolves around clichés about prostitution and gigolos in France. Judith, the client, who is played by Nathalie Baye, one of France's highest-paid actresses, is not a pathetic, lifted rich woman of a certain age and nothing to do. Rather, she is a hard-charging, 51-year-old television shopping-channel anchor and director who, after her marriage falls apart, wants good sex without strings and is willing to pay handsomely for it.

If we could, would you - Remember-to-Forget ?

[erasing memories] New and old memories have been selectively and safely removed from mice by scientists."While memories are great teachers and obviously crucial for survival and adaptation, selectively removing incapacitating memories, such as traumatic war memories or an unwanted fear, could help many people live better lives," says Dr. Joe Z. Tsien, brain scientist and co-director of the Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute at the Medical College of Georgia School of Medicine."Our work reveals a molecular mechanism of how that can be done quickly and without doing damage to brain cells," says the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Cognitive and Systems Neurobiology.

Audio on this topic @ radiolab : http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2007/06/08

[via mefi]

jyotirgamaya

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Beaked whales - into the abyss

Another in the series of awe inspiring acts of the evolutionary process.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7641537.stm ---Clicks are generated when a structure just below the blowhole known as "monkey's lips" smacks together.That generates a wave radiating spherically outwards, which is transformed into a directionally forward-focussed plane wave as it passes through a fat "melon" - an acoustic lens.So the sound - too high-pitched for a human to hear - shoots out in front of the whale, and if it hits food, such as a squid, a portion is reflected.The reflection was thought to travel to the whale's ears, via its lower jawbone. But the scan suggested a more important route is under the bone.Top of head for transmitting, bottom of head for receiving; a neat system.The sound reception part appears to be very complex, involving fat bodies that focus sound and air sacs that reflect it."Air sacs are perfect acoustic mirrors," says Ted Cranford."The whales need to be able to isolate their ears from each other in order to maintain their directional sense, and one of the best ways to do that is through air sacs."

NASA - NASA Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow, Soil Data Suggest Liquid Past

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080929.html --- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds. Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth. A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars has detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft's landing site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground.

Dan Quayle was too smart for his time huh?

[via /.]