I recently began reading Retrospectacle, a blog by neuroscience postgraduate student Shelley Batts that digs up interesting and odd science stories like a recent item about grey parrots, whose 100-year lifespan in captivity raises an unusual dilemma for pet owners: Should you raise a pet that's going to outlive you?
Other birds and even other species of parrots don't live near as long as African Greys. Why might this be? According to a study published in the journal Aging in 1999, the rate of mitochondial oxygen radical generation is lower in long-lived birds than in short-lived birds and mammals. We've all heard about the destructive capability of so-called "free-radicals" as reported in the news, and it seems that African Greys may have less free radical production than short-lived birds, and less oxidative damage.
I try not to delete comments, really. But I don't feel sorry folks who've taken the time to write something like "What the ---- are you talking about?" and left it at that. That sort of thing will be deleted.
A regular part of my life lately has been catching hell from Drudge Retort members who don't like the site's moderation policy, which has shifted over the years from non-existent to lax to capricious to hardass. I feel like it had to evolve to deal with a community that has grown to 4,200 members; others make a good case that I'm a censorious fascist douchebag who'd be more at home in North Korea.
A shirtless redneck philosopher on YouTube filmed a 10-minute video scolding members of that site for believing their First Amendment rights are being infringed when their videos are deleted.
I don't know who this guy is, but he's mastered the parental trick of the lingering, judgmental stare that makes you see the error of your ways. As one person commented, "you lookin into the camera made me feel guilty and I havn't even done anything wrong."
If you don't know anything about Ted Haggard, the Colorado Springs-based evangelical leader who's accused of sexing a gay prostitute for three years, a recent interview he gave Richard Dawkins provides a glimpse of what he's like.
