Interesting Articles: April 11th-17th 2006

Food & Health:
* Dinner: An Author Considers the Source (Fresh Air with Terry Gross). An audio discussion on food and food production. The part beginning at minute 20.5 deals with organic foods, which I found more interesting than the earlier section with dealing more with environmental and economic policy and government incentives.
* Does Eating Salmon Lower the Murder Rate? (New York Times). Using prisons as testing grounds for nutrition studies is a creative idea. This article explores the research connecting nutrition to aggressive behavior.

Science:
* Out of the Shadows: Not all early mammals were shy and retiring (Science News). Only posted because I love this quote:

Until recently, most known fossils of early mammals consisted only of teeth or fragments of teeth. Indeed, paleontologists sometimes joke that many early mammals were nothing but teeth, which mated with other teeth to produce yet more teeth.

* No Fooling (Science News). Check out the blurbs for the first four articles in the "Notes" section -- it's all strange but true news. (And although you can't read the articles directly, you can read the sources they used, which is just as good (but written with a more serious tone).)

Medicine:
* Taking the Least of You (New York Times). A complex narrative weaving together the issues of donating tissue for research, profiting from such tissues, and patenting techniques derived from tissues. In short, a set of stories exploring medical ethics, capitalism, and legal consent.

Misc:
* Pro-Life Nation (New York Times). In El Salvador, all abortions are illegal. This long article explores the law, the enforcement, and the underground market for abortion. Vaguely interesting, but sadly doesn't really explore the larger social, cultural, or economic changes that resulted from these legal changes.