Interesting Articles: Q1 2010

Food, Deception (by the Government):
* The Chemist's War: The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences. (Slate). Okay, I admit this isn't news; it's history. Nevertheless, it's a tale I didn't know and I don't think many other people do. I think people should know it. Perhaps those people who worry about fluoride have a leg to stand on...

Food, Deception (by Corporations):
* FDA pressured to combat rising 'food fraud' (The Washington Post). The examples cited in the article are interesting. By the way, the title is misleading: it's not clear that 'food fraud' is increasing but rather that improved detection techniques (especially DNA analysis) makes it easier to detect the amount of fraud out there.

The techniques have become so accessible that two New York City high school students, working with scientists at the Rockefeller University and the American Museum of Natural History last year, discovered after analyzing DNA in 11 of 66 foods -- including the sheep's milk cheese and caviar -- bought randomly at markets in Manhattan were mislabeled.

John Spink, an expert on food and packaging fraud at Michigan State University, estimates that 5 to 7 percent of the U.S. food supply is affected but acknowledges the number could be greater. "We know what we seized at the border, but we have no idea what we didn't seize," he said.

Technology & Culture:
* Don't Touch That Dial! A history of media technology scares, from the printing press to Facebook (Slate). A story about how we're always afraid of and overwhelmed by new things, technology in this case.
* Search and Destroy (WNYC's On The Media via NPR). A story about how social norms are enforced (even online) in China: if a behavior is egregious enough, people get together, find the individual's real identity, and threaten or embarrass him or her. Sometimes this can go too far and become a form of mob rule, but it nevertheless does seem effective at making people more careful about what they say online, even under what they think is an anonymous id.

Technology, Psychology, and Media:
* The Uncanny Valley (WNYC's On The Media via NPR). While I subconsciously always knew about this phenomenon, it's interesting to hear it discussed at an intellectual level, and even hear about how its effects are seen at the box office.