Science, Technology & Health: August 2005 Archives
I thought I posted about this a while ago, but if I did I can't find the post.
More than 100 varieties of Mexican candy have tested positive for extremely high lead contamination and are unsafe to eat. The OC Register has a special investigation section about these "Toxic Treats" with a lot more information. It's most recent article in the investigation is from April 30th, 2005, and says that despite years of warnings the lead contamination is still a huge problem.
The FDA also issued a warning about lead contamination in Mexican candy last year, and the Department of Health issued an extended warning in 2001. This is an ongoing problem that people should be aware of, especially anyone who might regularly eat Mexican candy.
Wikipedia has more on lead poisoning, and points out that it affects children most significantly and that many studies have shown links between lead poisoning, learning disabilities, and violent tendencies.
There appears to be some new controversy over whether or not unborn babies feel pain, and when. From the article:
A review of medical evidence has found that fetuses likely don't feel pain until the final months of pregnancy, a powerful challenge to abortion opponents who hope that discussions about fetal pain will make women think twice about ending pregnancies.Critics angrily disputed the findings and claimed the report is biased.
"They have literally [literally? -- MW] stuck their hands into a hornet's nest," said Dr. Kanwaljeet Anand, a fetal pain researcher at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, who believes fetuses as young as 20 weeks old feel pain. "This is going to inflame a lot of scientists who are very, very concerned and are far more knowledgeable in this area than the authors appear to be. This is not the last word _ definitely not."
As I pointed out two years ago, it doesn't matter if unborn babies feel pain.
The real question isn't whether or not the baby can feel pain, but whether or not the baby is a human being with a right to life. If not, then it doesn't matter whether there's pain involved -- we hurt non-human things all the time when it suits our purposes, and most people don't have a problem with that. If the baby is a person then it still doesn't matter because you can't kill people, painlessly or not.
No matter what you think about abortion, the presence or absence of pain is irrelevant.
Earlier this year I linked to a bit of software that generates random computer science papers, and now via Todd Zywicki I see that the authors have posted videos of their random presentations from a conference they held in the same hotel as WMSCI 2005 in Orlando. If you recall, the grad students (Jeremy Stribling, Max Krohn, and Dan Aguayo) submitted a randomly generated paper to the WMSCI 2005 conference and it was actually accepted, until the hoax was revealed and their invitation was withdrawn.
This gives me a lot of encouragement as I labor night and day on my own PhD dissertation....
Here's a truly cool device that's designed to bring the benefits of computing to the third-world: Simputer.
The Simputer is a low cost portable alternative to PCs, by which the benefits of IT can reach the common man.It has a special role in the third world because it ensures that illiteracy is no longer a barrier to handling a computer.
The key to bridging the digital divide is to have shared devices that permit truly simple and natural user interfaces based on sight, touch and audio.
The first retail model is the Amida Simputer, and the tour makes it look like a pretty powerful device. I emailed a sales representative to get a price quote.
