Well, if it’s the third Thursday in November, it must be Beaujolais Nouveau release day. Bottoms up. But before you celebrate too much, here are some stories you might want to catch around the Web for November 18. If you have a story to be featured, let me know via @michael_levy on Twitter or via the Britannica Facebook page, where we encourage you to like us.
Gitmo (Mostly) Acquittal Spurs Debate
Yesterday was a shock verdict, when Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was suspected of participating in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, was acquitted of 284 of 285 counts in federal court. He was the first former Guantánamo Bay detention camp detainee to be tried in civilian courts (as opposed to military tribunals). Peter Finn of the Washington Post says: “The failure to convict Ghailani…on the most serious terrorism charges will bolster the arguments of those who say the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be kept open, both to host military commissions for some prisoners and to hold others indefinitely and without trial under the laws of war.” Indeed. As Charlie Savage writes in the New York Times, it will be a severe test for the Obama administration, which has prided itself on using the federal criminal justice system for these cases, where the defendants are likely to get a fair trial but where convictions are not assured. Peter King, a Republican from New York, called the verdict a “tragic wake-up call” and urged Obama’s administration to “immediately abandon its ill-advised plan to try Guantánamo terrorists.”
Obama-Palin 2012 Smackdown?
Will she or won’t she? That is the question that will be on every pundit’s lips from now until Sarah Palin officially declares her intentions for 2012, but in an interview to be broadcast on ABC News on December 9 with Barbara Walters, the former Alaska governor and Tea Party darling says she could beat Barack Obama. She has confirmed that she is thinking about running, and everyone is trying to handicap her chances. Some Democrats might be murmuring “Run Sarah Run,” since he poll numbers are not very strong. But, weren’t those the same folks saying “Run Ronnie Run” prior to the 1980 election, thinking that Ronald Reagan would be an easier Republican to beat? Recession. High unemployment. Unpopular president. She’s still a longshot, the table is set in a way in which there’s a path for her to victory. Or not. The Guardian’s Michael White attempts to reassure his readers today, calling Palin a “Marmite politician,” one who will scare people. But, he says her biggest problem is Alaska, where she “walked out on the job [of governor] halfway through her controversial first term.” His conclusion: “Cheer up. She’s not electable. Which is not to say the Republicans won’t find someone who is smarter and almost as scary.” If she does run, she might want to keep her kids off Facebook.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Wait?
The roller coaster ride for Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell continues. Republicans, led by John McCain, threaten to filibuster, wanting to hold further hearings that would delay a vote or consideration until after the new Congress is sworn in. Carl Levin, chair of the Armed Services Committee, says he’s committed to repeal, but he also wants to see passage of the defense authorization bill, seemingly cutting and running on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell the other day by saying, “I’m trying to get both done. And if I can’t get both done, I want to get one of them done.” (Levin has said he’ll hold hearings immediately after the Pentagon study is released on December 1.) And, the new leader of the Marines wants the policy to stay in place, even though Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen have called for the policy to go. After all that, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that DADT repeal was dead for the year. Not so fast. The White House has signaled it wants to push for repeal in this lame-duck session, Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that he would move forward on repeal. According to Greg Sargent in the Washington Post’s Plum Line, Senate staffers “received private indications from a handful of moderate GOP senators that they could vote for cloture on defense legislation that includes repeal - if Democratic leaders agree to hold a sustained floor debate on the bill.” Stay tuned.
Good Journalist, Bad Person?
This is the question that Adam Weinstein asks in Mother Jones, after the audience at Southern California on Tuesday tweeted and didn’t come to the aid of Science Guy Bill Nye after he tripped and fainted on stage. He examines the column of reporter David Axe on the site War is Boring, where Axe says that “this ‘passivity’ could also be something else: journalistic ‘objectivity.’” Weinstein argues that Axe sets a “false dichotomy” that you can’t be a good human being and be a good journalist. Weinstein’s conclusion: “There’s nothing potentially more dangerous in journalism than using “objectivity” as a pretense to practice amorality. News reporting doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it isn’t good in itself.” Luckily, of course, Nye came to on his own, without the aid of the objective students in attendance.
Estrogen Power
Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago have presented findings from a study on estrogen to Neuroscience 2010 in San Diego, and the results could have far-reaching effects. Researchers have known that “estrogen is an elixir for the brain, sharpening mental performance in humans and animals and showing promise as a treatment for disorders of the brain such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.” But, they’ve also found that “long-term estrogen therapy…increases the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.” The trick has been to get the rewards without the risk, and the scientists have figured that out by “[u]sing a special compound [to] flip a switch that mimics the effect of estrogen on cortical brain cells.” Says Nick Brandon of Pfizer:
We are very excited by the emerging data in this area. There is a great deal of literature and precedent for a role of estrogen and estrogen signaling in major mental illnesses. This adds to our understanding of the specific neuronal functions. As we understand the effects of these specific estrogen receptor beta compounds in preclinical models, we are discovering effects on specific neuronal functions, which could be relevant for the treatment of cognitive disorders, depression and schizophrenia.
The Return of Bird Flu?
In potentially dangerous news, Hong Kong is on a state of high alert after its first human diagnosis of bird flu since 2003. Australia’s Herald Sun says that the “59-year-old woman tested positive for Influenza A (H5), a variant of bird flu, after she was first diagnosed with pneumonia.” In response, the government of Hong Kong has raised the alert level to “serious.” Here’s a general fact sheet from the World Health Organization on avian influenza. (Here’s a report from Britannica’s Year in Review on the outbreak that began in 2003 and its effects over a couple of years.)
Cool Chameleon
I don’t know if this video of a chameleon is real or not, but either way, it’s awesome. Check it out. [h/t Phil Mitsch]
Awesome BioScapes
In this column, I like to feature amazing imagery of the natural world. And, today we’ve got the winners of the Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition, which are reproduced in New Scientist. Amazing images of the eyes of daddy-long-legs, the rat hippocampus, flower buds, and more awaits you.
Israel Rockin’ Down to Electric Avenue
Israel National News’s Elad Benari reports that Israel will begin testing its electric car network in the next couple of weeks, as it imports (through Better Place, founded by Shai Agassi) 13 Renault electric cars. The small country has been at the forefront of the electric car revolution, with the hope that it will host by the end of the year the world’s first national electric car network.
