Pandora’s Anatomy Hurt Secret Political Mirror
Pandora’s Briefcase by Malcolm Gladwell (New Yorker): Gladwell analyses the pros and cons of the use of spies in wartime; secrecy sometimes stands in the way of accuracy, for example. [via]
The Anatomy Of Desire by Daniel Bergner (New York Times): Bergner covers an study where blind men feel up headless mannequins and judge which has the best physique; in a way, this somewhat bizarre study is somewhat bizarre precisely because it gets at the age-old question of nature v nurture.
A Single Genetic Fault Makes One Hand Mirror The Other’s Movements by Ed Yong (Not Exactly Rocket Science): A French Canadian family have a congenital defect which means they cannot rub their belly and pat their heads at the same time.
Woolly Mammoth’s Survival Secret? Antifreeze Blood by Ian Sample (The Guardian): Well, having antifreeze in your blood would help you survive the Arctic tundra, wouldn’t it? It’s still really fucking amazing that we can look at the DNA of the woolly mammoth, seeing it’s been extinct for the entirety of recorded human history.
This Won’t Hurt A Bit by KC Mason (Lost Magazine): Mason tells the history of vibrators - from medical instrument to illegal perversion to outright celebration. [via]
Guinea-Conakry: The Price Of Political Rape by Pablo Castilio Diaz and Letitia Anderson (Open Democracy): The rise of cheap phones in the poorer countries of the world may yet change the world in ways we could not foresee; in the Republic of Guinea, the military junta has lost power partly because of horror at the cell phone footage of the gang-raping of women in a stadium in broad daylight. [via]
