Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died last Saturday in Ohio at age 82 and his funeral service is tomorrow.  Like most everything else about him, the service is private.

Yet the cosmos has decided to ignore the wishes of his family and so Armstrong is getting a special event for the occasion: a blue moon. Either that, or his family is being clever.

There is little doubt that there is an abundance of evidence regarding the role of cooperation among social animals and it is mentioned here as a precondition for the discussion of group selection and altruism; specifically in humans.

While many of the elements that constitute human behavior are present in other animals, there is little question that humans represent an extremely unique existence.  Beyond even the obvious differences regarding intellectual capacity, humans represent a eusocial mammal that exploits an extreme division of labor, such that it is human society that operates to support human existence, rather than the capabilities of any individual (1).

A large study published in Human Reproduction (1) looked at the effect of induced abortions on a subsequent first birth and found that women who have had three or more abortions have a higher risk of adverse birth outcomes, such as delivering premature and low birth weight babies.

Analysis of the abdominal contents of two dinosaur fossil specimens reveals new information about their hunting and eating behavior, according to a new report.  They may have been stealth hunters.

Danish veterinarians are a little squeamish about working on dead animals - instead of encouraging them to find other careers, the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen is encouraging them to work on stuffed animals to lessen their anxiety.

The stuffed animal operating room laboratory allows students to train basic surgical skills on toys which resemble animals, featuring organs, veins and arteries. Measurements of students' heart rate, questionnaires and interviews show that after attending the 'teddy laboratory', students are less fearful about the possibility of surgery on living animals.

Politicians make a lot of promises when they are trying to get elected. So many they probably can't keep track of them of them. That's understandable. Believing candidates is one of the 'sweet little lies' we tell ourselves.(1)

Whey protein has been primarily used by weightlifters but more recently gotten popular with other groups who need food supplements because of their diets. Whey protein is the protein contained in whey, the watery portion of milk that separates from  curds when making cheese. The other protein from milk is casein protein.

So it sounds a little strange that True Nutrition is recalling its Whey Protein because its label does not disclose that milk is the source of the whey, when it is by definition derived from milk. The concern is people who are allergic to milk might have a reaction and the recall is voluntary. Obviously, people will not have to return it if they are not allergic to milk.

Modern culture is always trying to find new ways to catch bad guys more scientifically but as psychology has fallen in credibility, so has one of its more successful methods; profiling.

It isn't a new trend; after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there was outcry because the terrorists had not been arrested in advance. One bureaucrat came forward and was identified as a whistleblower because she had tried to raise alarm but that renewed the debate - she used 'racial' profiling about people from the Mid-East and had narrowed in on the right people.