A Yale University senior named Aliza Shvarts ignited the blogosphere with outrage yesterday, April 17, when the Yale student newspaper announced that Shvarts had artificially inseminated herself "as often as possible" over the past nine months and then periodically induced "miscarriages," all toward the goal of developing a "performance art" project in the School of Art at Yale. But there may be students on my campus who perform a similar type of "art" every week without much fuss.

It may all come down to the meaning of words.

There's a rule of science we normally overlook. That rule? Challenge your assumptions. See what you can derive from a new point of view. Buck the normal. Today, it is normal to hate consumerism. It's normal to loathe what consumerism has done to us...and what it has done to the planet. So as good scientists, let's go anti-conventional. Let's sing an ode in praise of consumerism. Let's see if reversing the normal point of view will produce any surprises.

In praise of consumerism? I know what you're thinking; this is a great subject for the brain-dead or folks who utterly lack a moral compass, like Donald Trump and Paris Hilton. But it’s certainly not a good subject for you and me.

The cost of providing a safety net for at-risk youth is $5,000 per year; the cost of housing a San Quentin inmate is $60,000 per year. Which would you prefer? -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- What's your reaction when you see a young person begging for money, living in a park or under a freeway? Do you think, "Why don't you just get a job? In and Out Burgers pays $11.00 an hour. I'm not buying your beer." I admit to my own uneasiness and temptation to judge, and I also wonder what has happened to this young person that made them drop out? Who crushed their spirit? In 2003, M. Wald and T. Martinez conducted the Stanford University study "Connected by 25: Improving the Life Chances of the Country's Most Vulnerable 14-24 year olds." In that mouthful of study, they concluded that, "In our society, almost all youth require support until they have connected successfully with the labor force, which generally does not occur until the mid-twenties." Stanford also found that high school dropouts, those in the juvenile justice system and incarcerated youth are unlikely to reach age 25 without becoming homeless.

Teaching robots to understand enough about the real world to allow them act independently has proved to be much more difficult than first thought.

The technologies developed on the iCub platform – such as grasping, locomotion, interaction, and even language-action association – are of great relevance to further advances in the field of industrial service robotics.

The EU-funded RobotCub project, which designed the iCub, will send one each to six European research labs. Each of the labs proposed winning projects to help train the robots to learn about their surroundings – just as a child would.

Data from the ESA/NASA spacecraft SOHO shows clearly that powerful starquakes ripple around the Sun in the wake of mighty solar flares that explode above its surface. The observations give solar physicists new insight into a long-running solar mystery and may even provide a way of studying other stars.

The outermost quarter of the Sun’s interior is a constantly churning maelstrom of hot gas. Turbulence in this region causes ripples that criss-cross the solar surface, making it heave up and down in a patchwork pattern of peaks and troughs.

GRANGEMOUTH, Scotland, April 18 /PRNewswire/ --

- Grangemouth Strike Threatens GBP750 Million Investment and 650 Jobs

- Union Claims Exposed as Completely Untrue

- Union Agrees to INEOS Safety Demands

INEOS has revealed that the proposed Grangemouth strike threatens a GBP750 million investment and 650 jobs at the plant. Hundreds of further jobs could also be lost in the local community and elsewhere in the UK.

LONDON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Unite the union today announced that industrial action at the Grangemouth oil refinery in Scotland will begin on 27th April.

Unite National Secretary, Phil McNulty said "Ineos have refused to withdraw the proposal to reduce the value of our members' pensions so industrial action is now inevitable.

"Ineos makes up to GBP3 million per day from this plant as a result of the hard work and skill of our members and the company is proposing to reward their efforts with a reduction in the terms and conditions.

LONDON, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- The Theatres Trust's Annual Conference takes place on 10 June 2008 at the Cottesloe Theatre in London where theatre owners and managers, manufacturers, suppliers and consultant, architects and engineers, will be invited to debate the impact of climate change on theatre buildings and what influence the reduction of our carbon footprint will have on theatre use in the 21st Century.

The implication of new legislation to reduce carbon emissions being introduced through Climate Change, Energy and Planning Bills will be addressed by the Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MBE MP, Minister for Culture, and Peter Head, Director, Planning and Integrated Urbanism, Arup in opening and closing contributions.

GRANGEMOUTH, Scotland, April 18 /PRNewswire/ -- INEOS, the owner of the Grangemouth oil refinery, has today been told by the Unite trade union that its members will not provide safety cover during a planned strike from April 27th to 29th. Unite also told the company that it had just ten days to remove all oil and gas from the plant and make the site safe - a physical impossibility. INEOS is deeply concerned about the Union's cavalier approach to safety at one of the country's largest oil refineries. Tom Crotty, Grangemouth CEO said, "I have written to Mr Tony Woodley, Unite's joint general secretary, expressing our concerns. INEOS has always prioritised site safety, and I'm deeply concerned that the Union is putting other issues ahead of safety."

ISLE OF WIGHT, England, April 18 /PRNewswire/ --

Following Tuesday's announcement by eBay that it will exit the live online auction business, Invaluable.com today announced the launch of Invaluable Live!, including an online bidding platform and audio/video broadcast services.

Invaluable Live! is a next-generation online marketplace connecting the world's 1,000 leading auction houses with the 6 million most active collectors and dealers of art, antiques, and fine collectibles.