Alcohol consumption has been suspected of contributing to weight gain in the United States, but among normal-weight women moderate alcohol consumption is associated with a reduced risk for obesity, according a new study by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health.

I sincerely apologize for my complete absence from the blogging world though a recent bout with what can only be called "The Plague" has had me incapacitated for more than a week. Minus a trip to the doctor that only reinforced my belief that going was a waste of time... but, I digress.

Cherry Picking At The Tree Of Knowledge

The fruit of the cherry is easily spoiled: rough handling, bird pecks, insect bites, mold - all can render the cherry unappealing or inedible.

The cherry picker is trained to pick only the best cherries: the ones that will appeal most to consumers.

Fruit pickers, tree surgeons and others often use a hydraulic lift to reach into high work areas.  These lifts can let the operator reach exactly the right spot - exactly the right cherry, in a manner of speaking.

By extension, the machine is called a cherry-picker.

By analogy, anyone who selects only the data that appeals to them and supports their personal view or theory is called a cherry picker.

Does Spiderman get wet? The hunt has been on for some time now for what are called superhydrophobic surfaces.  These would be ideal for see-though surfaces such as windscreens and coating for solar cells, where any dirty water that splashes on will simply roll off it like the proverbial duck’s back.

Do boys and girls learn differently? Differently enough to justify sex-segregated classes and schools?

The ACLU says no and is involved in a case in Louisiana:

Key To The Past, Key To The Future


This article is a brief overview and history of geochronology.


There are many things in nature that tend to grow in layers.  Over the course of over 1,000 years, studies of layered objects have combined to show us that nature's laws of layering can be applied in a cross-disciplinary manner.

Making love in the middle of the night while both of you are half asleep is undoubtedly pleasurable. But what if you suddenly realize that your partner is still asleep; not just half asleep but fully asleep on the job? If so, then he or she may be suffering from sexsomnia, a rare sleep disorder involving sexual behaviour.

A study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reports that Vitamin D deficiency may be more common among young people today than most researchers thought.

In the study, 59 per cent of participants had too little Vitamin D in their blood. Nearly a quarter of the group had serious deficiencies (less than 20 ng/ml) of this important vitamin. Since Vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased body fat, decreased muscle strength and a range of disorders, this is a serious health issue

Researchers writing in Nature say they have developed a new strategy to identify and characterize genes involved in endocytosis - the process cells use to ingest substances from the external environment. From their findings the scientists say they may be able to develop treatments for serious disease like cancer, Huntington’s and diabetes.

Cells take up material from the outside by pinching off from their cell membrane vesicles that transport substances to different cellular organelles. Depending on what they contain, these vesicles and organelles – also known as endosomes – are transported to different locations within the cell, where their content is either re-distributed or broken down to recycle the basic building blocks.

When it comes to wine, 'green' labels just don't pack the same financial wallop that they do for low-energy appliances and organically grown produce. A new study has found that organic labels actually decrease the price consumers are willing to pay for their wine.

Wines made with 'organically' grown grapes rate higher on a widely accepted ranking, said Magali Delmas, a UCLA environmental economist and the study's lead author, and these wines can even command a higher price than their conventionally produced counterparts - as long as wineries don't use the word "organic" on their labels.

When wineries do use eco-labels, prices plummet.