The story’s Superman figure doubts if humanity is worth saving. Its Batman is impotent. Its Wonder Woman has mommy issues. And its closest thing to a protagonist also is a murderous sociopath.

Welcome to the world of Watchmen, considered by many to be the greatest comic book ever written. Dalhousie University english professor Anthony Enns, who teaches the course “Cartoons and Comics,” appreciates why people feel that way. He remembers Alan Moore’s comic being a sensation from the moment it first hit shelves over 20 years ago.

“If you were into comics then, everyone was taking about it, all the time,” he says. “People would gather and have these endless debates about what would happen next issue.”

Like adults, kids who are more spiritual or religious tend to be healthier. 

That’s the conclusion of Dr. Barry Nierenberg, Ph.D., ABPP, associate professor of psychology at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who has been studying the relationship between faith and health. He presented on the topic at the American Psychological Association’s Division of Rehabilitation Psychology national conference on February 27, in Jackson, Fla. 

Want to be fearless?   Create an army of super soldiers?   A limited test case may be on to something.  

A team of Dutch researchers led by Vici-winner Merel Kindt at Universiteit van Amsterdam has successfully reduced the 'fear response' - they weakened fear memories in human volunteers by administering the beta-blocker propranolol.   Most interestingly, the fear response does not return. 

Can fear be deleted?

For millions of years, green plants have employed photosynthesis to capture energy from sunlight and convert it into electrochemical energy. A goal of scientists has been to develop an artificial version of photosynthesis that can be used to produce liquid fuels from carbon dioxide and water. Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratoryhave now taken a critical step towards this goal with the discovery that nano-sized crystals of cobalt oxide can effectively carry out the critical photosynthetic reaction of splitting water molecules.

Human problems rarely occur in a vacuum, but persist as part of ongoing social interaction in which causes and effects are interwoven. One person's behavior can set the stage for what another does. A new study in the journal Family Process reveals that smoking can promote emotional connection for couples when both partners smoke.

Health-compromising behaviors, such as smoking or weight gain, may sometimes persist because they preserve stability in a vital close relationship. 

Humor is a powerful communications tool with potential political implications at various levels of society, as the recent Danish political cartoon representations of Islamic prophet Mohammad and the political repercussions and resulting economic boycotts demonstrated. A new paper by Darren Purcell, Melissa Scott Brown and Mahmut Gokmen looks at humor as an important form of popular culture in the creation of geopolitical worldviews.