A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 – higher than Albert Einstein – and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.

The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

And now Jake has embarked on his most ambitious project yet – his own ‘expanded version of Einstein’s theory of relativity’.

His mother, not sure if her child was talking nonsense or genius, sent a video of his theory to the renowned Institute for Advanced Study near Princeton University.

Autism: A condition that starts in early childhood, usually involving serious developmental disabilities with social interaction and communication.

People with this disorder can have a range of abilities, from being severely disabled to gifted. It is estimated one in every 150 child has the condition.

Aspergers: A syndrome that is similar to autism, but with the distinction that those with it typically function better, have normal intelligence and near-normal language development.

Savant: Rare condition in which persons with developmental disorders have astonishing islands […]

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State governments are grappling with massive budget deficits, overburdened social programs, and mountains of deferred spending. But never mind all that. For some conservative lawmakers, it’s the perfect time to legislate the promotion of creationism in the classroom. In the first three months of 2011, nine creationism-related bills have been introduced in seven states-that’s more than in any year in recent memory:

1. Texas

Legislation: HB 2454 would ban discrimination against creationists, for instance, biology professors who believe in intelligent design. Defending his bill, Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler told Mother Jones, ‘When was the last time we’ve seen someone go into a windstorm or a tornado or any other kind of natural disaster, and say, ‘Guess what? That windstorm just created a watch’?’

Status: Referred to Higher Education Committee.

2. Kentucky

Legislation: The Kentucky Science Education and Intellectual Freedom Act (HB 169) would have allowed teachers to use ‘other instructional materials to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review scientific theories in an objective manner.’ Kentucky already authorizes public schools to teach ‘the theory of creation as presented in the Bible’ and to ‘read such passages in the Bible as are deemed necessary for instruction on the theory of creation.’ The state is home […]

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Up until now, we’ve never been able to say that a person infected with HIV/AIDS has been cured. As I said, up until now.

You see, in 2006, something incredible happened in a hospital in Berlin. It was there, thanks to a unique and risky stem cell transplant, that a man may have become the very first person ever to be fully cured of HIV/AIDS.

This man’s name has not been released; he’s only known as the Berlin patient. But we know he’s an HIV-positive American in his 40s who has been working in Berlin. In 2006, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia. In an attempt to treat his leukemia AND his HIV, the man’s doctor — Dr. Gero Hütter — arranged for him to receive a stem cell transplant from a very special donor.

Ever since that transplant, the Berlin patient has had an undetectable viral load even though he hasn’t been on HIV/AIDS treatment since before the transplant. The man has generously allowed scientists to take almost every possible biopsy and test, including the most ultrasensitive HIV tests available, but HIV has not been detected anywhere in his body. It’s now almost three years since this operation and HIV still seems […]

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Saturday marked US Uncut’s second big nationwide protest. From coast-to-coast, more than forty cities joined in a day of action protesting the tax-dodging practices of massive corporations that they see as the real source of the country’s deficit.

‘I’m tired of people calling for shared sacrifice and it’s all coming from the workers and nothing’s coming from the top,

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The U.S. Postal Service announced Thursday that it will reduce its workforce with layoffs and offers of buyouts and will close seven district offices from New England to New Mexico to help address record losses.

The reorganization, designed to eliminate 7,500 administrative, executive and postmaster jobs this year, came as a commission that is evaluating the Postal Service’s plan to eliminate Saturday delivery concluded that one in four letters would be delayed by not just one but by two days.

The independent Postal Regulatory Commission also said that postal officials underestimated the losses the agency would suffer from handling less mail- and overestimated the cost savings.

Five-day service and a smaller workforce are among the Postal Service’s strategies to become solvent after losses of $8.5 billion in fiscal 2010, the result of declining mail volumes. Projected losses for 2011 are $6.4 billion.

Once buyout decisions aimed at administrative staff are final in April, the agency plans to eliminate the jobs of thousands of postmasters and supervisors, many through layoffs, officials said.

‘Nobody did anything wrong, but we’re a victim of the economy and past legislation,

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