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So, another war in Iraq. On this superficial basis, some are saying that Barack Obama is somehow becoming George W. Bush, or that Bush is somehow vindicated. In a town where one frequently hears ridiculous things, I’ve rarely heard anything more ridiculous than this. What Obama laid out in his Oval Office address Wednesday is, within the context of war-waging, pretty much the polar opposite of what Bush did, the antithesis of shock and awe.

This is not necessarily to say it stands a better chance of success—the dice have to come up seven about 20 times in a row for Obama’s plan to work. But if somehow it does, it would offer a new model for how to engage in the world’s most volatile region and reduce its sectarian strife.

What Obama wants to do boils down to two goals. The first concerns Iraq, where he wants to roll the Islamic State back the through means both military and diplomatic. The military means include first and foremost U.S. airstrikes on ISIS […]

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Nerve Cell

The “interconnectedness of all things” is a notion embraced by the spiritual community and, more recently, by science in the field of quantum mechanics.

This area of research is still regarded as largely theoretical by the scientific community, however, unlike the “nuts and bolts” science that focuses on improving our medical and technological knowledge with solid, peer-reviewed studies.

Yet a recent finding made by UCSF scientists seems to a have distinctly quantum flavor to it: in a discovery that directly contradicts the standard biological model of animal cell communication, researchers discovered that typical cells in animals have the ability to transmit and receive biological signals by making physical contact with each other, even at long distance. The mechanism appears to be similar to the way neurons communicate with other cells, and contrasts the standard understanding that non-neuronal cells “basically spit out signaling proteins into extracellular fluid and hope they find the right target,” explained senior investigator Thomas B. Kornberg, PhD, a professor of biochemistry with the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute.

In the study, the results of which was published earlier this year in […]

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BBC.com

Archaeologists have unveiled the most detailed map ever produced of the earth beneath Stonehenge and its surrounds.

They combined different instruments to scan the area to a depth of three metres, with unprecedented resolution.

Early results suggest that the iconic monument did not stand alone, but was accompanied by 17 neighbouring shrines.

Future, detailed analysis of this vast collection of data will produce a brand new account of how Stonehenge’s landscape evolved over time.

Among the surprises yielded by the research are traces of up to 60 huge stones or pillars which formed part of the 1.5km-wide “super henge” previously identified at nearby Durrington Walls.

“For the past four years we have been looking at this amazing monument to try and see what was around it,” Prof Vincent Gaffney, from the University of Birmingham, said at the British Science Festival.

The research is also described in BBC Two documentary to be screened on Thursday.

“What was within its landscape?”

Most of the land surrounding Stonehenge had not been surveyed in this manner before and Prof Gaffney, the project’s lead researcher, said […]

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THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GRAND HAVEN, MICHIGAN — With climate change still a political minefield across the nation despite the strong scientific consensus that it is happening, some community leaders have hit upon a way of preparing for the potentially severe local consequences without triggering explosions of partisan warfare.

Just change the subject.

Big cities and small towns are shoring up dams and dikes, using roof gardens to absorb rainwater or upgrading sewage treatment plans to prevent overflows. Others are planting urban forests, providing more shady relief from extreme heat. Extension agents are helping farmers deal with an onslaught of newly arrived crop pests.

But in many places, especially strongholds of conservative politics, they’re planning for the volatile weather linked to rising temperatures by speaking of ‘sustainability” or ‘resilience,” while avoiding no-win arguments with skeptics over whether the planet is warming or that human activity is responsible.

The pattern illustrates a growing disconnect between the debate still raging in politics and the reality on the ground. In many city planning departments, it has become like Voldemort, the […]

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On Thursday, the European Central Bank announced a series of new steps it was taking in an effort to boost Europe’s economy. There was a whiff of desperation about the announcement, which was reassuring. Europe, which is doing worse than it did in the 1930s, is clearly in the grip of a deflationary vortex, and it’s good to know that the central bank understands that. But its epiphany may have come too late. It’s far from clear that the measures now on the table will be strong enough to reverse the downward spiral.

And there but for the grace of Bernanke go we. Things in the United States are far from O.K., but we seem (at least for now) to have steered clear of the kind of trap facing Europe. Why? One answer is that the Federal Reserve started doing the right thing years ago, buying trillions of dollars’ worth of bonds in order to avoid the situation its European counterpart now faces.

You can argue, and I would, that the Fed should have done even more. But Fed officials have faced fierce attacks all the way. Pundits, politicians and plutocrats have accused them, over and over again, of ‘debasing” the dollar, […]

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