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Seed's Daily Zeitgeist

November 21, 2009

1. 1 The ultimate moral dilemma

   NPR

   Radiolab's hosts ask Harvard moral psychologist Joshua Greene to discuss moral puzzles—including the classic challenge of whether you would kill your child to save a village. As it turns out, about half of subjects say they would.

2. 2 Here, try the Relaxacisor

   MuseumofQuackery.com

   The physical headquarters of the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices may have closed down when its founder retired and donated the materials to the Science Museum of Minnesota, but the collection's site is alive and well—unlike many of those who indulged in these "scientific" medical devices. The Battle Creek Vibratory Chair, invented by the Kellogg brothers of cereal fame, opens the catalog, and the Relaxacisor from Season 1 of Mad Men is here too.

3. 3 Birds up close and personal, with not a feather out of place

   Inkling Magazine

   Photographer Andrew Zuckerman, author of the stunning 2007 book Creature, is releasing a new compilation that focuses on birds. He releases the wild animals—macaws, emus, and falcons and others—in his studio for the photo shoots, and sometimes invents customized shutters so the animals trigger the exposure with their movement.

4. 4 Arab science still has a long way to go

   Scidev.net

   A new report shows that despite recent spending--including the founding of KAUST last year in Saudi Arabia--there are still gaping holes in Arab research. Arab nations spend an average of just 0.2 percent of GDP on science, while the global average hovers around 1.7 percent. As a result, the Arab world produces less than 40 patent registrations per year.

5. 5 Undoing Obama's stem cell policy?

   ScienceInsider

   The regents of the University of Nebraska object to Obama's relaxed restrictions on stem cell research. Today, they vote on whether to return their institution to the Bush Administration policy that kept researchers from using new cell lines, which would make them the first institution to regulate such research below the state or national level.