Salon.com > Christopher R Walker

Ohio to put prisoners down like dogs, literally

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 21:05:00 +0000

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced Tuesday that it will use pentobarbital, a common anesthetic used by veterinarians to euthanize pets. Oklahoma also adopted the drug last year, conducting three executions since the reformulation. But Oklahoma uses a three-drug cocktail -- Ohio will be a trendsetter in making sole use of pentobarbital for execution.

Triple-murderer Frank Spisak will be the last Ohio inmate executed using the old drug, hard-to-find sodium thiopental, on Feb. 17. The March execution of Johnny Baston, convicted for a 1994 Toledo killing, will be the first execution using the new drug.

Sodium thiopental, previously used by both states, has been in increasingly short supply. Hospira Inc., which produced the drug until recently, halted production last week due to increased scrutiny from officials in Italy, where the drug is manufactured. Members of the Italian parliament issued an order in order to ensure that sodium thiopental manufactured in that country was not being used in executions. Hospira then discontinued sale of the drug, since it only has production capability at its facilities in Italy.

Democrats discuss repeal debate language

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 16:01:00 +0000

Last week, Greg Sargent reported that Democratic leadership plans to brand the GOP repeal of the Affordable Care Act as "The Patients' Rights Repeal Act." Immediately, media critics like David Kurtz jumped on the length of the name as evidence that their efforts are doomed to failure -- and that emergency help should be flown in from Madison Avenue.

Predictably, the Democrats are scrambling and scattering. Greg Sargent reports that a number of Democrats, concerned specifically about the length of the proposed name, are suggesting an alternative: "No Care."

"No Care" is probably the stupidest slogan ever, since it doesn't actually evoke anything. But is the original proposal really too long? It's worth noting that "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue either. But the thing that stands out is the use of the expression "job-killing." Strategists like pollster Frank Luntz have been advising Republicans for years about how to select exactly the right words to move the attitudes of voters -- and Republicans have had enough message discipline to take this advice.

Study: Conservatives have larger “fear center”

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:15:00 +0000

A study to be published next year at University College London suggests that conservative brains are structured differently than the brains of other people. The investigation, led by Geraint Rees, focused on 92 individuals in the U.K. -- 90 students and two members of Parliament.

Specifically, the research shows that people with conservative tendencies have a larger amygdala and a smaller anterior cingulate than other people. The amygdala -- typically thought of as the "primitive brain" -- is responsible for reflexive impulses, like fear. The anterior cingulate is thought to be responsible for courage and optimism. This one-two punch could be responsible for many of the anecdotal claims that conservatives "think differently" from others.

Since only adults were included in the investigation, researchers were unable to determine if cerebral physiology drives politics or if political beliefs change the brain. A previous University of California study suggests the former is possible, isolating a so-called "liberal gene" -- the neurotransmitter DRD4 -- responsible for an increased receptiveness to novel ideas.

Home for the holidays: Soldier reunions

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 14:01:00 +0000

America's military families often spend the holiday season the way they do the remainder of the year: away from their loved ones. But for a lucky few, there's a hard-won homecoming. The emotional impact of the returning soldier has been depicted by everyone from Norman Rockwell to Oliver Stone, but with today's flip phones and camcorders, families can record the moment themselves. The Web is flooded with these home-shot reunions, but no site is as thorough as Welcome Home Blog, which contains hundreds of these teary embraces. A quick shot of good feelings in the midst of two tough ongoing wars, the site gets thousands of daily visitors.

"Everyone knows that feeling, of finally seeing someone that they love come home," says UNC-Wilmington student Chase Holfelder, who started Welcome Home blog in May 2010 after a clip he posted went viral. Holfeder doesn't know anyone in the military; he's simply filling a need no one else had, and videos are sent in by military families all over the world. The joy of watching the clips, he says, "transcends political stance. It doesn't matter what you think about the wars."

Flash mobs spread holiday cheer

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Since the advent of mobile social networking tools, such as SMS text, flash mobs have been popping up all over the place. In Philadelphia earlier this year, they threatened to grow out of control as throngs of teens swamped shoppers on South Street and elsewhere. But, elsewhere, these spontaneous affairs have often showcased street theater and other aspects of public crowd-sourced creativity.

This phenomenon has gone mainstream this Christmas with emergent caroling invading libraries and overwhelming malls. These impromptu events have been seen across the country in recent days. Often the performance of choice is the "Hallelujah Chorus" but offerings include "Jingle Bells" and other seasonal favorites.

What does NASA’s new life-form discovery mean?

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 14:01:00 +0000

In a much anticipated press conference yesterday afternoon, NASA astrobiologists announced the discovery of an amazing new kind of microbes, which extend the boundaries of what we may rightly call life. According to the press release, "NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth." Discovered in Mono Lake, an extremely salty and alkaline body of water near Yosemite National Park in California, the microorganism is the first known specimen to substitute arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components, and has raised questions about what the discovery means for extraterrestrial life.

To find out what it really means, we called Robert Shapiro, a professor of chemistry at New York University who has written extensively about life's origins on earth and its potential existence in outer space.

What does this mean for the discovery of life in our solar system or universe?

NASA teases world with mystery announcement

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:10:00 +0000

The Twitterverse is abuzz about this morning's pre-announcement from @NASA:

Tune into our press briefing on a new astrobiology discovery: Thursday, 2pm EST. Live on NASA TV & online.

Most observers doubt that NASA will be trotting out any actual aliens. Instead, as Geekosystem speculates, the agency will likely be talking about arsenic biology discoveries made right here on Earth:

One of the four participants in NASA's press conference tomorrow is NASA astrobiology research fellow Felisa Wolfe-Simon, who has spent two years researching Yosemite Park's Mono Lake, which has one of the highest natural concentrations of arsenic of any site in the world. Skymania spoke to astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell, who said, "I'm 90 percent certain that Felisa has found something in Mono Lake and they have been able to demonstrate in some way that it uses arsenic in its metabolism rather than be poisoned by it."