This Week in Science!!!

A career in writing will lead to premature aging and a healthy dose of personal humiliation. But science and medicine is where you'll make money, fame, and the respect of your parents. As a result, we might as well pay attention to what they're doing in those fields.

So it's time to take another peak at anything going on in the world of science and medicine this week.


Starting off with:  Murder on the prairies.

story one:
Prairie dogs are adorable serial killers.

Alleged serial killer.

The prairie dog might look cute and pose for casual photography, but that's just so you'll let your guard down—which is what ground squirrels are apparently doing in their midst.

John Hoogland of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science tells the website Gizmodo that after studying wild prairie dogs in Colorado he can faithfully report the first documented case of a mammalian herbivore killing another mammalian herbivore on a routine basis, purely to wipe them out. In essence, prairie dogs are blood-lusting murderers the likes prime time crime dramas have never seen. We potentially have the next NCIS franchise created right before us.

In Hoogland's study, 163 ground squirrels were killed by 47 different prairie dogs for no other reason than the squirrel existed as competition for food. Being an herbivore, the prairie dog held no desire to eat the squirrel—it just wanted the squirrel dead, preferably in a fairly macabre manner.

But how messy a murder are we really talking here? As Hoogland tells Gizmodo, "Prairie dogs will chase ground squirrels—usually babies—and if they catch them, they shake them violently. While they’re shaking, they’re biting the back of the neck to sever the vertebral column. Sometimes they grab by the head and literally debrain the baby. It’s violent, savage, and awful." Or, as Hoogland also tells NewScientist, the murders are "quick, subtle and unanticipated."

As opposed to all of those anticipated baby animal murders I've been hanging my hat onto. Thankfully they're subtle about it though. We want to keep it classy after all.



story two:
Your cat is slowly trying to drive you insane.

Plotting world domination one step at a time.

Mr. Whiskers has long had it out for you. Eating your plants, coughing up hairballs onto the carpet, or bringing a dead bird home, you've suspected he's up to something. And it turns out he might be doing more to mess with you than you imagined.

Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite found in cat feces, among other places, has been linked to a variety of potential mental health disorders, from schizophrenia to higher rates of suicide. Now, a report published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry says there's a correlation to people with toxoplasmosis having inexplicable rage—and not just because Mr. Whiskers has decided to use your living room chair as a scratching post.

Called "intermittent explosive disorder," it's defined as having moments of unexplained, violent, angry eruptions out of proportion to the situation. Individuals with toxoplasmosis (most likely from Mr. Whiskers) show signs of having the disorder with higher frequency than those who do not.

The parasite doesn't affect cats, in fact it's beneficial. As IFL Science notes, "From a cat’s perspective T. gondii is more symbiont than parasite. Cats spread it to rodents, whose behaviour changes to make them easier to catch."

That's right. Like any criminal mastermind, Mr. Whiskers dopes up his prey before going for the kill. That means he's just playing the long game with you until he gets his chance.



story three:
City birds are buff and smart. Country birds are jealous, potentially.

Soon to be mayor over all of this.

Forget felines overthrowing humanity. Birds are one up on them.

First, pigeons were found out to be expert radiologists in the making, now researchers say city birds exploit their environments better for survival compared to country birds. As a result, they're stronger and smarter, too. This is the sort of personality profile usually only seen in fraudulent eHarmony ads.

Scientists at McGill University performed a small study and say urban birds are more resistant to infection, perform better on cognitive tests, are better problem solvers, and probably know where ALL the best restaurants are downtown.

Fifty-three bullfinches from different parts of Barbados were studied, and researchers found city birds had a bolder temperament and could open drawers faster when looking for food than country birds, who are apparently demure and less likely to lead a life of petty theft when jonesing for a bite to eat.

One look at the size and intelligence of Big Bird from Sesame Street proves all of this about city birds anyway.



story four:
Now rats are diagnosing disease.

Would appreciate a cantaloupe once in awhile.

World domination at the hands of long derided city "pests" is slowly building, as rats are now being trained to detect tuberculosis.

The Hero Rats program, run by an NGO called APOPO in Tanzania, has taught 29 African giant-pouched rats to detect the deadly—but curable—disease which afflicts 10 million people a year, and kills over 1.5 million. Typical lab testing with technicians is slow and laborious, but the rats can detect roughly 100 samples in 20 minutes. Lab technicians would take nearly four days analyzing such a volume.

As part of the program, the rats learn to stop and alert someone if they smell TB on a sample from a patient. As a reward, they receive a small piece of banana. Robin Toal, community manager at APOPO, says the rats are free to retire whenever they want from the program.

Huh?

"As soon as we think they don't want to do it, then we'll happily let them retire," Toal tells NPR. "And they can live out their days lounging with their friends, snacking on watermelon, running on wheels, chasing their tails, whatever they want to do."

Clearly rats can't be that intelligent after all or they'd have learned to negotiate for better benefits. A bite of banana or watermelon? It has to be a complete Edible Arrangement or they go on strike.

'Sesame Street' was almost called 'The Video Classroom.'

According to Sesame Street archivist (yeah, they have one of those) Susan Tofte, the name for the show was a last minute idea--so last minute that producer Jon Stone describes the title chosen at "the 11th hour and 59th minute."

The origination story is detailed on the Sesame Street blog (yeah, they have one of those, too), which says that early promotional materials simply went with the jazzy description of "preschool educational television show," and remained noncommittal to a title during the entire production and development of the first episode.

Potential titles that gained traction were The Video Classroom and 1-2-3 Avenue B, the latter of which was seriously considered but feared as too New York City-oriented for a national audience.

In the end, writer Virginia Schone is credited with coining Sesame Street--but not everyone was wowed by the title. Some staffers feared children would have difficulty pronouncing Sesame (think: the Cindy Brady lisping episode of The Brady Bunch), but the title stuck, if only because there was no time left to think of something different.

And that, my friend, is how we got to Sesame Street.

Cookie Monster impersonator shoves 2-year old after parents refuse to pay money for photo.

If Elmo can do poppers, Cookie Monster can ruffle up some ankle biters.

Word to the wise:
If your Cookie Monster looks a little...off, like his eyes are a little too spaced and his neck a little too emaciated, like he's a third-rate, back-alley costume creation from a boy scout retreat in rural Iowa...he's probably not the real deal.






photo: radaronline.com

Elmo loves him some meth and poppers.

Awhile ago, Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash was accused by various men of partaking in sexual acts with them while they were underage.

Now Clash is being sued by a former partner, accused of smoking crystal meth and giving them 'poppers,' a type of inhalable club drug known for its sexual aiding abilities.

This is turning out to be like that special episode of Sesame Street where Snuffleupagus does crank and passes out in a Soho dumpster.

Elmo puppeteer/actor/voice resigns amid allegations.

Don't look to me for answers.

I grew up watching Bob Barker and The Price Is Right for practical preschool skills.

BREAKING NEWS: Elmo isn't going to the big house.

The man who accused Elmo puppeteer, Kevin Clash, of an underage sexual relationship has recanted his allegations, and now admits it was a consensual adult situation. Nothing to see here, move along now, move along.

This is bad news for anyone hoping for a limited edition Maximum Security Prison Elmo toy.

Elmo puppeteer accused of underage relationship.

Once Cookie Monster is in detox I'll have lost all faith in the world.

The claims against Kevin Clash--Elmo's puppeteer and voice--are unsubstantiated, but awkwardly uncomfortable accusations nonetheless. Clash has been granted a leave from Sesame Street while he defends the claims, and no charges have been filed from authorities.

For the time being, Cookie Monster needs to keep his nose clean. Stay off the cookie crumbs, if you catch my drift.

Sesame Street changes Elmo's role.

Keeping with the preschool theme...

Elmo's role is being refashioned on Sesame Street. Gone is the 'Elmo's World' segment, which is being phased out after 13 years.

Now, Elmo has ten separate musical segments called 'Elmo the Musical' which, as the Associated Press states, uses music for an "emphasis on introducing concepts in science, technology, engineering and math to the preschool-aged viewers."

In case you missed that, let me hit it one more time:

An "emphasis...in science, technology, engineering and math to the preschool-aged viewers."

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: two year olds are total deadbeats when it comes to pulling their weight with rocket science.





photo: MSNBC.msn.com

The Count from Sesame Street is dead.

Or, rather, the guy who voiced him died. Jerry Nelson was 78.

Celebrity deaths always happen in 3s though (ha---ha---ha!), so Elmo and Big Bird better watch their back or we'll have a very special episode of Sesame Street on our hands soon.

Head fissure #9

The longest word one can type using only the top row of letters on a typical QWERTY-style keyboard is rupturewort.

The hell's a rupturewort?

It's a type of plant found in the West Indies.

I just karate chopped your brain with knowledge.

Jim Henson would've been seventy-five years old today.

If you didn't watch Sesame Street or The Muppets as a child, odds are you're an incomplete adult. And that's okay. That's what DVDs are for.

Some of the most important education you ever received, undoubtedly, was between the ages of 0 and 7 when the Muppets crew held their deepest influence on you. Not just alphabets (which they helped you learn) and counting (that, too) and colors (obviously) and shapes (yup)--not just typical things that come from books and classrooms and lesson plans so dutifully planned out.

No, the Muppets also taught you how to use your imagination and creativity--how to dream, how to pretend, how to find the quirks of intelligence so often neglected in grades K through 12. More than that, they taught you about feelings--not how to feel or what to feel--just that it was okay to feel, which is probably something your adult self has long battled trying to suppress for years. And it's something all of us could probably stand to have a little more of every day.

And all of that--the feelings, the imaginations, the creativity and whimsical daydreams of make-believe and pretending, of how to let your guard down and be just a little less self-conscious, a little less frightened, a little less on guard--a little more open to yourself and the world around you, whether that world was right beside you or halfway across the globe--was the result of Jim Henson.

He died twenty-one years ago at the much too young age of fifty-three. But his life continues through Big Bird and Fozzie Bear and Oscar the Grouch and Snuffleupagus and Miss Piggy. And, of course, Kermit. And for that, all of us should thank him.

The following is a video from Henson's memorial service about a week after he died, with all the puppeteers who worked with Jim singing a collection of his favorite Sesame Street songs. Go ahead. Try watching it around the 5-7 minute mark and not get a little frowny, or at the conclusion when all the puppets come out. Try.

Man creates petition for Bert and Ernie to wed on Sesame Street.

A Chicago man has posted an online petition for Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie to get married. His reasoning?

1.) Gay marriage is legal now in New York City.
2.) It would give gay and lesbian children role models to look to.
3.) Let's face it, we all know Bert and Ernie are lovers.

I support this idea, if only because I believe all puppets should be in love, even the gay ones.

Kermit and Miss Piggy? If their love became any more blatant, Sesame Street would need black bars across the screen and a "very special episode" where Big Bird explains the birds and bees. At least Bert and Ernie wear clothes. Kermit doesn't even afford us that much.

Sesame Street: where stereotyping lives.

Sesame Street isn't just sweetness and sunshine--and I'm not referring to Oscar the Grouch's potential scabies by living in a trash can.

I'm talking about the forgotten muppet: Roosevelt Franklin.

He was before my time. That's where Mental Floss comes in to remind us of shunned muppets of yesteryear, including Roosevelt.

As this photo suggests, the Sesame Street folks didn't waste a dime in his creation. Using grandma's old violet slipper socks and gluing some eyes on him, Roosevelt was created in 1970 to give black children in America something to look up to. What they got to look up was the word stereotype in the dictionary.

Apparently, Roosevelt taught class at a fictional school on the show--a class that just happened to look like detention, where the children never behaved--nor did Roosevelt. He also spoke in scat or read bee-bop poems. He was apparently popular enough that the birthday card about "Rhyme Time" (pictured above) was created.

"Here's an extra smooth birthday poem"? Extra smooth? Really now? The only time the phrase "extra smooth" is ever used is in advertising for menthol cigarettes.

As an added bonus, Mental Floss tells us Roosevelt tended to teach children about what he knew--which included the geography of Africa and how not to drink poison.

Why, yes. Leave it to the black muppet to have had his stomach pumped because he swigged back a bottle of Lysol at some point. Couldn't Big Bird have tried that one instead? Big Bird doesn't seem terribly bright. He looks like the type that would have eaten some alluring paint chips at some point.

So, as a surprise to no one, parents wrote to Sesame Street complaining Roosevelt was a walking stereotype--and he gradually disappeared by 1975. (Or maybe not "walking"--muppets don't have legs, despite what that birthday card shows. Maybe Roosevelt was a gliding stereotype.)

Nowadays we get Elmo, who sounds like he's taking hits off a helium tank. Dogs cock their head sideways whenever they hear him. Ear drums ring after listening to him.

Thanks, Sesame Street. Thanks.