http://phys.org/news/2015-03-robo-adviso...money.html

EXCERPT: When it comes to investment advice, would you trust a financial professional or a robot? A growing number of people are choosing the latter, on the belief that algorithms can provide rational and dispassionate advice at a cost well below that of traditional advisors....

http://www.theatlantic.com/features/arch...es/386231/

EXCERPT: [...] Yet even these skeptics rarely accuse experiencers of inventing their stories from whole cloth. Though some of these stories may be fabrications, and more no doubt become embellished in the retelling, they’re too numerous and well documented to be dismissed altogether. It’s also hard to ignore the accounts by respected physicians with professional reputations to protect. Even if the afterlife isn’t real, the sensations of having been there certainly are. There is something about NDEs that makes them scientifically intriguing. While you can’t rely on an alien abduction or a spiritual visitation taking place just when you’ve got recording instruments handy, many NDEs happen when a person is surrounded by an arsenal of devices designed to measure every single thing about the body that human ingenuity has made us capable of measuring.

[...] it’s worth doing rigorous research on near-death experiences if for no other reason than to rule out at least some of the spiritual explanations. Those who believe fervently in an afterlife may never be swayed. There are, after all, plenty of beliefs that people hold despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary (think vaccines, or global warming). But science advances only by acknowledging the limits of what it knows and slowly pushing them back. There are no grounds for sneering at people’s beliefs about NDEs until the work has been done to debunk them.

Let’s say experiments are done, and there is finally a comprehensive, scientifically rigorous, and materialist account of what causes an NDE. What then? Does it mean that all the stories people tell of seeing angels and meeting their deceased relatives are just fairy tales to be ignored? I would say no. What I saw at the conference—even at its most bizarre—showed me that even a hard-core materialist can learn a great deal from NDEs about how people make sense of the things that happen to them—and above all, about the central role that the stories we tell play in shaping our sense of who we are.

On this, Susan Blackmore, the arch-skeptic, feels similarly. She concluded her e-mail to me by scolding those who persist in "the false and unhelpful black and white comparison between NDEs as “true, wonderful, spiritual etc. etc.” [versus] NDEs as “JUST a hallucination of no importance.” The truth, it seems to me, is that NDEs can be wonderful, life-changing experiences that shed light on the human condition and on questions of life and death.....

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/m...ent-154119

EXCERPT: Using melatonin could provide more and better quality sleep compared to using an eye mask and earplugs in a simulated noisy and illuminated environment, according to research published in open access journal Critical Care. This study was carried out on healthy subjects but could have future implications for intensive care unit (ICU) patients....

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-na...180954639/

The doctors who announced the first successful procedure last week had a particularly difficult time finding willing organ donors...

EXCERPT: Three years ago, an 18-year-old man checked himself into a South African hospital under grim circumstances. He had recently undergone a ritual circumcision, but the procedure had not gone well. [...] His story has a happier ending than you might expect. Last week, doctors at Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital announced that the young man had become the recipient of the world’s first successful penis transplant. The procedure was performed in December, and the man now appears to have made a complete recovery and enjoys a fully functional penis....

Lots of varity in topics goin on... if you dont see somptin you like just start a new thred.!!!

"Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, describes an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California, area in the late 1970s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, and hot-rod cultures of the street. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor – sometimes the humor is gleeful, sometimes impish, and sometimes it is a sarcastic comment.
Most lowbrow artworks are paintings, but there are also toys, digital art, and sculpture."===http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowbrow_%28art_movement%29

Somewhere you went and stayed at for a while. A road trip that was filled with its own adventure and mishaps?
A vacation from your childhood that was perfect in every way?

"Lawsuits claims Franzia and Trader Joe wines contained high levels of the known carcinogen"
===============================================================
"A class action lawsuit in California claims there are high levels of arsenic in some varieties of low-cost wine.

The lawsuit says wines including Franzia White Grenache, Trader Joe’s Two-Buck Chuck White Zinfandel, and Menage a Trois Moscato had between three and five times the amount of arsenic the Environmental Protection Agency allows in drinking water. Arsenic is a known carcinogen that can lead to other serious health problems.

According to CBS News, which first reported the story on Thursday, a laboratory analyzed over 1,300 bottles of wine and found nearly one in four had arsenic levels higher than the EPA permits in water. The laboratory found cheap wines had the highest levels of arsenic. The lawsuit accuses more than 24 winemakers of having unsafe wine.

Wine is not regulated by the federal government, and the Wine Group, which distributes Franzia wine and is named in the lawsuit, told CBS comparing wine to water is misguided because most people consume more water than wine.

Treasury Wine Estates, another company named in the lawsuit, said its “brands are fully compliant with all relevant federal and state guidelines.” Trader Joe’s said in a statement they are “investigating the matter with several of our wine producing suppliers.”

The lawyer filing the suit said his ultimate goal is to get the wines recalled, get companies to distribute refunds and “ultimately clean up the wine industry in California.”====http://time.com/3751973/cheap-wine-arsenic/