Category: Interesting Links

New era of civility: Krugman describes libertarians without using the word “Scrooge.”

Whoops. I wrote the above before I read Monday’s column on Republicans. “They’re against reform because it would cover the uninsured — and that’s something they just don’t want to do.”

Summary of tax hikes under ObamaCare from the Americans for Tax Reform.

Good news from the Economic Freedom Index: the world is slightly freer. Bad news: U.S. slips to number 9.

Freedom House contrary finding: global freedom declined for a fifth straight year.

Just like health care rationing: Magazine editor’s child got in class ahead of at-risk kids it’s meant for.

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Is using a hands-free device safer while driving than talking on a regular cell phone? No.

Happiness is partly controlled by your genes. All told, genes explain about one-third of the variation in happiness.

Fluffy and Bowzer might be a fall hazard. Each year pets cause nearly 87,000 fall injuries.

Would having more than one wife cause husbands to drink more? No. Consumption of alcohol is less common in polygamous societies. Hat tip to Marginal Revolution.

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Detecting tuberculosis: the Gambian pouched rat is much better than traditional tests.

Do plants help patients get better? No.

Amino acids — the fundamental foundation for life — found in a place where they shouldn’t be. Inside fragments of previously superheated meteorites.

Study: Echinacea doesn’t help with colds. Affects neither duration nor severity.

How does your heart know how long you stayed in school? Study: the most educated men and women have half the risk of heart failure as the least educated.

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Therapy going to the dogs. Sigmund Freud himself was a pioneer in canine-assisted therapy. Contrary view: Reports that pets can cure what ails us don’t stand up to scrutiny.

More evidence on moderate drinking. Compared with regular drinkers, both binge drinkers and teetotalers were almost twice as likely to have had heart problems.

How many genes are uniquely human? Altogether, probably no more than 18 out of 22,568 genes in total.

Neanderthals may have been cannibals. Bon appétit.

The metabolic cost of an adult missing one night of sleep.  It’s the equivalent of walking slightly less than two miles.

Double, double toil and trouble: Romania is planning to tax witches; the witches are planning to cast an anti-government spell. (HT to Tyler Cowen).

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