science news Reindeer body clock switched off Reindeer have "switched off" their internal body clocks to survive dark winters and light summers in the Arctic.   news.bbc.co.uk   2010-03-15 Mars moon Phobos seen in detail The European Mars Express probe releases new pictures from its close flybys of the Martian moon Phobos.   news.bbc.co.uk   2010-03-15 Astronauts angry as moon plans on hold Two United States astronauts have criticised president Barack Obama's shelving of American lunar missions.   abc.net.au   2010-03-14 Pioneering Mass. robot lost at sea off Chile coast FALMOUTH, Mass. (AP) -- A pioneering deep-sea robot made by Massachusetts researchers has been lost off the coast of Chile....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 NASA: Money key to more space shuttle flights CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- With space shuttle retirement just months away, a senior NASA manager said Tuesday it wouldn't be hard to add more flights, provided the nation is willing to keep paying $200 million a month....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time - the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 World's top scientists to review climate panel UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- At a tumultuous time in U.N.-led climate negotiations, one of the world's most credible scientific groups agreed Wednesday to plug the recent cracks in the authoritative reports of the United Nations' Nobel Prize-winning global warming panel....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Personal look at genes locates disease causes WASHINGTON (AP) -- Children inherit about 30 mutated genes from each parent, fewer than had been thought, but enough in at least one case to pass on inherited illnesses, according to a first detailed look at the blueprint for human life in a family....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 48 Hawaii-only species given endangered listing HONOLULU (AP) -- Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Starving sea lion pups wash up on Calif. beaches LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Marine mammal experts say dozens of hungry and sick sea lion pups have washed up on Southern California beaches this winter and many have died at rescue centers....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Endangered listing eyed for US loggerhead turtles BOSTON (AP) -- The federal government on Wednesday recommended an endangered-species listing for the loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could lead to tighter restrictions on fishing and other maritime trades....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Meeting on deforestation boosts morale, budget PARIS (AP) -- A conference bringing together more than 60 nations Thursday added $1 billion to the fight against deforestation and boosted the morale of those hoping to save the world's forests - a key defense against global warming....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Bluefin tuna tops CITES conference agenda in Doha DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- A contentious battle between Asia and the West over the fate of the Atlantic bluefin tuna prized by sushi lovers overshadowed a United Nations conference that opened Saturday in the Gulf state of Qatar....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-14 Jon Venables and dangerous dogs have more in common than you think Animal stories and murders are interesting, but people read about them to be entertained, not because you can infer something important from themEveryone likes an animal story. They fill up the nooks and crannies of newspapers like socks in a tightly packed suitcase. On TV, they're a grace note between the empathic rage brought on by proper news and the despair induced by the weather.Ducks that deliver letters, cats that like dogs, chimpanzees that play scrabble, squirrels that conquer assault courses and pandas that refuse to copulate. From the geese saving the capitol, to some chickens murdering a fox last week, they've always raised an eyebrow, albeit over a slightly glazed eye. Like Harry Potter and The One Show, they're what passes for a massive hit in the 21st century: something to which nobody particularly objects.Why don't we scream "Stop telling me about some donkey that can count! I don't care! It doesn't matter!"? Until donkeys discover calculus or a gerbil finds the Higgs Boson, save it for an episode of Animals Do the Funniest Things, because all any of this really shows is that contact with the weird sophistication of human society can blow an animal's tiny mind. The parrot that squawks the national anthem and the pitbull that savages a toddler are two sides of the same coin of bestial confusion.This last type of animal story is increasingly common, with more than 100 people admitted to hospital every week after being attacked by dogs, hardly any of which subsequently said "Sausages!" This doesn't surprise me. It seems to me there are more dogs about nowadays, and I don't think that's just an effect of getting older, like shadow chancellors looking younger. I'm convinced dog shit is back to early-80s levels and every street corner seems to have a scrawny teenager idly texting with one hand while a slavering wolf strains on a bit of string from the other.So last week the government proposed a raft of new measures to deal with the problem, including the notion that every dog owner should have to take out insurance to cover the consequences of their dog attacking someone. That doesn't make me feel any safer. I want dog owners to be thinking: "If my dog bites anyone, I'm for the high jump!" not: "Whatever Killer does, I'm covered." The fact that I'd get a guaranteed cash bonus doesn't make me any keener to be penetrated by a Pedigree Chum-caked fang.It's insurance against irresponsibility. Where would it end? Adding 20p to the price of every pint of lager to cover your costs in case you glass someone later? Putting 10% on parking fines to deal with any issues arising from traffic wardens being bludgeoned to death? Still, it was the first animal story to arouse my interest since some wag at the BBC website came up with the headline: "Great tits cope well with warming". I clicked on that like a sucker and now I'm a little better informed about the challenges facing the RSPB.But the news isn't just about informing people of things that matter. It's also about entertainment. That's why they're called stories. Everyone likes a story before bedtime – some are funny, some are sweet, some are scary. Which brings me to Jon Venables.The main reason that Jon Venables's reincarceration has been all over the papers is that people enjoy reading about it – it's another episode in a horrific but gripping story. The parts of people's brains that it engages are, largely, the same parts that are turned on by a harrowing but compelling movie, and not a million miles away from those that flicker into life at an episode of Midsomer Murders.Saying this is probably going to piss some people off. They could claim that I'm accusing them of enjoying child murder. Of course I'm not. But I am saying that many of us enjoy hearing the ghoulish details of horrible crimes, whether they're real or not. Newspapers have always sold copies by sensationalising small-scale atrocities, and that's fine. It's perfectly possible to be appalled by a crime and its consequences – genuinely to empathise for the victims – and still to find hearing more about it fun. There's no harm in that.The harm only comes when we're dishonest about our reasons for wanting to find out about it – when we lie to ourselves that we're reading about a crime only with heavy-hearted regret and to keep ourselves informed of important events. The Venables/Thompson/Bulger horrors aren't important events – they're just interesting ones. They're a bizarre and awful series of incidents – of a kind that hardly ever happen but, on a planet populated by billions, are occasionally bound to – from which almost nothing coherent or useful can be inferred. They are no more globally consequential than Josef Fritzl on the one hand, or the Bristol zoo rhino having triplets on the other.Except of course I'm forgetting the cracking public debate about rehabilitation of criminals that the Venables speculation has spawned. That's something which all the supporters of throwing keys away have got enthusiastically stuck into, shaking their heads at the naivety of the advocates of mercy. But the Venables case is so horrifying, unusual and unrepresentative, such an outlier on the graph, that making it the focus of a discussion about how convicted criminals should be treated not only perilously weights the debate against clemency but is logically absurd. You may as well cite Adolf Hitler as a reason for not encouraging children to paint.Newspapers are fond of giving different sorts of story, like sport, fashion or finance, their own section. Well, they need a new one, separate from news, to which I'm giving the working title: "Interesting Things that Aren't Important". It would be for celebrity stomach staples, animal hilarity, the guy with the record-breaking number of Christmas lights and anecdotes about gruesome criminals.That's where the Venables reporting belongs, next to Ashley Cole's indiscretions, not Michael Foot's achievements – with the world's biggest pizza, not its most destructive earthquake. That way we can be gripped and appalled by it without being lured into thinking that, other than to the handful of people tragically involved, it's particularly significant.James Bulger murderAnimalsCrimeAnimal welfareLawCriminal justicePsychologyDangerous dogsDavid Mitchellguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-14 Tracking the tarantula Big, hairy, bloodthirsty vermin if you've seen one tarantula, you've seen them all, right?   rssfeeds.usatoday.com   2010-03-13 CSIRO fights sinking interest in maths The CSIRO says it hopes to tackle the deterioration of mathematics in Australian education.   abc.net.au   2010-03-13 Forensics database set up in Perth Researchers in Perth are building a database of skeletons to help identify bodies more quickly and accurately.   abc.net.au   2010-03-13 Pioneering Mass. robot lost at sea off Chile coast FALMOUTH, Mass. (AP) -- A pioneering deep-sea robot made by Massachusetts researchers has been lost off the coast of Chile....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time - the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 World's top scientists to review climate panel UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- At a tumultuous time in U.N.-led climate negotiations, one of the world's most credible scientific groups agreed Wednesday to plug the recent cracks in the authoritative reports of the United Nations' Nobel Prize-winning global warming panel....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 Personal look at genes locates disease causes WASHINGTON (AP) -- Children inherit about 30 mutated genes from each parent, fewer than had been thought, but enough in at least one case to pass on inherited illnesses, according to a first detailed look at the blueprint for human life in a family....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 48 Hawaii-only species given endangered listing HONOLULU (AP) -- Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 Starving sea lion pups wash up on Calif. beaches LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Marine mammal experts say dozens of hungry and sick sea lion pups have washed up on Southern California beaches this winter and many have died at rescue centers....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 Endangered listing eyed for US loggerhead turtles BOSTON (AP) -- The federal government on Wednesday recommended an endangered-species listing for the loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could lead to tighter restrictions on fishing and other maritime trades....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 Meeting on deforestation boosts morale, budget PARIS (AP) -- A conference bringing together more than 60 nations Thursday added $1 billion to the fight against deforestation and boosted the morale of those hoping to save the world's forests - a key defense against global warming....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 Bluefin tuna tops CITES conference agenda in Doha DOHA, Qatar (AP) -- The Atlantic bluefin tuna and other marine life in the world's overfished oceans will be the focus of a two week United Nations conference that opened Saturday in the Gulf state of Qatar....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-13 What I'm really thinking: The lifeguard 'People regress to childhood in a pool – they come up and tell me that a person in their lane is splashing'When you're walking round a pool for eight hours a day, you think about everything. You worry that the floor is giving you athlete's foot, or you calculate the number of tiles poolside, to pass the time. While doing this thinking, you have to keep counting heads, to make sure everyone's still above water – sometimes I remember how many people are in each lane as a telephone number.People regress to childhood in a pool – they come up and tell me that a person in their lane is splashing or going too fast, like telling the teacher. I try not to get too involved.I hate using my whistle. If you don't whistle loud enough, it's embarrassing. But not as embarrassing as when I dropped my whistle in the pool (you have to hold it in your hands, as it's deemed too dangerous to have around your neck). I also hate it when customers walk through the changing rooms in muddy shoes. Obviously, having to rescue someone is a bad part of the job, too.But the thing I dread is swimming galas: the kids get so nervous, they have been known to throw up. I just pray they'll get to the side in time. I also dread having to tell people that their white swimwear has gone see-through, that they can't wear thong bikini bottoms or that they aren't a good enough swimmer to be in the deep end.The music's pretty annoying, too – there are only so many times you can listen to the latest Alexandra Burke song. Sometimes I dream about my ideal job: being a pool DJ.• Tell us what you're really thinking at mind@guardian.co.ukSwimmingSwimmingPsychologyCharlotte Northedgeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-13

science news MPs condemn homeopathy report An early day motion claims shortcomings in the committee's recent homeopathy "evidence check"Last month, the Commons science and technology committee published a detailed report into the evidence for the efficacy, or otherwise, of homeopathic remedies. You can read it here. After taking oral testimonies from scientists, doctors and homeopathy advocates, the committee recommended the government halt NHS funding for this kind of alternative medicine and said the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency should ban false statements of medical efficacy on the labels of homeopathy products.In forming their conclusions, the committee heard evidence from, among others, David Harper, the chief scientist at the Department of Health; Kent Woods, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency; Robert Wilson, chairman of the British Association of Homeopathic Manufacturers; Peter Fisher, director of research at the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital; and Robert Mathie, research development adviser at the British Homeopathic Association. The evidence sessions were by turns interesting, depressing and downright hilarious. The standards director at the high street chemist, Boots, admitted he had no evidence to suggest that homeopathy worked beyond the placebo effect. In other words, the products they sell, which contain no active ingredients, are no more effective than sugar pills. And then there was Peter Fisher talking about how shaking homeopathic products (which are diluted to within an inch of their lives) is crucial for the substance to have a memory and so work. The comment prompted Evan Harris, the Lib Dem science spokesman to say: "I'd have thought shaking it would make it more likely to forget." To which Fisher replied: "You have to vigorously shake it. You can't stir it."But I digress. Two weeks ago, Tory MP David Tredinnick, set down an early day motion expressing concern about the science committee's report. He's not happy that evidence was taken from a limited number of people and wanted to hear more views from people who are fans of homeopathy. The early day motion itself is by the by. There is a long and colourful history of nonsense EDMs that come and go with no one noticing. But what is staggering about this one – as pointed out on David Colquhoun's blog – is that 58 MPs have signed it. As Colquhoun, a professor of pharmacology at University College London, says, that's 9% of all MPs. We don't have the most scientifically literate bunch of MPs in the House today and what a desperately depressing thing that is. For a full list of EDM signatories, see Prof Colquhoun's article.Here is some sensible background on homeopathy.HomeopathyControversies in scienceIan Sampleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-13 Killer combo: Salt, fat and sugar Our favourite foods are making us fat, yet we can't resist, because eating them is changing our minds as well as bodiesFor years I wondered why I was fat. I lost weight, gained it back, and lost it again – over and over and over. I owned suits in every size. As a former commissioner of the FDA (the US Food and Drug Administration), surely I should have the answer to my problems. Yet food held remarkable sway over my behaviour.The latest science seemed to suggest being overweight was my destiny. I was fat because my body's "thermostat" was set high. If I lost weight, my body would try to get it back, slowing down my metabolism till I returned to my predetermined set point.But this theory didn't explain why so many people, in the US and UK in particular, were getting significantly fatter. For thousands of years, human body weight had stayed remarkably stable. Millions of calories passed through our bodies, yet with rare exceptions our weight neither rose nor fell. A perfect biological system seemed to be at work. Then, in the 80s, something changed.Three decades ago, fewer than one Briton in 10 was obese. One in four is today. It is projected that by 2050, Britain could be a "mainly obese society". Similar, and even more pronounced, changes were taking place in the US, where researchers found that not only were Americans entering their adult years at a significantly higher weight but, while on average everyone was getting heavier, the heaviest people were gaining disproportionately more weight than others. The spread between those at the upper end of the weight curve and those at the lower end was widening. Overweight people were becoming more overweight.What had happened to add so many millions of pounds to so many millions of people? Certainly food had become more readily available, with larger portion sizes, more chain restaurants and a culture that promotes out-of-home eating. But having food available doesn't mean we have to eat it. What has been driving us to overeat?It is certainly not a want born of fear of food shortages. Nor is it a want rooted in hunger or the love of exceptional food. We know, too, that overeating is not the sole province of those who are overweight. Even people who remain slim often feel embattled by their drive for food. It takes serious restraint to resist an almost overpowering urge to eat. Yet many, including doctors and healthcare professionals, still think that weight gainers merely lack willpower, or perhaps self-esteem. Few have recognised the distinctive pattern of overeating that has become widespread in the population. No one has seen loss of control as its most defining characteristic."Higher sugar, fat and salt make you want to eat more." I had read this in scientific literature, and heard it in conversations with neuroscientists and psychologists. But here was a leading food designer, a Henry Ford of mass-produced food, revealing how his industry operates. To protect his business, he did not want to be identified, but he was remarkably candid, explaining how the food industry creates dishes to hit what he called the "three points of the compass".Sugar, fat and salt make a food compelling. They stimulate neurons, cells that trigger the brain's reward system and release dopamine, a chemical that motivates our behaviour and makes us want to eat more. Many of us have what's called a "bliss point", at which we get the greatest pleasure from sugar, fat or salt. Combined in the right way, they make a product indulgent, high in "hedonic value".During the past two decades, there has been an explosion in our ability to access and afford what scientists call highly "palatable" foods. By palatability, they don't just mean it tastes good: they are referring primarily to its capacity to stimulate the appetite. Restaurants sit at the epicentre of this explosion, along with an ever-expanding range of dishes that hit these three compass points. Sugar, fat and salt are either loaded into a core ingredient (such as meat, vegetables, potato or bread), layered on top of it, or both. Deep-fried tortilla chips are an example of loading – the fat is contained in the chip itself. When it is smothered in cheese, sour cream and sauce, that's layering.It is not just that fast food chains serve food with more fat, sugar and salt, or that intensive processing virtually eliminates our need to chew before swallowing, or that snacks are now available at any time. It is the combination of all that, and more.Take Kentucky Fried Chicken. My source called it "a premier example" of putting more fat on our plate. KFC's approach to battering its food results in "an optimised fat pick-up system". With its flour, salt, MSG, maltodextrin, sugar, corn syrup and spice, the fried coating imparts flavour that touches on all three points of the compass while giving the consumer the perception of a bargain – a big plate of food at a good price.Initially, KFC meals were built around a whole chicken, with a pick-up surface that contained "an enormous amount of breading, crispiness and brownness on the surface. That makes the chicken look like more and gives it this wonderful oily flavour." Over time, the company began to realise there was less meat in a chicken nugget compared with a whole chicken, and a greater percentage of fried batter. But the real breakthrough was popcorn chicken. "The smaller the piece of meat, the greater the percentage of fat pick-up," said the food designer. "Now, we have lots of pieces of a cheaper part of the chicken." The product has been "optimised on every dimension", with the fat, sugar and salt combining with the perception of good value virtually to guarantee consumer appeal.He walked me through some offerings at other popular food chains. Burger King's Whopper touched on the three points of the compass – then was altered for further effect. In its first, stripped-down form, the burger was explosively rich in fat, sugar and salt. Then the chain began adding more beef, extra cheese or a layer of bacon. McDonald's broke new ground in another way – by making food available on a whim. "The great growth has been the snacking occasion. You get hungry, you want something, your mind pushes off the reality of what you ought to eat, and you end up picking up a hamburger and a giant soda or french fries."Next they introduced a high-fat, high-salt morning meal. "They took what they learned from the core lunch and dinner menu, and applied it to breakfast. The sausage McMuffin and the egg McMuffin are stand-ins for the hamburger. In effect, you are eating a morning hamburger."This kind of food disappears down our throats so quickly after the first bite that it readily overrides the body's signals that should tell us, "I'm full." The food designer offered coleslaw as an example. When its ingredients are chopped roughly, it requires time and energy to chew. But when cabbage and carrots are softened in a high-fat dressing, coleslaw ceases to be "something with a lot of innate ability to satisfy".This isn't to say that the food industry wants us to stop chewing altogether. It knows we want to eat a doughnut, not drink it. "The key is to create foods with just enough chew – but not too much. When you're eating these things, you've had 500, 600, 800, 900 calories before you know it." Foods that slip down don't leave us with a sense of being well fed. In making food disappear so swiftly, fat and sugar only leave us wanting more.According to food consultant Gail Vance Civille, of management consultants Sensory Spectrum, fat is crucial to this process of lubrication, ensuring that a product melts in the mouth. In the past, she says, Americans typically chewed food up to 25 times before it was swallowed; now the average American chews 10 times. "If I have fat in there, I just chew it up and whoosh! Away it goes," she says. "You have a 'quick getaway', a quick melt."The Snickers bar, Civille says, is "extraordinarily well engineered". Unlike many products whose nuts become annoyingly lodged between your teeth, the genius of Snickers is that as we chew, the sugar dissolves, the fat melts and the caramel picks up the peanut pieces, so the entire candy is carried out of the mouth at the same time. "You're not getting a build-up of stuff in your mouth."Kettle chips are another success story. Made of sugar-rich russet potatoes, they have a slightly bitter background note and brown irregularly, which gives them a complex flavour. High levels of fat generate easy mouth-melt, and surface variations add a level of interest beyond that found in mass-produced chips. Heightened complexity is the key to modern food design.Not so many decades ago, a single flavour of ice-cream was a special treat. Our options ran to vanilla, chocolate and strawberry – and when we could buy all three in a single carton, we saw that as a great innovation. Now ice-cream has countless flavours and varieties; it comes mixed with M&M's or topped with caramel sauce.When layers of complexity are built into food, the effect becomes more powerful. Sweetness alone does not account for the full impact of a fizzy drink – its temperature and tingle, resulting from the stimulation of the trigeminal nerve by carbonation and acid, are essential contributors as well."The complexity of the stimulus increases its association to a reward," says Gaetano Di Chiara, an expert in neuroscience and pharmacology at the University of Cagliari in Italy. Elements of that complexity include tastes that are familiar and well liked, especially if not always readily available, and the learning associated with having had a pleasurable experience with the same food in the past.Take a bowl of M&M's. If I've eaten them in the past, I'm stimulated by the sight of them, because I know they'll be rewarding. I eat one, and experience that reward. The visual cue gains power and stimulates the urge we call "wanting". The more potent and complex foods become, the greater the rewards they may offer. The excitement in the brain increases our desire for further stimulation.In theory there's a limit to how much stimulation rewarding foods can generate. We are supposed to habituate – to neuroadapt. When Di Chiara gave animals a cheesy snack called Fonzies, the levels of dopamine in their brains increased. Over time, habituation set in, dopamine levels fell and the food lost its capacity to activate their behaviour.But if the stimulus is powerful enough, novel enough or administered intermittently enough, the brain may not curb its dopamine response. Desire remains high. We see this with cocaine use, which does not result in habituation. Hyperpalatable foods alter the landscape of the brain in much the same way.I asked Di Chiara to study what happens after an animal is repeatedly exposed to a high-sugar, high-fat chocolate drink. When he'd completed his experiment, he sent me an email with "Important results!!!!" in the subject line. He had shown that dopamine response did not diminish over time with the chocolate drink. There was no habituation.Novelty also impedes habituation, and intermittency is another driver. Give an animal enough sugar-laden food, withdraw it for the right amount of time, then provide it again in sufficient quantities, and dopamine levels may not diminish.There's still a lot we don't know about the relationship between the dopamine-driven motivational system and our behaviour in the presence of rewarding foods. But we do know that foods high in sugar, fat and salt are altering the biological circuitry of our brains. We have scientific techniques that demonstrate how these foods – and the cues associated with them – change the connections between the neural circuits and their response patterns.Rewarding foods are rewiring our brains. As they do, we become more sensitive to the cues that lead us to anticipate the reward. In that circularity lies a trap: we can no longer control our responses to highly palatable foods because our brains have been changed by the foods we eat.I wanted to know how much the industry understood about how the food we eat affects us; about what I have termed "conditioned hypereating" – "conditioned" because it becomes an automatic response to widely available food, "hyper" because the eating is excessive and hard to control. I turned to Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics."Does the industry know that what it feeds us gets us to eat more?" I asked."The industry has jacked up what works for it," Stiglitz said. "The learning is evolutionary." Practical experience has been its guide – it does not need lab rats when it can try out its ideas on humans. Its decision-makers do not have to analyse human brain circuitry to discover what sells.A venture capitalist who knows the business intimately cited Starbucks as a company that has recognised and responded brilliantly to a cultural need. The caffeine and sugar in the coffee, with their energising effects, are certainly part of the equation, but the chain also offers something much more primal. "It's about warm milk and a bottle," he says. "One of my colleagues said, 'If I could put a nipple on it, I'd be a multimillionaire'."But it was thinking creatively about how to attract more consumers that led Starbucks to the Frappuccino, the venture capitalist told me. Although its stores were crowded early in the day, by afternoon "they were so empty you could roll a bowling ball through them". The creation of a rich, sweet and comforting milkshake-like concoction utterly transformed the business. A Starbucks Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino comes with whipped cream and 18 teaspoons of sugar: all in all, this "drink" contains more calories than a personal-size pepperoni pizza, and more sweetness than six scoops of ice-cream. By encouraging us to consider any occasion for food an opportunity for pleasure and reward, the industry invites us to indulge a lot more often.Starbucks learned a basic lesson: make enticing food easily and constantly available, keep it novel, and people will keep coming back for more. With food available in almost any setting, "the number of cues, the number of opportunities" to eat have increased, while the barriers to consumption have fallen, says David Mela, senior scientist of weight management at the Unilever Health Institute. "The environmental stimulus has changed."Of course, when food is offered to us, we're not obliged to eat it. When it's on the menu, we don't have to order it. But this takes more than willpower. As an individual, you can practise eating the food you want in a controlled way. As a society, we can identify the forces that drive overeating and find ways to diminish their power. That's what happened with the tobacco industry: attitudes to smoking shifted. Similar changes could be brought about in our attitudes to food – by making it mandatory for restaurants to list calorie counts on their menus; by clear labelling on food products; by monitoring food marketing. But until then few of us are immune to the ubiquitous presence of food, the incessant marketing and the cultural assumption that it's acceptable to eat anywhere, at any time.Call it the "taco chip challenge" – the challenge of controlled eating in the face of constant food availability. "Forty years ago, you might face the social equivalent of that taco chip challenge once a month. Now you face it every single day," Mela said. "Every single day and every single place you go, those foods are there, those foods are cheap, those foods are readily available for you to engage in. There is constant, constant opportunity." How to take back controlPlan when and what you will eat There should be no room for deviation; the idea is to inhibit mindless eating and eliminate your mental tug-of-war. Once you've set new patterns, you can become more flexible.Practise portion control Eat half your usual meal; see how you feel one and two hours later. A just-right meal will keep away hunger for four hours.List the foods and situations you can't control Cut out those foods; limit exposure to those situations. If offered something you overeat, push it away.Talk down your urges Learn responses to involuntary thoughts: eating that will only satisfy me temporarily; eating this will make me feel trapped; I'll be happier and weigh less if I don't eat this.Rehearse making the right choices Before entering a restaurant, imagine chosing a dinner that's part of your eating plan. Think of this as a game against a powerful opponent. You won't win every encounter, but with practice you can get a lot better.• This is an edited extract from The End Of Overeating: Taking Control Of Our Insatiable Appetite, by David A Kessler, published by Penguin on 1 April at £9.99. To order a copy with free UK p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop.ObesityHealth & wellbeingFood & drinkNeuroscienceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-13 I don't want kids – I just want to have fun Carole Jahme shines the cold light of evolutionary psychology on readers' problems. This week: promiscuity and nostalgiaCasanova complexFrom a male, aged 42Dear Carole, I wonder what, evolutionarily speaking, is going on with men such as myself who have a long history of promiscuity but are reluctant to reproduce. I am 42 and I still don't want children. The idea of marriage or a long-term partner with children repulses me still, though sex is still very much on my agenda. I usually seek women who have already had children so that I don't feel pressure to reproduce. I accept the central premise of all your posts, but what's going on with me?Carole replies:If a male willingly reproduces he usually does so intending to do his best to support his child and the mother of his child. From your description it appears you do not want to invest your resources in others, including another who carries your genes. Modern contraception allows you to exercise your ancient sex drive while saving you from responsibility for progeny.In general, males find short-term mating strategies more acceptable than do females. You are not alone: there are plenty of men on the lookout for short-term mating opportunities. But I doubt the thought of long-term commitment and parenthood fills them all with repulsion.Your repulsion at the thought of parenthood and all that goes with it may help you to remain as an overgrown adolescent. Without the pressures of responsibility you have not had demands put upon you that would have activated certain behavioural strategies. Thus, you have not adapted and cognitively matured in accordance with the demands of responsible breeding.Narcissism in males can accompany an attractive boyishness, which on first impressions can appeal to females. But selfish, egocentric and immature behaviour in males will eventually contribute to the breakdown of a relationship. Perhaps I should give you the benefit of the doubt and say that it is possible, after all that promiscuous sex, that you still haven't found a female good enough for you and that when you finally do the narcissism and feelings of repulsion will evaporate.If you are happy and not making those single mums miserable with your cold repulsion of them as potential long-term mates, there's no reason for you to change your ways. But promises are made in bed and the fact that you have written to me suggests you are reflecting on your behaviour.A word of warning: you may end up as the oldest swinger in town, which could be a lonely role, and by then your choice of mates will be vastly reduced.Apostolou, M (2009) Parent–offspring conflict over mating: The case of short-term mating strategies. Personality and Individual Differences; 47(8): 895-899.Holtzman, NS and Strube, MJ (2009) Narcissism and attractiveness. Journal of Research in Personality; 44(1): 133-136.Nostalgia tripFrom a female, no age givenDear Carole, While listening to Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits recently I was struck by the relevance of the lyrics of The Chain to my current relationship. I have just become re-engaged with an ex-flame and am totally smitten by the thought of it all. Yet we ended our relationship a few months back after agreeing that neither of us was over our exes. We then both dabbled with our old flames before the two of us were drawn back together under unusual circumstances. I hate to be the one to over-analyse a good thing but my friends think I'm crazy.Carole replies:I believe the lyrics go something like this:And if you don't love me nowYou will never love me againI can still hear you sayingYou would never break the chainMistrust is embedded in these lyrics. The singer is realising that if love and commitment are not forthcoming now they never will be, and that second chances shouldn't be given because promises have been broken.You say that you are smitten by the "thought of it all" but your friends (who surely know you and care for you) consider you to be crazy. You and your partner both seem to be chained to the past and you are lovingly lost in your musings.Nostalgia and remembrance for the good times motivates us all, but your relationship ended for a reason, and you are now wasting time by looking back through rose-tinted glasses. Nostalgia can raise our sense of wellbeing and general optimism. We can generate feelings of being securely attached via sentimental memories. Secure attachment is essential in primates. Without it our mental health suffers and our status and immunity decline dramatically. Nostalgia can serve to keep us well and happy, but eventually reality comes a-calling.Is it possible that if you put aside your nostalgia for a moment you will come to see the truth of why these lyrics are talking to you?Routledge, C, et al (2008) A blast from the past: The terror management function of nostalgia. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology; 44(1): 132-140.Belsky, J, (1997) Attachment, mating and parenting: an evolutionary interpretation. Human Nature; 8(4): 361-381.Goursaud, A. S. and Bachevalier, J. (2007) Animal models for autism. Behavioural Brain Research; 176(1): 75-93.You can email your questions to Carole by clicking here. Please put "Ask Carole" in the subject line.Terms and conditionsPlease say whether you wish to be named in connection with your enquiry and if so by what name. We reserve the right to edit questions. If you mail us a question, you agree that your email may be published on the site.We regret that Carole cannot answer all the mails we receive. We cannot provide urgent advice and suggest that if you need such advice you seek it immediately without waiting for a response from Carole. With regards to legal, medical or financial issues, we recommend seeking the advice of a listed professional. We will not be held liable for any loss, damage or injury you incur as a result of using this site or as a result of any advice given. We will not enter into personal correspondence via email.Carole is UK-based and as such any advice she gives is intended for a UK audience only.PsychologyEvolutionReproductionZoologyBiologyRelationshipsCarole Jahmeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-13 What happened next? Zebra puts head in hippo's mouth A zebra at Zurich Zoo appeared doomed when visitors saw its head in the mouth of a hippo, but it was only cleaning its teeth.   news.bbc.co.uk   2010-03-13 New U.N. Climate Change Group is All Male A group of women are upset that a new United Nations climate change financing group has 19 members, but no women.   feeds.nytimes.com   2010-03-13 Hurdles Remain in New York for Ground Zero Settlement At least 95 percent of the workers who sued the city for health damages must accept the deal for it to take effect.   feeds.nytimes.com   2010-03-13 Invisible star shooting comets at Earth AN invisible star responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs may be throwing snowballs at us.   news.com.au   2010-03-12 Well-readhead: e-reader vs the good old book Take a look at my bookshelf.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 US sushi chef charged with serving whale A California sushi chef and the restaurant in which he worked have been charged with illegally serving meat from an endangered sei whale, the US Justice Department said.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 Biofuels study in Cooper Basin South Australian resource company Beach Energy and a US business General Atomics are doing a joint study on producing biofuels in the Cooper Basin.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 Internet project encourages tree change An online induction showing off almost a quarter of Queensland is being launched this morning in an effort to convince people to move to the outback.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 SES almost finished storm clean-up The State Emergency Service (SES) says it will complete all repair jobs from last Saturday's freak hail storm by this weekend.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 Antarctica once had tropical climate, scientists say An international team of scientists who have arrived back in Hobart from Antarctica say they have evidence the icy continent once had a tropical climate.   abc.net.au   2010-03-12 CDC uses shopper-card data to trace salmonella CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) -- As they scrambled recently to trace the source of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened hundreds around the country, investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention successfully used a new tool for the first time - the shopper cards that millions of Americans swipe every time they buy groceries....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 World's top scientists to review climate panel UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- At a tumultuous time in U.N.-led climate negotiations, one of the world's most credible scientific groups agreed Wednesday to plug the recent cracks in the authoritative reports of the United Nations' Nobel Prize-winning global warming panel....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Personal look at genes locates disease causes WASHINGTON (AP) -- Children inherit about 30 mutated genes from each parent, fewer than had been thought, but enough in at least one case to pass on inherited illnesses, according to a first detailed look at the blueprint for human life in a family....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 48 Hawaii-only species given endangered listing HONOLULU (AP) -- Wildlife officials lauded Washington's "holistic approach" to conservation in Hawaii after the Obama administration declared 48 species as endangered and announced plans to set aside more than 40 square miles on Kauai as critical habitat to allow the plants and animals to flourish....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Starving sea lion pups wash up on Calif. beaches LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. (AP) -- Marine mammal experts say dozens of hungry and sick sea lion pups have washed up on Southern California beaches this winter and many have died at rescue centers....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Endangered listing eyed for US loggerhead turtles BOSTON (AP) -- The federal government on Wednesday recommended an endangered-species listing for the loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could lead to tighter restrictions on fishing and other maritime trades....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Meeting on deforestation boosts morale, budget PARIS (AP) -- A conference bringing together more than 60 nations Thursday added $1 billion to the fight against deforestation and boosted the morale of those hoping to save the world's forests - a key defense against global warming....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating CHICAGO (AP) -- Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggest that too many Americans - maybe even President Barack Obama - are being overtreated....   hosted.ap.org   2010-03-12 Decapitated bodies are Vikings Analysis of mass grave discovered last year suggests the victims were publicly executed 1,000 years agoDozens of skeletons, buried in Dorset with their skulls neatly stacked but their bodies tumbled chaotically into a pit, have been identified as the remains of Vikings killed in the area about 1,000 years ago. David Score, project head of the Oxford archaeology unit, which excavated the mass grave, on Ridgeway Hill between Dorchester and Weymouth, said it had been "disposal after a very public execution". Isotope analysis indicated that the men, who have cuts on neck, chest and arm bones, came from a variety of places in Scandinavia. Their killers could have been Saxons, or even settled Danes. Maev KennedyArchaeologyMaev Kennedyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-12 Middle-aged men are more forgetful Women come out best in listening and recollection tests in study by University of London's Institute of EducationIt's been an endless source of aggravation between the sexes; how can men so easily forget birthdays, anniversaries, and even friends' names?Not, it seems, because they cannot be bothered to remember. Research suggests that, in middle age at least, absent-minded-ness is a particularly male problem.At the age of 50, women's verbal memory outperforms their male counterparts by a significant margin, a report by the Institute of Education, University of London suggests.A survey of more than 9,600 middle-aged British men and women showed that women outscored men in two listening and recollection tests."Men performed significantly more poorly in the verbal memory tests: particularly on the delayed memory test," the authors, Matthew Brown and Brian Dodgeon, said."This was quite a surprising result, since women turning 50 tend to do worse: another study has shown that during the menopause women do not do so well."Participants in the first test listened to 10 common words being read out and were then given two minutes to recall as many as possible. The second test required them to list the same 10 words about five minutes later. Women scored almost 5% more than men, on average, in the first test, and nearly 8% more in the second.Women were less accurate in a third test requiring them to cross out as many "Ps" and "Ws" as possible in a page filled with rows of random letters. They had, however, scanned letters faster than men.In a fourth test, naming as many animals as they could in a minute, men and women had identical scores. Each could name 22 animals, on average. The study did not test whether men are better than women at recalling numbers; previous studies have shown that women tend to do better on word recognition tests.Those tested were members of the National Child Development Study who have been tracked since their birth in 1958. They were tested at age 16, and the latest tests will help estimate the impact that exercise, diet, smoking, alcohol and depression have had on mental abilities. Initial analysis shows those who exercised at least once a month did better on all tests, on average, than those who did not. Non-smokers, including ex-smokers, also outscored smokers in the first of the "word recall" tests, even after social background was taken into consideration."Although measuring gender differences was not the central purpose of tests, the differences between men and women were interesting," the authors said.Older peopleGenderResearchNeuroscienceMedical researchMental healthOwen Bowcottguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds   guardian.co.uk   2010-03-12