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But why? – Nobody can figure out why, but placebos are working better than ever. Are people more gullible than they used to be?

In Wired.com, Steve Silberman reports on a major drug company that was losing money because it hadn’t introduced a new drug in 3 years. They decided to come out with an antidepressant. It performed beautifully in tests, but was later found, like many of these drugs, to be merely a placebo. Silberman writes, “The fact that an increasing number of medications are unable to beat sugar pills has thrown the industry into crisis. The stakes could hardly be higher. In today’s economy, the fate of a long-established company can hang on the outcome of a handful of tests.
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The military often uses special “games” to play out scenarios about whether or not it would be wise to undertake a certain military exercise (but do they pay attention to the results? That’s another topic!) It turns out that this is one of the things that has been done with regard to whether or not Iran will use its nuclear capacity to build a nuclear bomb.

In the August 12th New York Times Sunday magazine, Clive Thompson interviews Bueno de Mesquita, whom he calls “one of the world

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.read more

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Here’s why – What’s going on with the weather?More extremely hot summer days are projected for every part of the country. While the data show indisputable warming over the past several decades, cooler-than-average temperatures across the Midwest and Northeast this summer 2009 make it is easy to lose sight of this long-term trend. According to the most recent science on heat waves, this respite is temporary. Think there’s no such thing as climate change? We’re afraid that’s just a dream. And alas, it’s time to wake up.
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It’s like a bad dream: A piece of moon rock given to the Dutch Rijksmuseum in 1969 by the three Apollo astronauts has been revealed to be fossilized wood. This is certainly fuel for conspiracy theories!
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