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Humans aren’t the only ones who have the problem of driving drunk. Birds and bats sometimes get into some fermented fruit and end up too drunk to fly. But bats have discovered their own hangover cure!

Bats use what we humans call “the hair of the dog.” In LiveScience.com, Charles Q. Choi says that bats have learned that if they eat the simple sugars found in fruit after getting “high” on fermented fruit, they get over the bad effects of the alcohol. Would eating fruit after a drinking binge work for humans too?

It’s worth trying, next time you tie one on. Perhaps bar tenders should put out nice bowls of fruit, rather than peanuts, and urge everyone to eat some before driving home.

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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Due to global warming, low-lying Bangladesh may not have much of a future, and if YOU live in a major coastal city (as many of us do), there could be a tsunami in YOUR future. Agricultural researchers think that cities should protect themselves from tsunamis and hurricanes by planting shelterbelts.

In the Independent, Ann McFerran reports that the island of Aralia, which is part of the nation of Bangladesh, is one of the first drowning casualties of climate change. The rising ocean surrounding it has reduced it to about one-fifth of its former size.
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UPDATE – The recent Virginia Tech killings make us all ask the question once again: Would getting rid of guns prevent these murders? It’s interesting to see the British point of view about this troublesome question. Also, did violent movies and video games influence Cho? Keep reading for a sociologist’s opinion on this.
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Psychologists have a word for it: “reactance.” It could even be unconscious.

In LiveScience.com, Robert Roy Britt reports on a new study, in which participants were asked to name a significant person in their lives whom they perceived as controlling, and another who just wanted them to enjoy themselves. After that, they were asked to decipher jumbled words on a computer, while the names of the two people they had mentioned were flashed at them so quickly that they only registered on a subliminal level. People performed better when the name of the person who wanted them to have fun was flashed at them.
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