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Four teenage boys have done a “Doug & Dave” and confessed to making the Suisun City, California, wheat field crop circle last month. They say they were inspired by a TV documentary on crop circles. Of course, claiming to have made something doesn’t mean you’ve actually done it, but the design of the California circle does lead to suspicions.

This design is unlike the designs in the U.K., because it contains a long, straight path running from the edge of the field to the circle. One of the mysteries of the U.K. circles is that they’re found in the middle of fields, with no paths leading to them, so no one can figure out how they’re made.

If you want to see some real crop circles, check out crop circle researcher Lucy Pringle’s exquisite postcards.
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Japanese researchers have found that a single virus causes behavioral changes in mice that are similar to those of people with mental illness. Viruses have long been suspected of playing a role in psychiatric disorders, but until now, there’s been no proof. A protein produced by the common human virus called the Borna disease virus (BDV) is one suspect. Keizo Tomonaga inserted the gene for the virus into mouse embryos, and these mice developed cognitive disorders, and grew up to be more aggressive and hyperactive.

The cells that are affected by BDV are the ones that are involved in forming and maintaining nerve connections in the brain. Major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia are also characterized by dysfunction in these cells.
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These days, summer always seems to bring a long season of wildfires, clouding the skies with smoke. Dr. Paul Epstein says, “The rise of U.S. wildfires is turning global warming into a real and direct health threat for American adults and children.”

Epstein says, “The chief concern has to be that global warming, if left unchecked, will mean more intense weather extremes, including drought. The resulting?and worsening?wildfire problems in the United States could well mean a steadily increasing toll in the related health problems.”
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Does having lots of children cause women to age more quickly? The family trees of Britain’s aristocratic families provide the answer.

Researchers believe that bearing children uses up energy which would otherwise be used to repair cells and slow down the aging process. To test this theory, researchers searched the Hollingsworth computerized genealogy, which has the records of 30,000 peers and their families between 1603 and 1959. They found that early death was a third more likely among women who had eight or more children, compared with those who had only two.

Even women who had four children died sooner, and there was also a disadvantage to having children early. There was no negative effect on the fathers.
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