I am starting a new weekly feature. Here are my some of my favorite stops wandering through cyberspace this past week.

Regarding the Mind-

  • The New York Times reports on a mysterious neurologic illness, dubbed Peripheral inflammatory myelopathy (PIM) in Minnesota, thought to be relate to pig slaughterhouses and the practice of blowing brains.
  • Jonah Lehrer at Frontal Cortex contemplates the relationship between genes, brains, and diversity in intelligence and behavior. Beware the slope to eugenics and determinism says I.
  • The folks at sharp brains report on new research on manual rewiring of the brain in Depression. Breakthrought or bad news, I’ll have to ponder this one.

Regarding the Soul-

  • A firsthand account of the passing of Keys and Authority from 12 Apostles to 1 President/Prophet.
  • The girl who cried epiphany has a beautiful essay about finding her inner child.
  • Here are two short stories to warm your heart, I especially like the first about finding God.

Regarding the Body-

  • A study in the Netherlands finds that fatter people are cheaper to treat. So the next time you run into your 300 pound uncle, thank him for taking one for the country.
  • Or maybe not, the Happy Hospitalist gives a more reasoned response to the study. Bottom line, health care cannot and should not be a strictly economic enterprise.
  • Healthbeat reports a very intriguing study shows that less assimilated Hispanic women, despite poverty, language, and poor access to healthcare have many fewer premature births. Their suspect, diet. Would you like another burrito, fajita DW.

Marginalia, just because I liked it-

  • This is a truly stirring musical ode to PCR, the technology that makes DNA analysis possible.
  • I am thinking about asking the Mrs. Doc how she would like to move to the great white north. Medicine, simplify, Canada. aahh
  • My first and hopefully last comment about presidential politics. The press has seemed to be salivating over the juicy breakup of the conservative coalition due to religion from the beginning of the race and it may have finally have happened. Now the press with its mission accomplished is offering some actual intelligent analysis rather than incessant reminders and questions about whether a Mormon can win or not.