Free Republic

They are eerie sensations, more common than one might think: A man describes feeling a shadowy figure standing behind him, then turning around to find no one there. A woman feels herself leaving her body and floating in space, looking down on her corporeal self. Such experiences are often attributed by those who have them to paranormal forces. But according to recent work by neuroscientists, they can be induced by delivering mild electric current to specific spots in the brain. In one woman, for example, a zap to a brain region called the angular gyrus resulted in a sensation that...

John Hawkins apparently has taken on a mission to prove that the Bush Administration is not creating a North American Union to replace the United States, or a new currency -- the Amero -- to replace the U.S. dollar. Recently, in a blog debate on this website, I exchanged views with Mr. Hawkins. When Mr. Hawkins declined to respond in what the editors termed “Round 4” of that debate, I concluded Mr. Hawkins allowed me to have the final word because he lacked a convincing rejoinder. Now, we see Mr. Hawkins wants to carry on the debate but this time...

By PAUL ELIAS AP Biotechnology Writer Dec 12 7:51 PM US/Eastern SAN FRANCISCO - Add another creation to the strange scientific menagerie where animal species are being mixed together in ever more exotic combinations. Scientists announced Monday that they had created mice with small amounts of human brain cells in an effort to make realistic models of neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Led by Fred Gage of the Salk Institute in San Diego, the researchers created the mice by injecting about 100,000 human embryonic stem cells per mouse into the brains of 14-day-old rodent embryos. Those mice were each...

(LinuxWorld) - I believe I have stumbled upon two of Microsoft's most-startling and best-kept secrets, the ramifications of which for Linux and open source are profound. The revelation began when I realized that I had been mistaken in thinking that the lack of a well-funded marketing department could prevent open source and free software from displacing the commercial variety. The events of the past few months demonstrate that free software is being promoted by the richest and most-talented marketing organization on the planet: Microsoft. Consider for a moment what a well-orchestrated promotional stunt the Microsoft SQL Server Slammer worm proved...