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February 26, 2010, 10:54 am Freakonomics Radio, Fat Edition: Is the Obesity Epidemic for Real? By STEPHEN J. DUBNER   We’ve just completed our second full-length podcast. It’s called “Is America’s Obesity Epidemic for Real?” It costs $0.00. (The podcast, that is, not the epidemic.) Get it here at iTunes; if you subscribe, all future episodes will be delivered in your sleep. You can also get it here via RSS feed, or listen now (see box at right).   If you are a regular reader of this blog, you could be forgiven for thinking, Geez, when will these guys shut up about fat already? True, we have written on the topic repeatedly, including: an astounding spike in bariatric surgery; the female-male weight gap; a possible connection between plumbing and obesity; the usefulness of posted calorie information in restaurants; whether behavioral nudges like “piano stairs” help keep people trim; and whether it may be time for a fat tax. The podcast touches on several of these i...

Call her queen: Kim Yu-na wipes away tears after her stunning gold-medal performance in women's figure skating at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver on Thursday, Feb. 25. The South Korean soared to a world-record 228.56 points -- and earned her country's first medal ever in the sport. Despite two triple axels, longtime rival Mao Asada of Japan could only win silver. Joannie Rochette, skating four days after her mother's death, won the bronze for Canada. South Korea's Kim Yu-na celebrates with her coach, Canadian Brian Orser. http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=e554cf17-5d3c-4531-9dc6-c9a9cf5eec06.html#queen+yu+na+crowned from msnbc.com

Australopithecus afarensis To recreate the faces of our early ancestors, some of whom have been extinct for millions of years, sculptor John Gurche dissected the heads of modern humans and apes, mapping patterns of soft tissue and bone. He used this information to fill out the features of the fossils. Each sculpture starts with the cast of a fossilized skull; Gurche then adds layers of clay muscle, fat and skin. Seven of his finished hominid busts will be featured at the National Museum of Natural History’s David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins, which opens March 17. They are perhaps the best-researched renderings of their kind. Gurche, a “paleo-artist,” even molds the hominids’ eyes out of acrylic plastic, eschewing pre-fabricated versions. “If you want the eyes to be the window to the soul,” Gurche says, “you have to make them with some depth.” The sculpture above is of Lucy’s species, Australopithecus afarensis, which walked the earth roughly three million years ago. “They still hav...

Which supplements really work? An interactive guide to evidence By Maggie Koerth-Baker at 7:30 AM February 25, 2010 BoingBoing isn't the only place trying out new design ideas today. Information is Beautiful has given us an exclusive preview of a new interactive infographic, designed to make it easy for anybody to parse the data on dietary supplements. Each bubble represents a specific use—or group of uses—for a dietary supplement. The bigger the bubble, the more popular the supplement is, as measured in Google hits. The higher on the chart, the more solid the evidence supporting that particular supplement for that particular use. David from IiB reviewed nearly 1000 studies to put this baby together, using studies with large numbers of subjects or meta analysis of multiple studies whenever possible. You can read more about the methodology on the site. Great work! Still image version also available. http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/25/which-supplements-re.html

Brain 'Hears' Sound of Silence While we think of silence as the absence of sound, the brain detects it nonetheless. .By Cristen Conger Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:01 PM ET . Although more research needs to be done, the work carried out by Wehr and his team could lead to new treatments for impaired hearing. THE GIST: •The brain responds not only to sound but also to silence, according to a new study. •Different pathways in the brain respond to the onset and the offset of sounds. •Better knowing how the brain organizes and groups sounds could lead to more effective hearing therapies and devices. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While we characterize silence as the absence of sound, the brain hears it as loud and clear as any other noise. In fact, according to a recent study from the University of Oregon, some areas of the brain respond solely to sound termination. Rather than sound stimuli traveling through the same brain p...

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Olympics/2010/0224/Olympic-figure-skater-Kim-Yuna-Koreans-revel-in-her-dazzling-lead Olympic figure skater Kim Yuna: Koreans revel in her dazzling lead Korean Olympic figure skater Kim Yuna thrilled her countrymen as she took a commanding lead in the Olympic short program, beating out Japan's Mao Asada. By Donald Kirk Correspondent / February 24, 2010 Seoul, South Korea Tears welled up in Chang Sung-eun’s eyes as her office TV screen flashed the news: Olympic figure skater Kim Yuna had just set a scoring record of 78.50 in the short program at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum. Beside her, two young women wept openly and several young men burst into loud applause, shouting, “Excellent, excellent, great great.” For Koreans, it was a moment of total national pride, of success not only for Ms. Kim but for a nation that likes nothing better than to revel in triumph, especially when the victory is over Japan. In this case, Kim edged out arch-ri...