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The Great Debate features a video of a public debate between renowned SETI scientist, Dan Werthimer, and skeptic, Geoff Marcy. Each side presents evidence for why we should - or shouldn't - believe that there really are other advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy..."As we search for a universal language to communicate with civilizations beyond Earth, where should we start? Math? Pictures? Something else?" ... The American Ballet Theatre was founded in New York in 1939 by a group of dancers, choreographers, and producers enthralled with the magnetic Russian-born ballet master, Mikhail Mordkin...538 is a punchy online magazine that dissects sports, politics, economics, science, and other topics using a numbers-crunching lens more »

We tend to make fewer fires than most who have fireplaces which means that the leftover wood in the cord is nice and dry for the next season/s. We discovered how wet wood can be really smoky so we appreciate letting the wood age. But what about the environmental cost of having a fireplace? Occasionally a hawk will come closer, just above our backyard trees. Most of the time the birds are savvy and disappear when the hawk is around, though not always. The woodpeckers found us again this year.   Cozy in Our Indoor Backyard   This past week has been cold and often rainy so I decided to enjoy our backyard inside. We stacked firewood from a two-year-old cord (now nicely weathered) in the fireplace in our den then added branches that had… more »

The study found that among all adults 18 to 80 years old, about 1 in 20 received a benzodiazepine prescription in 2008, the period covered by the study. Long-term use — a supply of the medication for more than 120 days — also increased markedly with age. Research has shown that benzodiazepines can impair cognition, mobility, and driving skills, and they increase the risk of falls. Most prescriptions for benzodiazepines are written by non-psychiatrists. more »

The National Alliance on Mental Illness report states that 42.5 million Americans suffer from some sort of mental illness, 19.7 million have a substance abuse problem and 8.8 million report that they have seriously considered suicide. The MHA report also ranks the mental health of young people across the states. Vermont, North Dakota and Wisconsin top the list. Nevada, New Mexico and Montana rank last. Still, 29 states plus DC did increase mental health spending. Fewer states increased their spending on mental health programs this year compared to last year, when a spate of horrific shootings by assailants with histories of mental illness prompted a greater focus on the shortcomings of the country’s… more »