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POPSDo we get wiser with age? "Is age a prerequisite for wisdom, though? We all know a few elderly people who lack wisdom, while we may know few young people that have wisdom in spades. People certainly aren't always at peak brainpower in old age; after all, when wrinkles begin appearing on the face, it usually means that wrinkles have started disappearing on the brain. The brain shrinks slightly with age, and aging leads to a normal decline in cognitive function that may eventually bloom into dementias such as Alzheimer's disease".
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POPSLearning Makes Itself Invisible The reason this occurs is because of two facts about the mind that are not widely appreciated. The first is that memory is not kept in a separate store away from the rest of the mind's functions. Although there are brain regions crucial to memory, the memories themselves are not stored separately from the regions which do perception, processing and output. Unlike a digital computer, your mind does not have to fetch stored information when it needs it, instead your memories affect every part of your perception and behaviour.
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POPSPollution in China 
"It was only when pollution literally started to bloom across the lakes of China earlier this summer that the country's leaders finally sounded full alarm on the environment. Blue-green algae blooms choked Lake Taihu - China's third biggest source of freshwater - in May, forcing 5 million people to use bottled water for drinking and bathing. "Soon after, local media were reporting outbreaks across the country. Rancid blooms contaminated Dianchi Lake in southwestern China, then Xinlicheng reservoir, the main source of water for Changchun - a northern city of almost 3 million people. In every case, pollution - either from factories, fertilizer or untreated sewage - was to blame. "Algae blooms are nature's response to discharges of nitrogen and phosphorus. Grown to excess, they choke waterways of oxygen, killing fish and fouling the air with a putrid smell. When prime minister Wen Jiabao visited Lake Taihu, he reportedly described it as an environmental wake-up call to the nation."
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POPSThe "Hitler Comparison" "The only thing that can prevent them from fulfilling their wretched and terrible goals of oligarchy, universal slavery and domination of the world is your voice, your derision, your hand, raised in resistance, your lips mouthing a simple no."
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POPSHummingbird Photos and Some Surprising Facts This incredible flying ability makes hummingbirds one of the most fascinating birds to watch. You'll catch sight of a wild hummingbird in the Americas -- anywhere from Alaska to Brazil. Some Mexican hummingbirds will migrate north for spring, flying up to 500 miles in 20 hours without a break . Hummingbirds almost never stop moving, and they spend nearly all of their time in the air. Their legs are so small and weak, they typically can't walk at all. But in the air, they're masters. Hummingbirds beat their wings up to 80 times a second, which creates the soft humming sound that earns them their name . Their heart can beat up to 1,300 times per minute while in flight . All of this lightning-fast beating takes its toll: Hummingbirds have to eat every couple of minutes. They consume enormous amounts of pollen, using a string-thin, long tongue to draw pollen out of deep flowers.
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POPSWacky Flowers Just in time for Halloween, here's an assortment of wacky plants. Several are quite beautiful, but you'd probably not want them outside your bedroom windows because of the putrid smell they emanate.
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POPSAt Least 3 Good Reasons to Plant Butterfly Plants 1. You will help the butterflies find food vital for their existence. 2. You will get to enjoy the monarchs in your yard or other waystation. 3. You will get to enjoy new plants. Also, "Anyone who plants at least two species of milkweed and at least four nectar plants that bloom at different times of year will earn the right to post a certified “Monarch Waystation” sign and be listed on the International Monarch Waystation Registry maintained by the nonprofit group Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas."
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POPSAcademic Earth - Free Lecture Videos From Top Scholars With so much of this going on (iTunes Store has iTunes U as well, and there must be others) why even bother going to a university for much of a degree? Shouldn't there be a reduced tuition for those who can pass a competency exam based on self-paced online study? Sort of an Internet University BA?
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POPSThe true miracle of Israel Israel's existence is portrayed as a resurrection of sorts: from near-annihilation to a "miraculous" rebirth. In the United States, Christian Zionists see their allegiance to Israel as a religious duty. When an American politician, for example, is accused of not standing "fully behind Israel," the accusation stands on its own, like a biblical command that has survived the test of time and reason: Thou shalt stand fully behind Israel. As the 60th anniversary of the so-called birth of Israel draws near, a most impressive -- albeit grotesque -- misrepresentation of that history will be offered in abundance , omitting how Israel was delivered on top of the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages. The killing and ethnic cleansing that became known as the Palestinian Catastrophe -- or Nakba -- was not the work of invisible and miraculous seraphs, but rather well trained and well-armed Zionist gangs and their supporters.
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POPSA satellite eye on the Earth last 2 pictures: a) Kasatochi volcano, Aleutian Islands, August 8: Dormant for 200 years this small volcano in the Pacific erupted without warning on August 7. The volcano’s plume is seen here as a brown streak in the cloud b) Phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea, Norway, August 12 2008. Phytoplankton are tiny plant-like organisms that are the foundation of the ocean food web. Like plants, they contain chlorophyll that they use to harvest sunlight for photosynthesis. In northern waters, these organisms are starved for sunlight much of the year, but during the summer months, they explode in colourful blooms such as this one
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POPSMODELING THE FUTURE A much more sophisticated question is how much of the climate Ma Earth, a perverse lady, gives us is her own, and how much is caused by us. That's a much more sophisticated, and much more difficult question
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POPSSaying Yes to Mess The whole article is really interesting. Ironically one of my New Years Resolutions was to become more organized .
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POPSEverything bad is caused by Global Warming
Agricultural land increase, Africa devastated, African aid threatened, Africa hit hardest, air pressure changes, Alaska reshaped, allergies increase, Alps melting, Amazon a desert, American dream end, amphibians breeding earlier (or not), ancient forests dramatically changed, animals head for the hills, Antarctic grass flourishes, anxiety, algal blooms, archaeological sites threatened, Arctic bogs melt, Arctic in bloom, Arctic lakes disappear, asthma, Atlantic less salty, Atlantic more salty, atmospheric defiance, atmospheric circulation modified, attack of the killer jellyfish, avalanches reduced, avalanches increased, bananas destroyed, bananas grow, beetle infestation, bet for $10,000, better beer, big melt faster, billion dollar research projects, billions of deaths, bird distributions change, bird visitors drop, birds return early, blackbirds stop singing, blizzards, blue mussels return, bluetongue, boredom, bridge collapse (Minneapolis), Britain Siberian,
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