The Raw Story

A non-profit news blog, focused on providing independent journalism.

Thursday, 28 May 2015

The Duggars: How fundamentalism's teachings on sexuality create predatory behavior

So, it's in the news everywhere: A Duggar son groped his sisters while they slept when he was 14. The family essentially hushed it up. And, now that he is buddies with Ted Cruz, it became a juicy news story. (Nothing like a political AND sexual scandal to sell ads...) And the aftermath is predictable. The Duggars get their show suspended, and the (now adult) kid loses his job. And, there is a brobdingnagian pile of schadenfreude to be found in the...

Housing Authority forces workers to wear orange vests so NYPD cops don't shoot them

© The Free Thought Project      In a testament to the "trigger-happy" nature of NYPD cops, the city Housing Authority has ordered all workers fixing elevators in NYC housing projects to wear construction orange vests. New policies were enacted by the Housing Authority after officers pulled a gun on a maintenance crew and fatally shot an unarmed man in a stairwell in a separate incident. According to a report: "[The elevator...

'Lost' Y chromosomes discovered on autosomes

© Thinkstock The Y chromosomes have just moved to a different location!      Essential genes lost by the Y chromosome in humans and other mammals and previously thought to have been eliminated have actually just relocated to other chromosomes, the authors of a study appearing in the latest edition of the journal have discovered. In the paper, lead author Dr. Jennifer Hughes of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research...

Red Sea parts for 2 new islands

© Jónsson et al., Nature Communications A 2011 satellite photo of the eruption that created Sholan Island.      Two volcanic islands recently born in the Red Sea have yielded stunning images, providing scientists with new insights about a little-known rift in Earth's crust. Both islands emerged in the Zubair Archipelago, a small chain of volcanic islands, owned by Yemen, that rise from the Red Sea between Africa and the Arabian...

​Volcanic eruption at Kuchinoerabu-jima, Japan triggers highest alert, evacuation advisory

A sudden volcano eruption on the small southern Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima has forced authorities to raise the alert to the highest level and advise evacuation of the immediate area. Although there were no reports of injuries or damage, the authorities are considering evacuation of some 150 residents of the small island, NHK national television reports. Mount Shindake suddenly erupted about 10:00am local time, sending a large plume of black smoke into the sky. The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a level five warning for the area,...

Ecstasy could help alleviate anxiety for terminally ill patients

© REUTERS/U.S. Ecstasy pills, which contain MDMA as their main chemical, are pictured in this undated handout photo courtesy of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration      California scientists are testing whether the illegal psychoactive drug commonly known as Ecstasy could help alleviate anxiety for terminally ill patients, the trial's principal funder said on Tuesday. At least a dozen subjects with life-threatening...

Doctors eye implantable antenna for long-term monitoring

© www.sbioak.org RFID has your vital statistics up for grabs.      Tired of using a pesky thermometer to check on your health? If a new project funded by the National Science Foundation proves successful, we may soon have a small antenna implanted into our bodies to report on our vital statistics. In the interest of what it calls "long-term patient monitoring," the NSF has granted $5,070 to a graduate fellowship project which...

World War II: "Operation Unthinkable", Churchill's planned betrayal and invasion of the Soviet Union, July 1945

The Yalta conference: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill      Stalin believed that there were plans to use them later. He emphasized that it was an outright violation of the inter-governmental agreements that said the forces surrendered were to be immediately disbanded. The Soviet intelligence got the text of secret telegram sent by Winston Churchill to Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, the commander of British forces. It instructed...

Israeli soldier put in military prison for speaking out against Israeli racism, occupation

     This week, during the filming of Deutsche Welle's "The New Arab Debates," Corporal Shachar Berrin, a soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spoke out about the actions of his fellow officers. During a discussion about the military situation in Israel, Berrin stood up to address the panel about how members of the Israeli military would treat Palestinian people like animals. He also expressed that this is a systematic...

Harvard neuroscientist: Meditation not only reduces stress, it changes your brain

© naturalhealth365.com      Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, was one of the first scientists to take the anecdotal claims about the benefits of meditation and mindfulness and test them in brain scans. What she found surprised her — that meditating can literally change your brain. She explains: Q: Why did you start looking at meditation and mindfulness and the brain? Lazar:...

Tony Blair to receive award for lifetime services to war

© kennardphillipps/Reuters      Tony Blair is to receive the prestigious 'War Award' for his lifetime services to war, following his official resignation from his position as Middle East Peace Envoy. A polarising and an often controversial figure, Blair had denied he was leaving the position he has held for the past 8 years after finally reading the job description, instead maintaining he simply wanted to explore other job opportunities. "It's...

Airlines spraying fliers with pesticides inside the plane

     Chemical pesticide exposure happens... If you live nearby a farm you know what it feels like. Spraying happens. If it's not aerosol spraying high up in the sky or wafts from crop dusting - it's being sprayed while inside a locked, pressurized tube? Is there no escape? What is a chemical sensitive or asthmatic person to do? Have you ever felt sick after a flight but couldn't pin it as a virus? Do you ever feel like a bug? A...

Noctilucent clouds seen over Scotland

© M. J. S. Ferrier Barassie Beach in Ayrshire, Scotland.      The fine-structured blue clouds floating above the dark, ordinary storm clouds are the NLCs. "It was hard to tell the full extent of the display due to a storm system passing through," says Ferrier. "But the noctilucent clouds were definitely there." Jimmy Fraser of Alness, Scotland, also photographed the display. "It was a great start for the NLC season here in...

Natural birth & breastfeeding: Replaceable?

     Now that we know the microbiome and is largely responsible for our digestion, immunity, and assimilation and production of nutrients, we are charged with learning about its optimal manifestation. How is it created? What are the ingredients to a healthy microbiome? Are there some more critical and some less critical steps? As I describe here, it turns out the steps may be as simple as following the evolutionary order of...

Scientists identify epigenetic marks on DNA of ancient humans

     A new study by anthropologists from The University of Texas at Austin shows for the first time that epigenetic marks on DNA can be detected in a large number of ancient human remains, which may lead to further understanding about the effects of famine and disease in the ancient world. The field of epigenetics looks at chemical modifications to DNA, known as epigenetic marks, that influence which genes are expressed -- or...
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