Reed Becker

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• Posted Brain Parasites Made Us Sleep Around. to Austinist
  Those bottom rung researchers at Stanley Research Medical Institute of Maryland have made some very disturbing discoveries about the increasingly pesky toxoplasma gondii bacteria. From the Times Online: Infected men, suggests one new study, tend to become more aggressive, scruffy, antisocial and are less attractive. Women, on the other hand, appear to exhibit the “sex kitten” effect, becoming less trustworthy, more desirable, fun-loving and possibly more promiscuous. You might want to throw that cat...
• Posted Ideas Spring Forth Like a Mad Johannes Gutenberg Dream to Austinist
  Bio-editor may very well be the next cross specialization after the astrobiologist, the geophysicist, or the stripper/french maid. Harvard University liberals have constructed the world's first bacterial printing press capable of printing out mats the width of a single bacteria. The process begins using a borrowed computer chip technique called photolithography to create a template, onto which the press "...pours a liquid polymer. This cools, sets and is popped out, forming a stamp. This...
• Posted Season's "Lost" Found its Place in Our Heart. to Austinist
  It seems that for every 10 pieces of crap on television like "American Idol," there is maybe one good show. Good television is not lost, it just takes some searching to find it. Not all TV is directed at the great number of vastly undereducated and sedated Americans occupying the mostly red heartland. This season blessed us with one of the most interesting and complex network shows in a long, long time: Lost. Having...
• Posted The Reason Most People Have Horrendous Comedic Taste. to Austinist
  At the University of Haifa in Israel (of course), the finest of comedy research centers in the world, researchers S. G. Shamay-Tsoory, R. Tomer, and J. Aharon-Peretz have discovered how the brain processes sarcasm. Using people who are brain damaged, either with prefrontal or posterior lobe damage, as well as a control group of healthy individuals, the Haifa crew was able to pinpoint which areas of the brain were required to interpret sarcasm and...
• Posted The Radical Right Wing is Taking Over PBS and NPR to Austinist
  Congratulations Kenneth Y. Tomlinson! You are the Austinist Shit-Bag of the Month! For those of you that don't know, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson is the Chairman of the Board for the Corporation for Public broadcasting (CPB). Here's a short list of the good work he has done so far: - "Tomlinson contracted an outside consultant last year to monitor the 'political content' of PBS's Now With Bill Moyers for 'anti-Bush,' 'anti-business' and 'anti-Tom DeLay' 'biases.'"...