today's papers
I'm OK, You're Microbial DNA
by Amanda Fazzone
*Gene, thanks.* By June, the rival research teams had already
assembled the human genome (the DNA-encoded blueprint for making a
human), but it's taken until now to analyze the findings. The
teams' articles, to be published on Thursday and Friday, report
that there are far fewer human genes than thought-about 30,000-only
a third more, reminds the NYT, than the roundworm. We all have a
few more things in common than we'd realized: the WP says humans
are about 99.9 percent genetically identical, and the LAT informs
that human genes have been derived directly from bacteria. And next
time you're searching for a relative to blame if you have the
blues, you might have to look a little further into your past.
Millions of years in your past, according to the WP. Turns out
hundreds of our genes, including a gene that has been implicated in
depression, are from bacteria that infected human predecessors
millions of years ago and left their microbial DNA behind.
******************************************************************************
**
(following, nader gets his mandate a little sooner than predicted)
The WP's front-pager on California's energy crisis explains that
the state is on the verge of spending as much as $20 billion to
keep its two largest utility companies out of bankruptcy. Strapped
with doubled monthly power bills, nearly 60 percent of the state's
voters believe this year's two blackouts are "mostly a ploy by
energy companies to raise rates," according to an unattributed
poll. The WP, which characterizes residents of an L.A. suburb as
"dropping hints of revenge," names the following as "[s]igns of a
budding public backlash": ballot proposals to revamp the state's
electricity delivery system, irate phone calls to the utility
companies, petitions, public demonstrations protesting the use of
public funds to bail out utilities, bill burning, candlelight
vigils, and radio and TV ads daring utilities to cut off power. An
LAT above-the-folder asserts that California's energy crisis-and
increases in residential electricity consumption-are due in part to
the state's big homes, big screen TVs, multiple computers, chilled
wine cellars, and other "energy-gulping widgets." But it's not just
the rich who get the blame, as the LAT fingers "little old homes
with their leaking windows, outdated air conditioners and
energy-guzzling water heaters."
(how come y'all don't start using power cells?)
*****************************************************************************
(what i've been saying along:)
Former Secretary of the Treasury Robert E. Rubin says in a NYT
opinion piece that he couldn't hold his tongue any longer: "The
proposed tax cut of roughly $2 trillion - $1.6 trillion of tax cuts
plus $400 billion of interest on debt that would otherwise have
been retired - would substantially diminish the fiscal position of
the federal government, and would create a serious threat of
deficits on the non-entitlement side of the federal budget."
(that's me in the spotlight, losing my parentheses . . .
gg
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Apr 27 2001 - 23:17:36 PDT