More and more people in academia and silicone valley are taking Provigil, a prescription drug that allows for extended wakefulness without side effects associated with other stimulants. Is this ok?

It seems to me like this kind of use (or abuse depending on how you see it) is inevitable as long as people prioritize work the way they do. Unfortunately, even if only a few truly want to take the drug, anyone who wants to keep up with them will have to take the drug to not be at a disadvantage.

Animals and death. How different are we? From the NYT

I found the discussion of elephants at the end to be particularly touching.

Take day dreaming more seriously. It's good for you! An article from the Boston Globe

A comparison of presidential candidate science policy platforms.

In general they look fairly sensible to me. Besides, who knows how much any of their promises really matter once they get into office. (via slashdot)

Mystery solved. Aerodynamics now allows bumblebees to fly.

Thanks to Calvin Smith (via Twine)

Hard Boiled Eggs the scientific way. I'm going to have to try some of these out!

(Via kottke.org)

Gym in Portland, OR hooks up its equipment to generators in hopes of generating 100% of the energy it uses.

I wonder if there will ever be a time when energy prices are high enough and generators on exercise equipment efficient enough that gyms can replace membership fees with the money they make from energy generation.

Thanks to JDP on Twine

With the possibility of permanently high gas prices, is the end of large-scale aviation upon us? A great article from the New Republic.

Thanks to Don Dea for submitting to Twine.

A fascinating article on using Muon detectors to reveal the secrets of buried Mayan temples.

Enhancement Drugs Ok For Healthy People (As long as they don't change who you are)

A short article on people's perceptions of Self-Enhancing Drugs for Healthy People

It's fascinating that people are willing to take self-enhancing drugs as long as they don't change what they might consider to be core human traits. Of course this means that cultural factors could have a significant impact on how willing a society as a whole to tolerate or support this kind of behavior. Furthermore, it would be interesting to see how malleable the notion of core human traits is.

Political scientist Francis Fukuyama, in his book Our Posthuman Future, has an extended discussion on just this sort of phenomenon. While the book centers on genetic engineering, he does point out that neuropharmacology is already being used to alter some things that are core and fundamental to an individual.

If you think about it, this is a pretty interesting point. Anti-depressants have real value, but by labeling yourself as sick, you can get around your own moral qualms with altering a core human trait like personality.