Good Morning Vietnam

How to sound smart at your next cocktail party... Good morning all, over the summer I've been working at Maclean's Magazine in Canada - Part of the daily grind is to look for stories across the world that might be news worthy - even in the smallest sense of the word.
So here they are, at least most of them... so who cares huh, right?
Well, look at it this way. Remember one or two of these for the next time you need to break out some worldly smarts: that cocktail party with the dean, the endless small talk your friends will submit you to ("yes, my summer was great, can you believe it was so short?" - yes, we can believe it).

Or even more importantly, to convince the freshers that they've entered the big leagues...

1. Thank You for Smoking.
2. Ikura?
3. Making Meat: The Literal Re-birth of Mystery Meat.
4. The Birds and Bees.
5. Carbon Sequestration.
6. Pringles Aren't Actually Chips. Anymore.

*Thank You For Smoking.
While nearly everyone can agree that smoking is bad for your health, some scientists are saying that it might actually be good for your memory. The results aren’t tied directly into the James Dean, leaning on a wall, brand of smoking, but instead the findings are based on the effects of nicotine on lab animals. Research has shown that nicotine can boost the intelligence and recall ability of animals in laboratory experiments. In a recall test, 50% of the rats were able to complete a task under duress while 80% were able to complete the same task with the effects of nicotine. Prof Stolerman and his team (the researchers behind the project) have identified key brain receptors and chemical messengers – such as dopamine and glutamate – that are triggered by nicotine to boost memory and concentration. Neglected for its other, more publicized side effects (cancer, stroke, heart disease), the team is hoping the results could translate into new medicines for dementia and other memory diseases in a conference held July 14. With concrete results in the lab, Stolerman is looking to break into the 10-year industry hunt for an effective nicotine-based drug. This is also tied into another report suggesting tobacco plants could help to cure (not cause) certain cancers such as lymphoma.

*Ikura?
Tokyo is getting hit with unexpected collateral from rising oil prices: their signage. With prices steadily (re: exponentially) increasing, sign boards at gasoline stations are also reaching their limits. The boards were originally only designed to show prices up to 200 yen, but prices have already jumped to 181.5 yen a litre. In response, Japanese oil companies are starting a mass replacement of old signs with newer ones capable of actually displaying the price of oil. “It’s possible that gas prices will rise above 200 yen, so we have to be prepared,” said a spokesman for Showa Shell Sekiyu. The changes will likely cost each company several million yen.

*Making Meat: The Literal Re-Birth of Mystery Meat
If you’ve ever been curious as to what’s in your steak, science has come up with an interesting way of easing your concerns. Vladimir Mironov at the Medical University of South Carolina has been working on a process of ‘growing meat’ using a counter-top meat-making process. Using advances in cell biology, it would be possible to grow a hamburger overnight with exact specifications of meat type, fat content, etc. Not only a creative way of getting dinner, Mironov’s project could be a way of reducing the environmental impact of conventional meat-production, saving some cattle, and potentially preventing diseases like mad-cow or SARS. Begun in 2002, the project is aiming for public release.

*The Birds and Bees
A study shows most kids don’t know about the birds and the bees… not the proverbial sex-talk every parent dreads, but the actual difference between some birds and bees. A poll taken by the National Trust (a UK-based conservation agency) revealed that of 1,651 children aged 10-12 half could not tell the difference between a bee and wasp while ninety-percent were able to identify Yoda from the Star Wars movies. While this might seem like an unfair judgment given the dissemination of Star Wars and Yoda – an iconic figure – in pop-media, perhaps this perspective is itself indicative of a sea change from natural to digital. This is one in a series of unrelated studies looking at the effect of television including ties to potential weight gain, delayed early learning, behavioural problems, and interrupted sleep rhythms.

*Carbon Sequestration
The International Energy Agency is already billing it as one of the planet’s best hopes for reducing carbon emissions, and it is being put into practice by Calgary-based Encana. Carbon sequestration is a method of oil drilling with one significant difference: instead of being released as greenhouse gases, excess CO2 is pumped back into the ground to be stored and reused. While it seems like a perfect solution, several obstacles stand in its way. There are questions as to whether the carbon will stay in the ground (so far the retention rate is an astonishing 99%) as well as the significantly higher cost of carbon sequestration versus conventional drilling (carbon sequestration runs up to $100 per tonne to store CO2. However, with support and funding already coming from Stephen Harper, carbon sequestration could be a majour breakthrough in offsetting emissions from new coal-fired power plants.

*Pringles Aren’t Actually Chips. Anymore.
Turns out the popular potato chip brand Pringles, isn’t really a potato chip anymore. A recent ruling from the High Court of London overturned a VAT and Duties Tribunal decision claiming the snack was subject to VAT as a potato chip product. Aside from some clever PR arguments from Proctor & Gamble (Pringles’ manufacturer) the appeal was allowed through on grounds that the product didn’t actually come from potato products, likening it more to a cake or a biscuit. It’s nice that Pringles avoided VAT, but it raises the question: if they’re not chips what the heck are we eating?