What We Read Today 11 August 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• UPDATE 1-Support for Scottish independence drops after TV debate – poll (Costas Pitas, Reuters) A televised debate between leaders of the separatist movement and supporters or remaining in the UK has shifted opinion away from separation of Scotland. For the first time 50% want to vote “No” (on independence while support for separation has fallen to 37%. The remaining 13% are undecided. The vote takes place in five weeks.

• Tick Seen on Long Island Can Trigger Allergy to Red Meat (Marilynne Marchione, The New York Times) The Lone Star tick is found widely across the central, southern and eastern U.S.  A bite from one of these little critters has produced severe meat allergies with life threatening reactions in some cases.  Since this tick is not a vector for Lyme Disease some have felt it to be less dangerous, although the Lone Star tick does transmit Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Lone star ticks, female left and male right.

• Ancient Rome: What are some interesting facts about Roman culture? (Diedre Beecher, Quora) They lived on fast food, had terrible public hygiene and died young.

• ‘Hobbit’ more likely had Down Syndrome than a new species (Maciej Henneberg and Robert Eckhardt, The Conversation) All of the evidence examined to date is consistent with the discovery of small stature human remains in a cave on an island in Indonesia in 2004 being from a modern human afflicted with a genetic condition such as Down Syndrome or something similar. . The remains dated about 18,000 years old and have been designated as a new hominin sub-species, homo floresiensis. Research published by these authors suggest that the designation of a new sub-species may have been premature. It has been difficult for scientists to locate the “hobbit” with respect to other homonin species as evidenced by the following graphic from GEI News:

There are 11 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

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