A new species of finch may have arisen in the Galapagos

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091116/full/news.2009.1089.html

Chemicals in plastics alter the brains of baby boys, making them "more
feminine", say US researchers

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8361863.stm

The curious economic effects of religion

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/11/15/the_curious_economic\
_effects_of_religion/?page=full

A couple of genetic testing companies are promising to match couples based on
the DNA testing, touting the benefits of biological compatibility

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hGHo6v9gHhITIiLQPNOwZ98_ok7gD9\
BU7FOG0

Needless use of anti-psychotic drugs is widespread in dementia care and
contributes to the death of many patients, an official review suggests

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8356423.stm

The lead author of a study said low-level infection and inflammation in vessel
walls might be leading to disease

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/health/research/17risk.html

Mapping the human genome produced far more hype than drugs. That's starting to
change

http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/02/human-genome-sciences-vertex-business-healthcar\
e-genomics.html

Animals have nerves that can make a soft caress painful

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091115/full/news.2009.1084.html

Don't bet on it

http://www.slate.com/id/2234066/

Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary
frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging
measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating
the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091110135411.htm

Steven Pinker: The themes of this collection are a good way to characterize the
author himself: a minor genius who unwittingly demonstrates the hazards of
statistical reasoning

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/review/Pinker-t.html

How grandmas may play favorites

http://www.newsweek.com/id/222472

Neurogenesis helps break old circuits in the hippocampus

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49486/title/Newborn_cells_clear_space\
_in_brains_memory-maker

Examining only protein-coding genes finds cause of Miller syndrome

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091113/full/news.2009.1085.html

Consistent patterns linked to awareness of particular images could be used to
detect consciousness in brain-damaged people

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18150-signature-of-consciousness-captured-\
in-brain-scans.html

Recent discoveries from the nascent study of pig cognition offered evidence that
pigs were quick learners, slow to forget and similar to humans in many ways

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html

A new way of finding out how diet affects gut microbes

http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14843803&fs\
rc=rss

Tooth analysis reveals our human ancestors preferred root vegetables, nuts and
insects in their diets

http://news.discovery.com/human/human-ancestor-diet-nuts.html

New neurological findings suggest that "bad genes" can in fact be the keys to
adult achievement—but only with the right parenting

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Don't believe everything you read about genes and disease in prestigious
journals like Science and Nature, say Marcus Munafò and Jonathan Flint. A lot of
it is simply wrong

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/nov/06/genetics-medicine-depression-signi\
ficance

How blind people "see" the actions of others

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-mind-is-a-mirror

Mutations in the FOXP2 gene could help explain why humans can speak but chimps
can't

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091111/full/news.2009.1079.html

A new theory suggests that dreams are a warm-up for the day ahead

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/health/10mind.html

Pity the Boston car salesman who negotiated across the table from Charles A.
Nelson III, a Harvard neuroscience professor who runs the nation's top
laboratory studying how people learn to decode facial expressions

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2009/11/10/boston_lab_explores_child\
rens_complex_lessons_in_reading_faces/

Why did our species survive the Neanderthals? The Humans Who Went Extinct by
Clive Finlayson says we were just lucky

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427335.800-bad-luck-neanderthals.html

A mouse that can speak? A monkey with Down's Syndrome? Dogs with human hands or
feet? British scientists want to know if such experiments are acceptable, or if
they go too far in the name of medical research

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSTRE5A900U20091110

New studies suggest that eating large amounts of soy's estrogen-mimicking
compounds might reduce fertility in women, trigger early puberty and disrupt
development of fetuses and children

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=soybean-fertility-hormone-isofl\
avones-genistein

A study in mice has hinted at the impact that early life trauma and stress can
have on genes, and how they can result in behavioural problems

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8346715.stm

The Navajo stake a controversial claim to an ancient legacy

http://www.archaeology.org/0911/etc/insider.html

A map of the bacteria living on the human body shows the bugs that call us home
have strong preferences about where they settle

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18116-human-microbes-are-picky-about-neigh\
bourhoods-on-body.html