Here’s a neat study – two genes have been identified that statistically correlate with the amount of caffeine a person consumes. Using 40,000 genotyped participants who self-reported daily caffeine intake, two genes were identified as explanatory (known as CYP1A2 and ADH). This result was obtained by scanning the genome for loci (similar to a Quantitative Trait Loci study) that correlate with a given phenotype, here caffeine intake. The implication is that variation at these loci is associated with susceptibility to habitual caffeine consumption, but more studies will need to be performed to tease apart the actual mechanism of this relationship.

The study was published in PLoS Genetics, and here’s the full PDF.

Brock, D.A., T.E. Douglas, D.C. Queller, and J.E. Strassmann. (2011). Primitive agriculture in a social amoeba. Nature. 469: 393-396.

Opinions? I for one am excited for the full album.

Amidst the kerfuffle in Washington over the ballooning deficit, the New York Times has created a nifty tool for comparing the various strategies for balancing the budget – it’s called the Budget Puzzle, and it’s pretty nifty! Essentially you select various options from among several viable plans for various budget issues (cuts in spending, taxes, etc) and attempt to balance the budget.

Here’s the link – NYT Budget Puzzle! Will you cut Defense? Social Security? Medicare? Foreign Aid? Earmarks? All of the above? The choice is yours!

Here’s my own take on balancing the budget – (My Solution) – I basically avoided harming the middle class or the social safety net where possible, and actually came out with a small surplus for both 2015 and 2030…. paying off some of the national debt! Woot!

Also, this great NYT article discusses the 16 options for cutting the deficit that went into making the puzzle in more detail.

Really sorry, peeps. I’ve been swamped. I know tons of interesting things have happened since September….

Hmmm….. here…..look at these midterm election results! Fascinating! I’ll be back to a normal posting schedule within the month.

Republicans and several Democratic defectors today filibustered the Defense Authorization Bill in order to prevent an amendment authorizing the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” contingent upon the completion of the ongoing military review of the policy. They did so even though 75% of Americans favor the repeal (including 64% of Republicans) and a federal judge has found the policy unconstitutional. There are no words.

The fervent obstructionism by Republicans in Congress has resulted in massive austerity measures across the country as the bulk of State aid was removed from the stimulus package. We are literally unpaving roads and removing streetlamps, closing schools and gutting public transportation in the name of caring about the “deficit”, while conservatives push for the continuation of the Bush tax cuts, which will add over $3.5 trillion to the deficit over the next ten years. Really? REALLY???

Yesterday Judge Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, ruled the notorious Proposition 8 unconstitutional. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, Prop 8 was the ballot initiative in California that overturned the California Supreme Court’s March 2008 finding that same-sex marriage was legal in the state of California. Prop 8 passed the same night as the Obama victory, fueling massive outrage and mixed feelings nationwide for fair-minded Americans. The decision yesterday by Judge Walker in Perry v. Schwarzenegger found that Prop 8 was absolutely and unequivocally in violation of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Judge Walker made over eighty (80!) findings of fact in the case, essentially eviscerating every bit of “evidence” against same-sex marriage put forth by the defendants. He even went so far as to specifically discredit the testimony of the two “expert” witnesses put forth by the defendants as mere “opinion testimony” that should be largely inadmissible. Essentially, supporters of same-sex marriage could not have hoped for a stronger decision.

The defendants (Prop 8 supporters) have appealed to the 9th District Court of Appeals; the next stop after that court is the U.S. Supreme Court.

You can read the entire decision by Judge Vaughn Walker from the NY Times here.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has in two separate cases found that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. Judge Joseph Tauro  found that DOMA violates gay couples’ fifth amendment right to equal protection under the law, and that the DOMA discrimination constitutes “irrational prejudice”, which “never constitutes a legitimate government interest”. Tauro ruled that Congress’s enactment of DOMA was not to protect traditional marriage in any way, but to “disadvantage a group of which it disapproves”.

Tauro also found that the federal government encroached upon the state of Massachusetts, forcing it to discriminate against gay married people in the state, which violates the tenth amendment.

An appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals is expected. If the First Circuit also strikes down the law, the Supreme Court would be the next stop. *fingers crossed*