Links for 2008-05-15

• Vatican says aliens could exist (BBC)
  The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out.
• Experts move closer to identifying best embryos (Reuters)
  Scientists in Australia and Greece appear to be moving closer to identifying genes that determine which test-tube embryos stand the best chance of implanting in the womb and growing into healthy babies.
• How Second Life Affects Real Life (TIME)
  With my plain Jane avatar and my inexperience in Second Life, I did what most people would want to do in an uncomfortable social situation: run away.
• Regulating Future Science (Anders Sandberg)
  This monday I attended the 21st Century School's Distinguished Public Lecture where John Sulston, John Harris and Richard Dawkins discussed what science is for.
• The Less the Education, the Higher the Risk of Dying Early (Washington Post)
  The difference in death rates between highly educated and poorly educated people in the United States is very wide and growing wider, according to new research.
• False Memory (The Frontal Cortex)
  One of the delicious ironies of memory is that, even when our recollections are utterly false, they still feel true.
• Does the simulation have an evil or indifferent designer? (Marginal Revolution)
  It occurred to me that if we are living in a simulation we can make Bayesian inferences about the intentions of the designer.
• Shannon Larratt Leaves ModBlog/BME (Warren Ellis)
  The online bodymodification-reportage pioneer Shannon Larratt has now permanently left BME, the sprawling web presence he co-founded and figureheaded.
• Eugenics and You (Damn Interesting)
  The breeding behaviors of humans remains of utmost interest to geneticists today.
• Don't Forget the Animals in Burma (The Buddhist Blog)
  I received an email from Lauren of Animal Voices about making sure we help the animals caught up in the cyclone devastation in Burma. Animal Voices has a great interview with Buddhist scholar and advocate of ecological balance, Dr. Joanna Macy.