Links for 2008-05-20

• The Knife's Olof Dreijer, More Send Music to the Aliens (Pitchfork)
  Swedish techno artist Håkan Lidbo has a plan to blast sounds into outer space for the betterment of beings from all corners of the universe.
• Ontario to resume coverage of sex-change operations (CBC)
  The Ontario government will soon pay for sex-change operations again, Health Minister George Smitherman confirmed on Thursday.
• Our Data, Ourselves (Wired)
  In the information age, we all have a data shadow; who controls our data controls our lives.
• Pharmacists unhappy about new morning-after-pill availability (CBC)
  The emergency contraceptive drug known as Plan B will likely be coming out from behind the pharmacy counter, a move the Canadian Association of Pharmacists is not happy about.
• How Many Earths? (Jamais Cascio -- Open the Future)
  It's a standard trope in environmental commentary: we would need more than one Earth to support the planet's population, especially if everyone lived like Americans. The number of Earths needed can vary greatly, depending upon who's doing the counting.
• Women Have "No Emotional Feelings" During Orgasm, Say Neuroscientists (io9)
  During orgasm, men experience heightened activity in the emotion-processing centers of the brain. But women's brains, say researchers, are shut down in emotion-processing regions
• Olympic Athlete Technology (Next Big Future)
  South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius [bladerunner] has won a landmark appeal over a ban on his artificial legs. There will be a technology battle between the Biorubber Swim-SCS Fabric against the Speedo LZR Racer.
• Creative writing for extraterrestrials (csmonitor.com)
  A college class, funded by a NASA Space Grant Consortium, contemplates what to say to E.T.
• Robotic suit could usher in super soldier era (PhysOrg)
  Rex Jameson bikes and swims regularly, and plays tennis and skis when time allows. But the 5-foot-11, 180-pound software engineer is lucky if he presses 200 pounds - that is, until he steps into an "exoskeleton" of aluminum and electronics that multiplies...