The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York has recently deployed a system for integrating real-time patient data and displaying it on flat panel displays for instant evaluation. The linked article is more of a press release than a detailed description of the system, but it’s worth reading as a teaser of things to come.

Anatoli Bogdan, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, has published a paper that suggests that under the right conditions, water can be frozen and reheated without causing the formation of ice crystals. If true, it suggests that larger scale cellular structures have a better chance of surviving supercooling and reheating.

Joan Roughgarden, a biologist at Stanford University, believes that Darwin’s theory of sexual selection is fundamentally flawed. The data that calls it in to question is the otherwise unacknowledged and unexplained prevalence of homosexual behavior in the animal kingdom. Based strictly on the summary of her theories provided in the linked article, I find myself agreeing with the critic who said, “You don’t have to dismiss the modern version of sexual selection in order to explain social bonding or homosexuality,” but her theories are definitely interesting. (Thanks Roy)

China imposed the death penalty on at least 1,700 prisoners in 2005, most by firing squad. To help smaller jurisdictions perform lethal injections instead, they use mobile execution chambers, basically RVs with sodium pentothol dispensers. Critics claim that China is pushing lethal injection because it makes organ harvesting easier.

The website for GreenLeaf Market is a bit shy on the details, but WorldChanging fills in some of the gaps. GreenLeaf is an online auction market that makes it easier for supermarkets to buy smaller quantities of local agricultural goods. If it works it could be a real boon for local agriculture and healthy eating alike.