Renal Systems from Penal Systems
Taking a tip from O.J. Simpson, the Deputy Health Minister of China has finally come out and confessed to what everybody already knew: Many of the organs Chinese doctors use in transplants come from executed prisoners. He also noted that a substantial number of recipients are foreigners willing to pay an arm and a leg for a kidney. While this illegal organ trade has long been an open secret, the Chinese government spent years denying that many spare parts came from the condemned. But now that China has announced it will be closely monitoring death penalty cases, it acknowledges that there is a problem with organ donation. Amnesty International estimated that at least 1,770 people were executed in China in 2005. Last year, Chinese doctors transplanted 8,102 kidneys, 3,741 livers and 80 hearts, and experts believe that well over 90 percent of these came from executed prisoners. Even with the ethically sketchy practices, only one percent of Chinese people who need transplants actually get them, and legal experts say the new oversight of death penalty cases will cut the number of executions by a third. It's about time we started growing livers on the backs of mice, no?
Advertisement
Sizing Up the Competition
Men, does your size make you insecure? Do you think an extra inch or two would make you a successful lover? Well, it turns out your fears are well-founded! A new study out of the University of Essex shows that for every inch of height a man has on his rivals, the number of women who want to go out with him increases by five percent. Researchers analyzed the date selections of 1,800 men and 1,800 women who took part in 84 speed-dating events around the U.K. In addition to discovering that ladies like tall men, the researchers found that dudes dig smart chicks: Women with a college degree bested their less educated counterparts. Thin women also did better than the clinically overweight. Both sexes preferred youthful partners, and non-smokers generally stuck to other non-smokers, showing that people prefer rosy cheeks and rosy lungs. Most significantly, the researchers said, a man's success was dependent upon how he stacked up against the others in his speed dating group; a 5'9 man in a group of 5'6 guys did as well as a 6'2 man in a group of 5'11 guys. No wonder Snow White found Prince Charming so attractive.
I've Got a Little List
With new advances in psychological science and criminal profiling, murderers will no longer have to go through the trouble of killing people; police will know about them before they've committed the crime! Psychologists from London's Metropolitan Police's Homicide Prevention Unit are drawing up a list of the 100 most dangerous murderers and rapists-to-be, as determined by statements from former partners, information from mental health professionals, and specifics about earlier criminal activity. The police say they are focusing on people with a history of domestic violence whose activity might escalate to deadly proportions; the team notes that about a quarter of murders are related to domestic violence. Civil rights groups are worried that people might be arrested before they actually commit crimes, turning the country into a futuristic dystopia. And indeed, the police are considering arresting the criminally-minded or sending them to "management programs" as soon as they are identified. Yikes.