Has the Pill led to increased rates of autism?

The BBC reports:

The contraceptive pill could lead to women choosing the wrong partners, scientists believe.

Researchers found that women chose different partners after taking the pill in tests on nearly 100 women. . .

But the joint Liverpool and Newcastle universities' study suggested the pill disrupted this process, the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal said.

By passing on a wide-ranging set of immune system genes, couples increase their chances of having a healthy child that is not vulnerable to infection. . .

Women are naturally attracted to men with immune system genes different from their own because of their smell, experts believe.

The article does not make any connection to the rise in autism, but that is certainly what first popped into my head when reading this report.

Celebrity spies

I don't think there are any stunning revelations here, although I'm sure this will help fill out many a story. On the other hand, I wonder how many appreciate how total the commitment to the war effort was during WW2, celebrities emphatically included.

Several well-known American public figures were spies during World War II, declassified documents have confirmed.

The celebrities include the chef Julia Child, the historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr, the film actor Sterling Hayden, and the baseball player Moe Berg.

The 750,000 documents published by the National Archives are part of a massive archive on the wartime intelligence unit, the Office of Strategic Services.

From the BBC.

Colossal finds in Turkey

Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the colossal marble head of a Roman empress.

It was discovered in a rubble-filled building where parts of a huge statue of the emperor Hadrian were unearthed last year.

The discovery, at the ancient site of Sagalassos, is thought to show Faustina the Elder, wife of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius.

From the BBC.

iPhone Schadenfreude

I was at a collecting event last week, and it seemed everyone was showing off their new 3G iPhones. I'd love to have one, but really can't justify it (not much traveling nowadays -- it's really either at home or at work). So reading reports that the new iPhones have been having a bit of trouble as, well, phones, makes me feel a little bit better.

It wasn't us -- Zeus did it!

The future is now, as laser gunships take to the skies. As the post title indicates, though, I'm a little skeptical about the "deniability" part.

Shakespeare's missing theatre finally found?

The theater where "The Merchant of Venice" and "Romeo and Juliet" likely debuted and where William Shakespeare himself may have trodden the boards has likely been discovered in east London, archaeologists at the Museum of London said Wednesday.

The possible foundations of what is known as simply, The Theatre, were unearthed by builders excavating the site -- a vacant garage -- for another structure. Museum archaeologists were called to the location to make sure nothing was destroyed, and had a eureka moment. . .

Fittingly, a new theater is being built on the site, ensuring the foundations below are protected.

Full article here.

Venezuelan saber-tooth

Venezuela has found the first fossils of an extinct scimitar cat -- of the saber-toothed cat genus -- in South America, during oil prospecting activities southeast of Caracas, paleontologists announced. . .

. . . fossils of six scimitar cats, or Homotherium, were found along with those of panthers, wolves, camels, condors, ducks and horses, all from about 1.8 million years ago, by a Petroleos de Venezuela team looking for oil in Monagas state in 2006.

The most important find . . . was the complete skull of a scimitar cat, an animal never before found in South America.

From Discovery News.