A Historian's Nightmare

U.S. Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review
By SCOTT SHANE, The New York Times, February 21, 2006

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 — In a seven-year-old secret program at the National Archives, intelligence agencies have been removing from public access thousands of historical documents that were available for years, including some already published by the State Department and others photocopied years ago by private historians.

The restoration of classified status to more than 55,000 previously declassified pages began in 1999, when the Central Intelligence Agency and five other agencies objected to what they saw as a hasty release of sensitive information after a 1995 declassification order signed by President Bill Clinton. It accelerated after the Bush administration took office and especially after the 2001 terrorist attacks, according to archives records.

But because the reclassification program is itself shrouded in secrecy — governed by a still-classified memorandum that prohibits the National Archives even from saying which agencies are involved — it continued virtually without outside notice until December. That was when an intelligence historian, Matthew M. Aid, noticed that dozens of documents he had copied years ago had been withdrawn from the archives' open shelves.
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Science Tuesday - Recycling, evolution, skipping breakfast, "sleeping on it," and wealth=health.

Green Ventures: Rewarding Recyclers, and Finding Gold in the Garbage
By BONNIE DeSIMONE, The New York Times, February 21, 2006

PHILADELPHIA — Patrick Fitzgerald found himself distracted as he studied for the bar exam at Fordham University five years ago. New York City was debating the merits of continuing its recycling program and Mr. FitzGerald wondered why that was a question at all. "I wasn't an overt tree-hugger, but I thought it was odd," he said.

He began poking around Web sites and news articles about the economics of recycling, and concluded that one of the industry's biggest problems was motivating its suppliers — the people who generate garbage.

Moral obligation — or even compassion for trees — was not enough to induce good recycling habits, Mr. FitzGerald decided. Instead of spending money on campaigns to persuade people to recycle, he thought: What if you paid them directly? What would happen?
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Palm Trees and Lake Fish Dispel Doubts About a Theory of Evolution
By CARL ZIMMER, The New York Times, ebruary 21, 2006

Sooner or later, everyone encounters a kentia palm. Its ability to grow in low sunlight has made it one of the world's most traded houseplants.

"If you've been to a wine bar or to Starbucks, there may have been one in there," said William Baker, a botanist at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England.

"Whether you realize it or not, you're familiar with this palm," he said.

As ordinary as this houseplant may be, however, Dr. Baker and colleagues have found that it has an extraordinary story to tell about evolution.
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Really? The Claim: Skipping Breakfast Can Affect Your Mood and Energy Levels During the Day
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR, The New York Times, February 21, 2006

THE FACTS Despite what parents and doctors have long recommended, many Americans begin their days with little more than a cup of tea or coffee, and in some cases with nothing at all.

That may seem like a good way to save time or money, but a morning without breakfast will probably cost you in other ways.

Over the years, a number of studies have examined the subject, and most have reached the same conclusion: starting a day without a solid meal tends to have slight but detectable effects on mood, memory and energy level.
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The Unconscious Mind: A Great Decision Maker
By BENEDICT CAREY, The New York Times, February 21, 2006

Snap judgments about people and places can be remarkably accurate, and there is no substitute for simple logic and reflection in determining questions like which alarm clock or cellphone is the best value.

But many more important decisions — choosing the right apartment, the optimal house, the best vacation — turn on such a bewildering swarm of facts that people often throw up their hands and put the whole thing temporarily out of mind. And new research suggests that this may be a rewarding strategy.

In a series of experiments reported last week in the journal Science, a team of Dutch psychologists found that people struggling to make complex decisions did best when they were distracted and were not able to think consciously about the choice at all.

The research not only backs up the common advice to "sleep on it" when facing difficult choices, but it also suggests that the unconscious brain can actively reason as well as produce weird dreams and Freudian slips.
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Vital Signs: Money and Medicine: Richer or Poorer, Health and Wealth Are Linked
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR, The New York Times, February 21, 2006

A new report issued last week adds support to the premise that poor people are in worse physical condition and have an increased risk for death compared with those who are better off.

The findings, published last week in The Journal of the American Medical Association, examined more than 30,000 patients consecutively referred to the Cleveland Clinic for stress testing. The researchers assigned a socioeconomic status score to each patient by matching the home address to economic data in the 2000 census.
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