Someone is sick...

... but who and why?

More kids using anti-psychotic drugs

American children take anti-psychotic medicines at about six times the rate of children in the United Kingdom, according to a comparison based on a new U.K. study. With scant long-term safety data, it's likely the drugs are being over-prescribed for both U.S. and U.K. children, research suggests.

Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/05/05/psychdrugs.children.ap/index.html

Does A Body Good?

Researchers are experimenting with deep brain stimulation (DBS) to counter depression. According to CNN, "From the cerebral cortex, wires are tunneled behind the ear into the chest, where there's a power source for the electrodes that emit electrical impulses into the brain."

For now at least, this would not be used on people with only occasional and mild depression. Currently, this is only for people whose problem is not just severe but life-threatening - people for whom all other treatment (psychotherapy, drug therapy, and electroconvulsive therapy) has failed. But the possibility of this type of treatment does raise an interesting question about where we are heading.

In future, will each human body be tweaked with mechanical devices for better physical and mental performance? If so, what percentage will be mechanical? Will we even need a biological body?

Silver Rain

A major cosmopolitan center has a new, Conservative mayor with a penchant for elitist views. And two named men were just jailed there for blackmailing an unnamed royal.

Someone somewhere has to know
Silver rain was falling down
Upon the dirty ground of London Town
Paul McCartney & Wings