An article with estimates about how long it would probably be between the first signs of a new dangerous flu virus and a pandemic.

A strand of avian flu is being transmitted from human to human in Vietnam. It seems to be lethal in the majority of cases. There is the scary possibility of a pandemic.

Faz 20 anos que o MST comecou suas atividades. Veja aqui uma materia a respeito que saiu no Globo.

This sculpture studio in the Netherlands makes 3-d models out of classic paintings and cartoons. (Via boingboing)

Simon Baron-Cohen on the differences between the sexes, following a controversial address by Harvard's president.

Here's a list of 10 good books about science, from The Guardian. This list blurs the distinction between science and literature -- it includes writes such as Primo Levi and Norman Mailer, and all books have withstood the test of time, well, they were all written more than 10 years ago. I've read two of them: 'The diversity of life' by Edward O. Wilson and 'The language instinct' by Stephen Pinker, and really recommend those.

An extract of an unfinished work by one of my favorite writers, W. G. Sebald.

A little history of alternative keyboard designs, and a contemporary challenger to the QWERTY keyboard: abKey.

Gary Yonge on Bush's hypocritical 'quest to end tyranny'. He lists some of the repressive regimes supported by the U.S.. He also argues that Bush's perceived mission is not in the direction of bringing Cuba to the standards of freedom of the U.S., it's more like bringing all the world to the standards of freedom of a little part of Cuba - Guantanamo Bay.

A little (edited) part of Bush's inauguration address, from Yonge's article:

"America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains [apart from in Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay], or that women welcome humiliation and servitude [apart from in Saudi Arabia] or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies [apart from Uzbekistan and Israel]."

An article in The Guardian about Ed Witten, the most famous string theorist in the world.

A computer program has been used successfully in the music industry to predict pop hits.

The Huygens spaceprobe has landed successfully in Saturn's moon Titan, revealing a very interesting world completely new to science. An article about it, some pictures of Titan's surface.

Eric Hobsbawm on the important heritage of Marxist historians (such as himself).

I'm back in Canada!
An investigative article in The Guardian about the controversies surrounding the discovery of the Flores Man.