On a cold day in January, Dan Stoicescu, a millionaire living in Switzerland, became the second person in the world to buy the full sequence of his own genetic code. He is also among a relatively small group of individuals who could afford the $350,000 price tag. [NYT]
Researchers are increasingly relying on neuromarketing to explain seemingly unexplainable facets of our buying behavior – for example, why the exact same wine really does taste better if it costs more, or why kids prefer even common foods that come wrapped in McDonald’s packaging. The technique also has been applied to politics, looking into how the average Republican’s brain differs from a Democrat’s, how this year’s presidential candidates are perceived, and even who has the most effective viral videos. Now neuromarketing may help shape economic policies as well. [MSNBC]
From roadless villages in Alaska to remote bends in the Mississippi River, developers are staking claim to thousands of miles of America’s oceans and rivers to test devices that use waves and currents to produce electric power. Their experiments are launching a new industry that has the potential to supply up to 10 percent of America’s electric needs. But critics say rapid federal approval of the exclusive right to conduct these experiments amounts to a private seizure of communities’ waterfronts. [CSM]
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