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| EU's Austerity Mirage |
| HE way the Greeks and their government have been treated tells us a great deal about the way Europe is structured and the dangers that beset it. The technocratic leaders of Greece have lost the confidence of the people
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| IS M-E QUEST FOR CHANGE DYING? |
| IN medieval times, areas known to be dangerous or uncharted were often labelled on maps with the warning: "Beware, here be dragons." That is surely how mapmakers would be labelling the whole Middle East today.
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 | Hollywood movie about widower's Devon zoo LIFE has not taken a predictable path for Benjamin Mee. As a single father bringing up two young children, he did not expect to be running a failing zoo full of dangerous animals ...
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| | Brain scans might spot autism in six month old children |  N children as young as six months old, changes in the brain that can lead to autism spectrum disorder may have already begun, preliminary research suggests.
Although early signs of autism, such as problems communicating and repetitive behaviours, can often be seen as early as one year, processes in the brain linked to communication are seemingly being altered months earlier, University of North Carolina researchers report.
"We know that there is evidence that autism affects the ability of different brain regions to communicate with each other. This study confirms that this atypical brain development begins very early in life," said study cobauthor Geri Dawson, the chief science officer at Autism Speaks.
"These findings raise the possibility of developing imaging markers that could detect risk for autism in advance of actual symptoms, and (to) begin treatment before symptoms begin," she said.
However, whether these brain changes occur in all autistic children isn't known, Dawson said. It is possible that the developmental problems of autism start even earlier, while in the womb, she said.
... | | | Summer harvests in winter climes |  IT was early February, when the 10-hour day returns here on the 44th parallel, and Barbara Damrosch could see it in the brighter green leaves of her tatsoi and spinach growing in the unheated greenhouse attached to the house she shares with her husband, Eliot Coleman, at Four Season Farm.
Coleman, 73, began farming here on Cape Rosier, a rocky peninsula in Penobscot Bay, in 1968, on 60 acres of forested land he bought from Scott and Helen Nearing for $33 an acre.
"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them," said Coleman, who is a wiry 5-foot-8 and can still swing himself into his apple trees like a boy. "I can't tell you how much I owe them." The Nearings, socialists and free thinkers who built their first house out of stone with their own hands and started growing their food at the foot of Stratton Mountain in southern Vermont during the Depression, inspired young Coleman and other back-to-thelanders with their 1954 book, Living the Good Life.
By then, the Nearings had fled the tourists and skiers pouring into Vermont and moved to Maine, where they built a garden walled with stone that collected heat in a climate where winter temperatures can still fall to 20 below zero. ... | | | Lady Gaga lends star wattage to youth empowerment |  POP diva Lady Gaga brought her star power, her mom and some of her famous friends, including Oprah Winfrey, to Harvard University recently, to launch a new foundation aimed at empowering young people and stamping out bullying.
"If you have a revolutionary potential, you must make the world a better place and use it," Gaga said as she officially kicked off the 'Born this Way Foundation,' named after her 2011 hit album and single, with a series of events at the top US university. "This is about a transformative change in culture." The singer has often given a voice for people she feels lack representation in the media, and she formed the foundation to address issues like self-confidence, well-being, antibullying and mentoring.
Cynthia Germanotta, Gaga's mother, will serve as a president. Lady Gaga's given name is Stefani Germanotta.
"I believe that human kind, as a whole, can change the world," said style-icon Gaga, who wore a long black, backless dress, black hat, gloves and platform shoes to Harvard for what she termed "one of the best days of my life." "The goal is to c h a l l e n g e m e a n n e s s and cruelty by inspiring young people to create a support system in their respective communities," she said.
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