It's been a quiet week at GlobeLens--although I did update the "American Pika" Biofile with an additional resource, for those who'd like to learn more about pikas.

With this post I'd like to recommend a few stories that have caught my attention.  It's with extreme relief that I can relay the report issued by the European Food Safety Authority(ESFA), concluding that a review of a 2005 study which suggested aspartame (the artificial sweetener in your diet soft drink) was carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, has determined "there is no reason to revise the previously established Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) or to undertake any further revisions of the safety of aspartame," according to a spokesperson.  As you might of guessed, the 2005 study was based on the testing of lab rats--1,800 of them, in fact--many of which developed cancerous tumors after being given aspartame.  But the review commissioned by the EFSA suggests those tumors were actually caused by a respiratory disease that affected many of the rats in the study.  FYI, the Acceptable Daily Intake of aspartame is defined as the amount that can be consumed every day by an adult over a lifetime without a health risk.  In the case of aspartame, BBC news says, "An adult would have to drink about 14 cans a day of diet soft drink, or consume about 80 sachets of sweetener to reach this amount." 

An exploration cruise that is part of the Census of Marine Zooplankton project has collected over 500 different species of zooplankton--tiny marine creatures of sundry shapes and varieties, excluding fish.  According to News@nature.com, the specimens were collected from various water depths, and tested with an "on-board DNA sequencer" to verify individual species.  Nature has an online slideshow featuring some the animals that were catalogued, as does BBC Science.

I overlooked an article about Muslims and modest athletic clothing posted on National Geographic News last week, maybe because I thought it said "Muslin Athletic Wear," which is quite a different thing. (Even though the origin of the word muslin--"a plain-woven sheer to coarse cotton fabric"--seems be traced to Mosul, Iraq.)  The very respectful article relates how Muslim women often find themselves in a quandary over how to keep traditional rules of modesty while swimming, exercising, or participating in athletic sports.  For example, one Muslim girl didn't participate in soccer at school because the team uniforms required her to wear shorts.  Female Muslims are, under rules of the Koran, only allowed to show their hands, feet, and face.  As a result, several companies have begun designing workout and swimwear clothing lines that abide by Islam's modesty requirements. (See Capsters and Hasema.)  Even Nike has participated in skin-covering sportswear design, providing a Somali volleyball team with flexible uniforms.  (Nike has no plans to market the outfits for public sale.)  Specially designed swimsuits for Muslim ladies are, in many cases, large and loose-fitting, covering the ankles up the chin.  Not very sexy, but that's the point.  Isn't it ironic that Muslims, not Christians, have suddenly become a public statement for modesty?  In fact, one alleged reason why many Arabs hate Christianity is because America is a such large propagator of sexual vices, including pornography and immodesty.

Finally, the Unnamed Editor from Creation-Evolution Headlines has linked to a long but well-worth-reading article from City Journal's spring issue.  The article by John Kekes is a spotlight of the tyrant of the French Revolution, Maximilien Robespierre, whose political leadership resulted in the execution of thousands of innocent civilians.  Kekes shows how Robespierre was a sort of model for murderous rulers like Hitler, Lenin, and Mao, "idealogues" who were, amazingly, able to portray their murders as moral acts.  One such character Kekes forgets to mention (who perhaps inspired Robespierre?) is Sulla, the 138-78 B.C. Roman dictator who arranged the public murder of hundreds of his political opponents, branding them as "tyrants."