Musicians have always borrowed from others — tunings, vocal styles, distinctive phrasings. But the advent of the sampler in the 80s brought borrowing into the digital age. Today, “sampling,” or lifting a snippet of someone else’s work — anything from a horn hit to a drum beat — is mainstream. But how to credit and pay those earlier artists for their contribution is where things get thorny. How much of someone else’s work should artists be able to use? How much should they pay for it? Is copyright law stuck in the age of analog?
Straight from the archives of NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow, check out Hank Shocklee Discuss Sampling & Remix Culture along with Kembrew McLeod, Associate Professor, University of Iowa & Producer of the Film Copyright Criminals; Flora Lichtman, Multimedia Editor, NPR’s Science Friday; Dean Garfield,President and CEO, Information Technology Industry Council. Download mp3 Listen @'Science Friday'
Scott Walker is currently embroiled in a dispute over public sector pay Photograph: Pool/REUTERS
The Republican governor at the centre of the union-busting protests in the US has been embarrassed by a prank call that he believed was from one of his billionaire backers.
On the recording of the call, which has been released online, the Republican governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker tells a caller impersonating one of the rightwing Koch brothers that he is looking forward to flying to California to celebrate with them once the battle with the unions was won, and jokes about taking a baseball bat to slug Democratic leaders.
Walker is under siege in his office in the state capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, in a backlash against his proposed legislation to remove unions' right to collective bargaining and cut public sector workers' pay.
Ian Murphy, who calls in pretending to be David Koch, suggests planting troublemakers among the protesters, who have been peaceful through 11 successive days of demonstrations. Walker says he has thought about doing that but decided against.
The prankster says: "I'll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."
Walker replies: "Alright, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward. We appreciate it and we're doing the just and right thing for the right reasons and it's all about getting our freedoms back."
The Koch brothers have given millions to the Americans for Prosperity campaign group, which has previously campaigned against Barack Obama's healthcare reforms and tightening environmental controls. It is launching a major advertising campaign supporting Walker in Wisconsin.
Records for the state show that the brothers' Koch Industries was one of the largest contributors to Walker's election campaign. Ewan MacAskill @'The Guardian'
Emerging research suggests people who have used amphetamines such as benzedrine and dexedrine appear to be at an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Benzedrine and dexedrine are drugs often prescribed to increase wakefulness and focus for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, a disorder that can cause excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden attacks of sleep. They are also used to treat traumatic brain injuries.
The study involved 66,348 people in northern California who had participated in the Multiphasic Health Checkup Cohort Exam between 1964 and 1973 and were evaluated again in 1995.
The average age of the participants at the start of the study was 36 years old. Of the participants, 1,154 people had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by the end of the study.
Exposure to amphetamines was determined by two questions: one on the use of drugs for weight loss and a second question on whether people often used benzedrine or dexedrine.
Amphetamines were among the drugs commonly used for weight loss when this information was collected.
According to the study, those people who reported using benzedrine or dexedrine were nearly 60 percent more likely to develop Parkinson’s than those people who didn’t take the drugs.
There was no increased risk found for those people who used drugs for weight loss.
“If further studies confirm these findings, the potential risk of developing Parkinson’s disease from these types of amphetamines would need to be considered by doctors before prescribing these drugs as well as be incorporated into amphetamine abuse programs, including illicit use,” said study author Stephen K. Van Den Eeden, Ph.D.
Van Den Eeden said amphetamines affect the release and uptake of dopamine, the key neurotransmitter involved in Parkinson’s disease. He explained that more research needs to be completed to confirm the association and learn more about possible mechanisms.
@'PsychCentral'
Could LSD be the next drug in your doctor's arsenal? New experiments have a few researchers believing that this trippy drug could become a pharmaceutical of the future.
Outlawed in 1966 in the US, the street drug developed a reputation as the dangerous toy of the counterculture, capable of inspiring either moments of genius or a descent into madness.
Now science is taking a fresh look into this psychedelic world, including the first human LSD trials in more than 35 years.
LSD's inventor Albert Hofmann called it medicine for the soul. The Beatles wrote songs about it. Secret military mind control experiments exploited its hallucinogenic powers.
Can it possibly enhance our brain power, expand our creativity, or cure diseases?
