Company forces workers to implant RFID chips, California bans it

At least one company in the USA has compelled its employees to have RFID tags implanted under their skin. Fortunately not everyone thinks this is a good idea and California has made it illegal for employers to require this of their employees:

“California has passed a bill banning companies from requiring employees to have RFID chips surgically implanted. Already one company has been licensed by the federal government, implanting more than 2000 people. At least one other company — CityWatcher.com, a Cincinnati video surveillance company — already required RFID implants in some employees. ‘State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices for use in humans. “RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses,” Simitian said. “But we shouldn’t condone forced ‘tagging’ of humans. It’s the ultimate invasion of privacy.’”

I should bloody think so too!

Alleles discovered that improve memory… and cause Alzheimers

Two alleles have been discovered that tend to improve the memory of people in young adulthood, but increase their risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease when they are older. (Unfortunately the papers referred to are behind a paywall).

This sort of thing will probably turn out to be quite common as the human genome becomes better understood. If an allele has a beneficial effect when one is young, but a harmful effect when one is older, then in the environment of evolutionary adaptation, that allele will be selected for; so they are probably all over the human genome.

Russia won’t accept independence for Kosova

Russia won’t accept American missiles in Eastern Europe, or independence for Kosova:

Russia ‘won’t bargain on Kosovo’
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has warned that Moscow will not give in to pressure over “red line” issues such as missile defence and Kosovo. Mr Lavrov said Russia could not remain passive in the face of any threat to its national security.

“Such issues include for example the US plans to set up bases in Eastern Europe for a global missile defence system, and a settlement for Kosovo”, he said.

Russia opposes a UN blueprint to give Serbia’s Kosovo province independence.

Someone should tell Lavrov, “Tough”. Russia has very little control over what happens in Eastern Europe now, and hasn’t had since the fall of the Warsaw Pact. The countries of Eastern Europe are no longer Soviet puppet states, and they’re not going to take kindly to Russia ordering them around — particularly since Russia has very little it can back its words up with. During the Soviet era Russia was a bully to its neighbours, and it seems that Lavrov would like to continue to be one. Well he can’t. Russia should realise that times have changed, and that their diplomacy needs to be a lot less strident if they want to get results. (It would also help if they stopped assassinating British citizens.)

(Note that Russia calls the place “Kosovo” because that’s the Serbian name for it. The Albanian majority call it “Kosova” and that’s what it’s likely to be called on independence.)