The evolution of smell

This is fascinating research into the genetics and origin of smell, only recently elucidated. Our olfactory nerves are an extension of our brain tissue.

The researchers won a Nobel Prize in 2004 for it.

I disagree with something in this article. It states that the human vomeronasal system has atrophied. Yet, when researchers started looking for the vomeronasal organs in humans, they found them.

IF you’re interested, find this book: Jacobson’s Organ and the Remarkable Nature of Smell, by Lyall Watson.

The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
Dune, Frank Herbert
Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
Cities in Flight, James Blish
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Gateway, Frederik Pohl
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
Little, Big, John Crowley
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
On the Beach, Nevil Shute
Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld, Larry Niven
Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
Timescape, Gregory Benford
To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Bold = we’ve read ‘em
Italic = we read the first three chapters and now they’re in a box somewhere

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Updated to add:
I got it from PZ Myers at Pharyngula, who got it from Tikistitch, who posted it from The News Blog. I wouldn’t have chosen all of these books, particularly since I’ve never read some of them, and I would have put in Clifford Simak, James H. Schmitz, C. J. Cherryh, James Tiptree Jr. (Alice Sheldon), Octavia E. Butler, and perhaps others.

U.S. District Attorney a criminal?

Mr. Griffin, a former aide to Karl Rove has been implicated in a 2004 scheme to disenfranchise voters, most of them Democrats, who were black soldiers overseas or people in homeless shelters. Apparently, there’s a way to challenge someone’s voter’s rights… Then he sent his e-mail to the wrong organization.