How Drugs Created Superbugs

You’re Being Bugged

Among some lawmakers and medical experts there’s an increased urgency to create a new line-up of antibiotics that can take on antibiotic-resistant superbugs. What created the superbugs? As the NYT’s Barry Meier explains, it’s the antibiotics that we’ve all been ingesting (one way or another) over the years: “The overuse of antibiotics in people and animals, often for conditions for which the drugs are ineffective or not needed, is seen as a driving force in the development of resistant bacteria.” We need take more drugs to cope with the threats posed by our current overuse of drugs. That’s a tough pill to swallow.

You Can Be Sampled

The Supreme Court split along unusual lines in ruling that police can take DNA samples from arrestees (like they already take fingerprints). Antonin Scalia sided with the dissent: “Make no mistake about it: Because of today’s decision, your DNA can be taken and entered into a national database if you are ever arrested, rightly or wrongly, and for whatever reason.”

+ Over the next few weeks, we will get Supreme Court decisions in some major cases that deal with gay marriage, affirmative action, and voting rights.

Turkish Spring?

In Turkey, a protest to save a Gezi Park (one of the last public green spaces in central Istanbul) was met with harsh crackdowns and has led to additional protests and turmoil across the country. CNN reports that thousands of people have been injured, while Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan brushed off the claims: “We are servants of the people, not masters. We did not use violence.”

+ In Focus has a collection of photos from the days of protests and crackdowns.

+ Here’s an overview of the situation in Turkey from The New Yorker’s Elif Batuman. “The feeling of unreality and disconnect is at the heart of the Gezi demonstrations. Istanbul loves to demonstrate … usually, they are small, peaceful, and self-contained, and the police just stand there.”

Rolling with Dear Leader

GQ’s Adam Johnson on the sushi chef who got an up close look at the inner sanctum of North Korea’s leadership: “What is life like serving Kim Jong-il and his heir? A strange and dangerous gig where the food and drink never stop, the girls are all virgins, and you’re never really safe.”

The Final Chase

The Daily Beast has several videos chronicling the work of storm chaser (and researcher) Tim Samaras who, along with his son and colleague, died in an Oklahoma tornado last week.

+ And from NatGeo, here is Samaras’ last interview: I watched The Wizard of Oz when I was a kid and vowed to myself, ‘I’m going to see that tornado one day.’ Tornadoes have pretty much become a focus of my life.”

The Rise of Samsung

“The cellphones were stacked up high in the Gumi factory yard and more were coming out every minute. Phones, TVs, fax machines, and other gear shattered as it hit the concrete and Samsung CEO Kun-hee Lee and his board cracked the screens and cases with heavy hammers. Then they lit a bonfire and threw everything in.” In this TechCrunch piece, Chris Valazco tells the story of how Samsung got big.

+ While they are enemies in the marketplace, 80% of Samsung’s microchip revenue comes from Apple. But that could change soon.

The Tony Award

What’s the most well-written television series of all time? According to the Writers Guild of America, the answer to that question is The Sopranos. Here’s a look at the top ten. Let the arguing begin.

Game of Moans

Kara Swisher of AllThingsD reports Zynga is set to lay off 520 employees and close offices. A lot of Internet companies can relate to Zynga’s pain. The revenue from their web business has declined quickly and the money in mobile hasn’t grown quickly enough.

I Gave at the Office

MIT computer science graduate Jason Trigg wanted to choose a career where he could do the most good for the world. So he took a job at a hedge fund.

The Bottom of the News

There are “paid consultants, books, Web sites brimming with trend data, and academic studies exploring correlations between baby names and future success.” Have we lost our minds when it comes to baby-naming?

+ Dunkin’ Donuts is taking its doughnut bacon sandwich national. You can’t say you haven’t been warned…