Month: July 2007

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MIT discovers chemical basis of fear

MIT researchers just published a paper in Nature which describes how to reduce “learned fear” in mice by manipulating molecular pathways. They suggest this as a way of treating emotional disorders. Useful if you have emotionally disturbed mice in your lab.

Of course, you wouldn’t want drugs that can eliminate all fear – it’s too useful a survival mechanism.

Otherwise, soldiers might behave like Dave Lister, in the Red Dwarf episode “Polymorph“. The crew meets a creature that feeds on negative emotion. After it sucks all the fear out of Lister, he volunteers to strap on a neutron bomb and go after the beast. Hilarity ensues.

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I won’t invest unless you have a hot tub and a lap pool

According to Reuter’s reporter Ilaina Jonas, hedge funds are driving up commercial rents in Manhattan. The reason? Apparently because hedge funds need especially plush surroundings.

Are Hedge Funds Raising the Rent?

Reuters’ Ilaina Jonas writes: “Many hedge funds are not only able to pay top dollar for their offices, but they need to do so to impress and retain both clients and staff. Like a magnet, hedge fund rents have pulled up other rents across the market.”

“Rents surpassing $100 per square foot — shocking just a year ago — were too numerous to count,” Ms. Jonas wrote.

The actual work of hedge funds doesn’t take a lot of space (although some of them do have sizable trading floors), but they still typically tend to rent 10,000 to 20,000 square feet because they need views (often of Central Park) and other accoutrements to impress clients (and, in some cases, themselves) such as gyms, kitchens, and private rest rooms.