Time for a mixed bag blog … just a couple of observations of interest.

First, have you heard of Yum! Brands? I was looking at some industry profit tables in Business Week the other day and the name caught my eye (catchy name, eh?). Turns out that they own some fast food chains, including Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell. I recall those brands previously being owned by Pepsi. But while you’re not looking, things change. So now, when you’re up for some non-burger junk food, just say “Yum!”.

Second, medicine’s next big thing might be something called RNA interference, or RNAi for short. It seems to be the way to turn individual genes on and off. Obviously, that could be an extremely powerful tool in fighting cancer and all kinds of other diseases. (It might also be a Frankenstein technology if it goes astray). The effect was discovered about 12 years ago by a geneticist who was trying to make petunias more purple. Now the pharmaceutical industry is licking its lips anticipating the profits they can make on RNAi drugs. But hey, that’s capitalistic medicine for you. A bad system whose alternatives usually turn out to be worse. People generally get the “-isms” they deserve.

Third, the question of whether criminals are different from the average Joe or Jane has always been one of those interesting and slightly creepy topics of research. Back in the 50s, a lot of attention was given to the idea that criminals are different from the rest of us. The idea that criminals are “special people” then worked its way into popular entertainment, e.g. in those TV or movie scenes where the perpetrator of a crime is seen lit up by harsh lights while running down a dark staircase or alleyway, accompanied by a fast-paced piano melody that just screams the word “DEVIANT”. In the late 60s and thereafter, the popular viewpoint swung back toward the notion that criminals are just like everyone else. They’re acting poorly, but that’s just a function of bad breaks in life combined with faulty law enforcement. With enough police and punishment, even the toughest person from the hardest streets will think twice.

There’s some recent research that indicates that hard core criminals may in fact be special people after all. A study of a group of guys in New Zealand indicates that a significant chunk of violent crimes were caused by men who have a certain gene that causes a low level of a protein that interacts with brain chemicals called MAOA, and who were abused as children. They found out that guys who had both low MAOA and severe childhood abuse had an 85% chance of becoming criminals.

So, does that mean we should screen ghetto kindergartners for low MAOA and develop some kind of therapy to boost this protein in them? Interesting thought. But for now, perhaps it’s time to get the piano out again.