Popular Elsewhere
15:38 UK time, Tuesday, 31 May 2011
A look at the stories ranking highly on various news sites.
A popular Guardian story - a hallucinogenic drug which has spread across South America. The article puts the swell in uptake down to being twice as strong as crack cocaine at a fraction of the price. Oxi is a mix of cocaine paste, gasoline, kerosene and quicklime. Campaigners warn against paranoia, vomiting and uncontrollable bouts of diarrhoea and tooth loss.
A popular Forbes story lists the . Moscow is at the top of the list with 79 billionaires - an increase of 21 in a year. The Russian capital beats New York to the top spot. The magazine puts Moscow's success down the people making money out of Russia's natural resources.
Time's most popular story ask It explains that while "collectively we can grow pessimistic - about the direction of our country or the ability of our leaders to improve education and reduce crime" privately people believe their future will be better than their past regardless of age, gender or class. It says "a growing body of scientific evidence points to the conclusion that optimism may be hardwired by evolution into the human brain". Even so the article points out there is still a puzzle to be solved in the study of optimism and that people are hopeful even when forecasts predict otherwise.
A popular story in the New Scientist looks at test which show . The article quotes Giandomenico Iannetti who conducted the experiments as suggesting the brain gets muddled and the pain message gets disrupted. He now wants to see if this is true for people in chronic pain.
Makers of the computer game according to the Wall Street Journal's most popular story. It would be for an "elite" service. The article says there are seven million daily players of the game and they spend on average about seven full days a year playing the game against others online. It is suggested that the game has enough player loyalty to be able to charge players a regular fee.
