The good news, or lack of it

While the general news is usually glum here in the US (remember, fear sells), the scientific news is often filled with a neat-o feeling of hope. These are the headlines mailed to me today (my comments in parentheses):

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS
from Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society (these guys are good)

British Outbreak May Be Linked to Human Action
(a story on the latest H&M disease outbreak being caused directly by
human activity)

Team Finds Largest Exoplanet Yet
(cool)

'Baby Einstein': A Bright Idea?
(an article that finds that kids who watch this stuff have lower
vocabularies than kids who don't.... another US generation down the
tubes)

G Whiz! Craft Identifies Source of Faint Saturnian Ring
(cool)

Cooking Up More Uses for the Leftovers of Biofuel Production
(cool)

Yangtze River Dolphin Driven to Extinction
(first major vertebrate killed off in 50 years, all due to human
stupidity)

Scientists, Executive Clash Over Quake
(did the quake cause the cave-in, or the other way around? Either
way, people died due to risky mining practices.... all for coal)

Breast Implants Linked to Suicide Risk
(again, no causality, but bad either way)

Coral Reefs Vanishing Faster Than Rain Forests
(likely human caused.... )

Ancient Ape Was an Early Swinger
(cool)

So apparently you have to be in outer space, fighting big oil or an
ape from the past to get the cool factor. 6 to 4 on the side of oh-
crap!

Not what I would call heartening news.... then again, we did it to
ourselves AND at least this will sell science publications (not).