According to research released in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Brown University and Lifespan “researchers show that in the brain cells of rats, obesity impedes the production of a hormone that curbs appetite and inspires calorie burning. The root cause appears to be a breakdown in the protein-processing mechanism of the cells.”

If the research proves to be true for humans, it would mean that the obese would suffer from a vicious cycle, prompted by the change in their brain chemistry, that undermined their ability to suppress appetite and to increase calorie burning. In other words, the very condition of being overweight keeps one overweight, which might add credence to the statements that many obese people make that they can’t lose weight.

Researchers said that the change in brain chemistry could be battled with drugs, but they are not readily applicable as medicines for treating obesity in humans.

It’s the pivotal question that launched BLUFF. Not a revolutionary or new question, but one that persists and is debated in the medical community, for one, and the world at large.

In doing the research for BLUFF, I spoke to many physicians and caregivers, and my straw poll indicates the group was evenly divided. While most doctors acquiesce that they don’t rightly know, their druthers list toward the “no, not likely.”

While my mother wasn’t in a coma, technically, she was in a deep, morphine sleep toward the end of her life, thanks to a losing battle with bone cancer. She drifted in and out of long periods of consciousness, and it had me wondering, perhaps obsessively so, about what exactly she was aware of. Her primary care doctors were sensitive about not talking about her condition in front of her, even when she was snoring. I appreciate this more than they will ever know. There was a level of respect that I bow to.

After I wrote BLUFF, an in-law of mine was admitted to the hospital and kept in a medical coma for a month. When I asked him about it later, he wasn’t comfortable discussing it, other than to say, “I don’t remember a thing.”

Others who have come out of comas have had similar responses. But they are not the norm. Actually, there are those documented cases of coma patients who do remember and can even recall the offhand words of a careless doctor or insensitive nurse telling loved ones that they’ll never come out of it. Those cases are what keep the right to life movement fueled, especially in desperate cases where there is no hope. Oddly, however, there are no numbers to prove the case either way.

By creating this dilemma for my protagonist, I wanted to push the envelope and explore not just the idea that a comatose patient could hear, but much more. I wanted to know what it might be like to be trapped in one’s body, with no visible means of communication. And not just be trapped, but forced to face the decisions you’ve made and live with those outcomes while not being able to defend or explain yourself. My protagonist, Jude Black, finds herself in that position. And as she lies there, immobile, some strange things happen. One of them is that she actually finds herself communicating and developing a friendship with someone she loathed in her waking life.

As with most of my writing, this unusual outcome underscores something much larger and pervasive—a human frailty—basically, our tendency to judge one another. When everything is stripped away—social setting, class-consciousness, petty differences, toxic gossip—sometimes that’s enough to truly see someone. And find a commonality that can create a relationship, a bond. I played with this theme in the book, and I think you will agree that the unlikely friendship that transpires between Jude and Mary Shannon is not just poignant; it’s heartfelt and true.

To be certain, the question about just what someone in a coma can experience won’t be answered definitively by BLUFF or by me, that is unless I find myself in a hospital bed one day in a persistent vegetative state.

And if that happens my friends, you can rest assured—I will write about it.

Like others, I was shocked when I read about the actress’s recent surgery, following test results that discovered a mutation in a gene known as BRCA-1. Jolie’s chances of getting breast cancer were almost 90 percent. (Her cancer screening cost her $4000, out of pocket.)

I have known several women who have had the same procedure done–double mastectomy–in order to dodge the bullet that claimed the lives of their mothers, aunts, sisters and cousins. It’s a courageous act. And one I’m not sure I could embrace if faced with the same odds.

But apparently, Jolie’s not stopping there. According to ABC news, Jolie will also have her ovaries removed. (Her mother was only 56 when she died of ovarian cancer.)

Jolie is 37.

I attended a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese just once with my then-8 year old son. I vowed: Never again. I left feeling jittery and disturbed. My kid, a laid back, measured child, had transformed into a hyperactive lunatic. Frenzy barely describes the atmosphere of the place. So when I came across and article with Chuck E. Cheese in the headline, I had to read it.

According to a Time Magazine article entitled “Chuck E. Cheese: Where a kid can learn to gamble like an adult,” there is growing concern over Internet gambling cafes/parlors and many states are entertaining legislation to crackdown on them.

What does that have to do with the popular kid’s entertainment arcade?

“Thanks to new legislation in Florida targeting Internet café sweepstake gambling operations, there’s an argument to be made that some Chuck E. Cheese games involve gambling and are therefore illegal. Since kids are the chain’s main clientele, that’s a problem for more reason than one.”

This isn’t the first time the franchise has been linked to gambling. A California woman, after filing a $5 million lawsuit claiming the same thing, dropped her lawsuit  two years ago, because she realized she couldn’t win. The company’s lawyers contended that if some of the games actually constituted gambling, she would have been a participant in that since she allowed her children to play them.

I guess it depends on your definition of gambling.

Witchcraft is no laughing matter in the southern African country of Swaziland. So much so, that an official in that country claimed that flying on a broomstick over 150 metres (about 500 feet) above the country would merit arrest and a hefty fine (500,000 South African Rand, roughly $54,000).

The South Africa Times Live reports that the comment by Civil Aviation Authority marketing and corporate affairs director for that country was made after reporters asked for clarification of aviation laws, following the recent arrest of a citizen “for operating a toy helicopter equipped with a video camera, of which he boasted using to gather surveillance information similar to the way a drone aircraft operates.”

Interesting to note, however, the traditional broom in Swaziland has no handle. It’s a short bundle of sticks. Hard to fly on one of those. Maybe that’s considered a convertible.

Makes one want to reevaluate the pastime that has captured at least one generation of kids and been demonized for for it. The University of Iowa study certainly gave me cause for pause.

According to the results of the study, “people aged 50 and older who played just ten hours of a video game, priming their mental processing speed and skills, delayed declines by as many as seven years in a range of cognitive skills.”

The in-house publication of the university states, “The study comes amidst a burst of research examining why, as we age, our minds gradually lose “executive function,” generally considered mission control for critical mental activities, such as memory, attention, perception, and problem solving.

Studies show loss of executive function occurs as people reach middle age; other studies say our cognitive decline begins as soon as 28 years of age. Either way, our mental capacities do diminish, and medical and public health experts are keen to understand why in an effort to stem the inexorable tide as much as possible.”

So for those of you worried about your mental decline, pick up those controls and demand your kid or grandkid teach you how to do it.

If you would, then count yourself among the thousands who long to be wanderlusts among the stars and leave our blessed Mother Earth to become Martians.

Mars One opened the application process to emmigrate to the Red Planet on April 22, and in the past two weeks, over 78,000 applied, according to NBC Science.

Mars One is a Netherlands-based group intent on landing four people on Mars by 2023, hence why they are screening candidates now.

There are no strict requirements to apply, no age cap (though applicants must be 18 or older). And you have to have the willingness or ability to speak English. The cost for US citizens is $38.

All you need to do is fill out this application form and submit a one minute video explaining your reasons for wanting to go to Mars. The application process closes on August 31.

Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMOs as they are called, are controversial here in the U.S., home of Monsanto, the huge multinational agribusiness and leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed and of Roundup, which has also come under scrutiny as of late.

GMOs are also controversial all over the planet, but only one country has yet to ban them: Peru.

Protecting the country’s rich biodiversity fueled its legislature to pass a law in 2011, which went into effect at the end of this past year. It sufficiently bars the use of organisms that have been altered via genetic engineering–anything from bacteria, to animals, and plants, according to a recent Christian Science Monitor article.

It’s the only country in the Americas to put a 10-year ban on genetically modified food, with a law that was first introduced in 2011, and went into effect at the end of last year. Scientists acknowledge that there have been no longterm studies of GMOs and their safety and even effect on existing non-GMO species. The 10-year ban, they say, would allow for data to be evaluated.

“Peru’s new law puts its food policy closer to that of Europe, than to that of the United States or many of its South American neighbors. While genetically modified species can still be tested in controlled lab settings, as of December 2012, they can’t be planted or set free, and GMO seeds are barred from entering the country. Both activists and many scientists consider this a coup,” according to the online article.

Dennis Rodman is calling in a favor from North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un to release an American tour operator sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a message posted to Twitter. According to The Hill, the tweet reads, “I’m calling on the Supreme Leader of North Korea or as I call him “Kim”, to do me a solid and cut Kenneth Bae loose.”

Kenneth Bae, 44, an American citizen, was accused of “committing hostile acts” against North Korea. Human rights campaigners say Bae may have angered the regime, possibly by taking photographs of impoverished children and public executions.

Rodman traveled to North Korea with the Harlem Globetrotters as part of an HBO documentary series earlier this year and met leader Kim Jong Un at a basketball game. He attended a party at the dictator’s palace. According to the article, “Last month, he said he plans to return to the country and “have some fun.” He also defended the North Korean leader, despite a series of provocative actions from Pyongyang — including threatening South Korea and the United States with nuclear attack.

“He just wants to be loved. He just wants to sit down and talk. That’s all,” Rodman told GossipExtra.com.”

In Pennsylvania, there is legislation in the pipeline to close a loophole, which ostensibly forces a rape victim who decides to keep her child from having to choose between child support and no contact with her attacker. The way it stands now, the law reads that a rape victim can terminate the custodial rights of the rapist father, but the child support would also be terminated if she chooses that action. It’s part of a state law that allows a parent to petition for involuntary termination of parental rights in several cases.

The sense in this is obvious, but you might be surprised to hear that as strange as it sounds that such a loophole exists, Pennsylvania is still in the minority when it comes to states that actually have legislation in place to protect the rights of rape victims. It’s one of only 13 states that allows the involuntary termination of a rapist father’s parental rights.

Although 26 states allow rape victims to place their children for adoption without the father’s consent, 31 states have no laws allowing them to terminate the father’s parental rights if the victim keeps the child.

And if you think the number of women who choose to keep their babies is low, think again.

Or better yet, read Shauna Prewitt’s Georgetown Law Journal article, “Giving Birth to a Rapist’s Child.“