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POSTED: Thursday, January 14, 2010

HERE'S TO YOU

Scandal gives new life to hit song

Simon and Garfunkel's 1968 Grammy winner “;Mrs. Robinson,”; sung in the movie “;The Graduate,”; has reached Amazon's top 25 singles in Britain after only two days of sales.

That's because a whole new generation has become aware of the hit song from a scandal in Northern Ireland revealed by the BBC. Iris Robinson, a 60-year-old British Parliament member and wife of Northern Ireland's first minister, was revealed to have engaged in a sexual relationship two years ago with then-19-year-old Kirk McCambley. She also obtained #50,000 from two property developers to help what the British press calls her boy toy to launch a cafe, keeping #5,000 for herself.

Iris Robinson has since resigned from political office and her husband has taken a six-week leave.

As the Guardian headlined, “;Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.”;

 

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

Men more advanced than some of us thought

OK, guys, no need to feel insecure about your place in the world. New research, published online yesterday in the journal Science, indicates that the Y chromosome — the male genetic marker — is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code. The two-year study lays to rest the idea that the Y chromosome — which has fewer genes than other chromosomes — is shrinking so much that in 50,000 years it would disappear — and men along with it. The lead author said the Y chromosome's keen adaptive power doesn't mean that men are more highly evolved than women, but it does mean that they're clearly not headed for extinction.