Fast Draw

Fast Draw: Death Becomes Us

The Fast Draw's Mitch Butler and Josh Landis take a closer look at the one thing that connects us all... death.

Fast Draw: In Honor of Winter

Sure, it's cold and this year's blizzards made for more than just a minor nuisance but, as Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain, it's time to rethink the way you look at Winter.

Fast Draw: Money Can Buy You Love



Flowers, candy, love songs? When it comes to Valentine's Day it's all about the cold hard cash for that special someone. The Fast Draw's Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain.

Fast Draw: U.S Census



Kicking off the 2010 U.S. Census is a stop in a remote Alaskan village, with no roads in or out. Why, you ask? The message is that no matter who you or where you are, the government wants you counted. Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain.

Fast Draw: U.S. Census



Kicking off the 2010 U.S. Census is a stop in a remote Alaskan village, with no roads in or out. Why, you ask? The message is that no matter who you or where you are, the government wants you counted. Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain.

Fast Draw: 2009 In Review



Fast Draw's Josh Landis and Mitch Butler review some of the stories of 2009 that fell under the radar, from the shrinking human brain to the link between money and fingers.

Fast Draw: Guide To Holiday Shopping

Wondering what to give friends and family this holiday season? Perhaps the perfect gift is no gift at all! Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain why "it's the thought that counts" is no excuse for wasting money.

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Fast Draw: Eating In The 'Old Days'



In the 21st century, many of us are calorie conscious, but how do we compare to our ancestors of old? Mitch Butler and Josh Landis explain.

Fast Draw: Trimming The Fat



One sign a nation's economy is on the rebound, take a look at it's population's waistlines. Josh Landis and Mitch Butler explain.

Fast Draw: Bank Backlash

The Fast Draw's Mitch Butler and Josh Landis take a look at the age-old battle between the people and their banks.

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Fast Draw: The Twilight Zone



50 year ago this week, "The Twilight Zone" premiered and after all this time it's still spooking die-hard fans of all ages. The Fast Draw's Mitch Butler and Josh Landis report on the history of science fiction.

Billions of Dollars or Billions of Years

(CBS)
Companies spend a lot of money on research and design but Mother Nature has been doing it for billions of years and her "findings" are free. Engineers are catching on and embracing the field of biomimicry - using nature's designs to solve human problems. If you think about it, almost every challenge faced by humans has been solved by nature. Shelter, transportation, communication, energy.

Now submarines could start taking cues from fish.

We've come a long way since the inventor of Velcro was inspired by a bur. Like the bur these ideas really stick.

Link:
http://bit.ly/188Liu

Beating the Baby Blues

(CBS)


Researchers in Spain are making progress in the battle against postpartum depression, which is a more serious condition than the "Baby Blues." They've developed a way to identify women who are suffering, making it easier to treat them.

They say 13 percent of new moms suffer from postpartum depression.

As for preventing it, they discovered an interesting relationship:

"They also discovered two protection factors that reduce the risk of depression -- age (the older the woman the lower her chance of depression), and whether or not a woman has worked during pregnancy (which reduces the risk)."

We can imagine the relief that correlation might inspire among women who work more and wait longer to have kids. Of course the researchers say on that matter...more research is needed.

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Do You Speak Bacteria?

(CBS)
Swine Flu fears are growing. Flu shots are coming. Parents are watching their children's' temperatures. Public health officials are bracing for a wicked flu season. The nation is on alert for the invisible threat of flu viruses. We've reported on the risk and benefit of microbes before (link) but there's a lot more to say. For starters, they're more sophisticated than anyone realized, which is why they're such survivors. For generations we've battled them with antibiotics and other drugs. But growing antibiotic resistance means we need to get smarter about fighting the oldest surviving species on Earth. A microbial geneticist at Princeton University is learning to speak the language of bacteria - hoping she can understand just enough to surprise them with a sneak attack. Link: http://bit.ly/layk0