genetically engineered mice, illegal immigration, and toothpaste

Today I learned that you can fix up mental retardation in mice that have something similar to Down syndrome using a neurotransmitter blocker. I had no idea that mental retardation could be caused by too much of a neurotransmitter.

Then I learned that there was a huge surge in illegal immigration in the beginning of 2004 because President Bush mentioned a possible temporary worker program. I still think we need to at least do something about seasonal workers being able to cross the border to pick fruit, but I didn't know that merely discussing something like that caused a whole bunch of people to cross illegally. But according to the New York Times, putting first-time illegal border crossers in jail for a couple of weeks and repeat offenders for longer seems to be a reasonable deterrent, along with increasing border patrols. I recognize that we'll have to wait and see how that works in the long run, but I'm pleased that it looks like there's an alternative to fences, which outside of urban areas, still sound to me like expensive, environmentally stupid, hugely embarrassing monuments to our inability to enforce our own laws.

In other news, I can smell conventional toothpaste from behind the closed door of the guest bathroom while I'm sitting on my couch, which is all the way down the hall in the living room. I remember when we first came to Arizona and got our crash course in what products to avoid, and our coaches (now friends) said toothpaste was smelly stuff, but I had no idea.