Why high oil prices are not squeezing us more: The “energy intensity” of growth – the amount of oil, coal and gas needed to produce an increase in gross domestic product – has halved since the 1970s, reflecting greater energy efficiency and the shift away from heavy manufacturing.

If you have four and a half minutes to spare, watch this: Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs.

10 ways the Chinese Internet is different from yours.

A new poll shows that 85% of U.S. adults agree that the presidential candidates should participate in a debate on how science can be used to tackle America's major challenges. The poll found no difference between Democrats and Republicans on this question.

That China has yet to grasp the downside of its imminent superpower status is evident from a plaintive e-mail doing the rounds of internet forums.

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WallStreet.com has been idle since it was sold four years ago for $2.3 million by a Caribbean-based casino, Cahn said. That company paid $1 million for it in 1999.

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Double or nothing: The uncertain future of emissions trading.

Who gives most in private aid to poor countries?

Planes are viewed as an obvious source of pollution. The same is not true of the computer industry.

Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear.

Graphic: The true value of the dollar.

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Call me a conspiracy nut if you like, but I'm starting to believe that the U.S. government is actively manipulating inflation data. PIMCO's Bill Gross recently suggested that the U.S. government wants to keep Social Security payments and other government costs pegged to an artificially low index, and he even suggested that this practice may have fueled the housing bubble. "The government can claim there's no inflation but all they're measuring is a reduced standard of living," argues Peter Schiff at Euro Pacific Capital.

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Links to interesting articles for ThePanelist.com readers...

Poverty and a billion starving people in Africa? Whisked away like dust. Overpopulation and water shortages? Waft, waft. Global warming and climate change? A little brush and they're gone. Jeffrey Sachs explains how to save the world.

The Earth's temperature may stay roughly the same for a decade, as natural climate cycles enter a cooling phase, scientists have predicted.

The financial crises of capitalism, written by Samuel Brittan at The Financial Times.

Economic Recession? It's a Guy Thing.

The global free market for food and energy is facing its biggest threat in decades as a host of countries push through draconian measures to hold down prices, raising fears of a new "resource nationalism" that could endanger world food security, says Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph.

Have a great weekend!

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