A dissenting voice as the genome is sifted to fight disease. The principal rationale for the $3 billion spent to decode the human genome was that it would enable the discovery of the variant genes that predispose people to common diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s. But David B. Goldstein of Duke University, a leading young population geneticist known partly for his research into the genetic roots of Jewish ancestry, says the effort to nail down the genetics of most common diseases is not working. — New York Times

Sarah Palin’s powerful “First Dude”. Todd Palin has exerted unusual influence on his wife’s Alaska government. In Washington, their methods would do Bush and Cheney proud. — Salon

Is the ad industry ready to let in more black people? Cyrus Mehri is a big time civil rights lawyer who’s won hundreds of millions of dollars worth of corporate discrimination settlements, and scared Wall Street and the National Football League into making serious integration-like movements. His latest project: the white-ass advertising industry. A new study found that only 5.8% of advertising professionals are black—a number that should be closer to 10%, based on the demographics of similar industries. — Gawker

Hot, flat, and badly reviewed. Slate magazine is seen as liberal, but is in fact just another status quo publication promoting a do-nothing policy on clean energy and global warming. Why else ask for a review of Tom Friedman’s new call to action, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, from the American Bjørn Lomborg? And I don’t mean that in a good way. I’m speaking about Gregg Easterbrook, well-known fountain of climate and energy misinformation. I’ve already commented on Friedman’s must-read book here. This post will focus on the three biggest energy and climate whoppers in the Slate review. — Grist