As neuroscientists refine their techniques for imaging the brain, scans like the fMRI keep creeping toward the courtroom and getting closer to joining to polygraph tests as means to sort liars from truth-tellers through physiology. In Brooklyn, lawyer David Levin is now offering the fMRI brain scan of a witness as proof of her honesty. If the court accepts it, it could be the first time such a brain scan was ever admitted as evidence.

For what would be a legal breakthrough, the case is a rather minor one: Levin’s client, Cynette Wilson, claims she was treated poorly at her job at a staffing center after filing a sexual harassment complaint. The lawyer found a coworker of Wilson’s to corroborate her story, but wanted to bolster his credibility. Wired.com reports:

So, Levin had the coworker undergo an fMRI brain scan by the company Cephos, which claims to provide “independent, scientific validation that someone is telling the truth.”

Laboratory studies using fMRI, which measures blood-oxygen levels in the brain, have suggested that when someone lies, the brain sends more blood to the ventrolateral area of the prefrontal cortex. In a very small number of studies, researchers have identified lying in study subjects (.pdf) with accuracy ranging from 76 percent to over 90 percent.

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Between the beautiful scenery and legally mandated good treatment, animals have it pretty good in Switzerland. They could have had it even better, but over the weekend the country’s people decided that the country’s animals didn’t need their own state-funded lawyers.

Yes, Switzerland is so animal-friendly that this question actually came to a vote. The courts in Zurich already have a representative, Antoine Goetschel, who is responsible for taking up the cases of cats and horses and sheep. And this weekend the Swiss voted on a referendum that would have expanded this system to cover the entire nation. However, 70 percent of people voted no.

It seems that worries over costs to taxpayers, as well as the objections from farmers, convinced the Swiss that their existing animal rights laws were good enough. From BBC News:

Switzerland already has some of the strictest animal welfare legislation in the world.

Pigs, budgies, goldfish and other social animals cannot be kept alone; horses and cows must have regular exercise outside in summer and winter; and dog owners have to take training courses to learn how to care for their pets.

And let’s not forget that the Alpine nation recently mandated that researchers who want to work with genetically engineered plants must first explain to an ethics panel why the work won’t destroy the plants’ dignity.

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Image: Wikimedia Commons / Chris Hartford

The development of a new shotgun-fired long-range Taser, called the Taser XREP, is, er, sparking a fierce debate over its safety—and rightfully so.

One reason: The guns can be fired 20 meters away from the target, whereas the old Taser X26 had to be within five meters of it. Perhaps more frightening, however, is that tests have shown that the Taser XREP can deliver a stunning shock for more than five minutes, even though the shock was designed to only last for 20 seconds (which is still four times longer than older Taser guns).

The XREP also can be hard to aim, increasing the risk of lingering injury.

New Scientist reports:

In test firings, [the Taser XREP] proved difficult to aim, as the aerodynamics of the projectile caused it to fall below the aiming point at a range of 20 metres. “Any lack of accuracy means a greater risk of hitting an unintended part of the body and therefore greater risk of injury,” says security researcher Neil Davison.

A representative from Taser International said that the guns used in the tests were pre-production models, and that further experiments (which were funded by Taser) resulted in no permanent damage when the guns were fired at cadavers—meaning that no dead people were harmed by them. Understandably, experts worry about the threat electric shock weapons can pose to the mental health of the living. New Scientist says:

Shooting cadavers is one thing. But what happens when the weapons are fired at pregnant women, people with health problems or the very young, [electric shock weapons expert Steve] Wright asks.

The goal of the new Taser is to enable law enforcement officers to temporarily incapacitate people from farther away. But because the weapon would likely be used in a crowd setting, let’s hope the guns can take aim better than they did in the initial tests.

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Image: flickr / hermanturnip

A New Jersey prosecutor is filing felony theft charges against a 25-year-old man. This is not news. What is news is that the object the defendant is charged with stealing isn’t an object at all—it’s a domain name. The AP reports:

Daniel Goncalves, 25, of Union, hacked into an online account belonging to one of the owners of the P2P.com domain name, New Jersey State Police said Monday. He allegedly shifted ownership to himself and resold the Web site address on eBay to Madsen, a Los Angeles Clippers forward who did not know the name was stolen.

Goncalves, who works for an online research firm, was arrested Thursday on felony charges of theft by unlawful taking or deception, identity theft and computer theft. Julian Castellanos, a state police spokesman, said each of the three counts carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. Goncalves, who did not respond to a reporter’s phone calls, is free after posting a $60,000 cash bail.

Plenty of charges have been brought for crimes taking place on the Internet—identity theft, soliciting illegal sex, the list goes on. But this is the first time felony theft charges have been brought for a domain name (and the potential piece of the Internets that it leads to).

That’s not to say that domain name stealing has never occurred—let’s not be naive. But until now, arrests for the crime have numbered in the zero range. Should the charges hold up, and should Goncalves be convicted, let the floodgates open!

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Image: iStockphoto