Auction Jackson, Postcards from the edgy, Feed your head

VERY SHORT LIST Auction Jackson

COLLECTION Neverland Ranch auction catalog

The gilded gates of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch weren't high or strong enough to keep the creditors at bay. And so, April 22 to 25, those gates - and hundreds of smaller items from the King of Pop's personal collection - are going to the highest bidder.

See the entire auction catalog, and bid online for the antique furniture items, toys, gaudy objets d'art, and bizarro knickknacks that Jackson collected. (We especially like the life-size rubber models of a butler and maid.) Many items have low, low price tags: A sultry portrait of Brooke Shields is set to sell for $100 or so, and Jackson's white Lincoln Town Car limousine is going for a paltry $5,000. The price of eternal childhood may have been too steep for Neverland's resident Peter Pan, but now it's within reach for the rest of us.

the Neverland Ranch collection

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VSL:WEB Postcards from the edgy

SERVICE Anonymous Postcard

The artists behind Anonymous Postcard have created a website with real-world applications. You send a suitably interesting message of complaint or congratulations. They create a one-of-a-kind postcard and mail it to your chosen recipient.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke received an encouragement card fashioned from a $5 bill. Former governor Rod Blagojevich's card was crafted out of a hair-product container. And the message addressed to "Moms of Mill Valley, CA" - asking them to control their bratty kids - was printed, none too subtly, on an empty condom box.

Anonymous Postcard

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VSL:SCIENCE Feed your head

PAPER "Caloric restriction improves memory"

The good news is that a fountain of youth really does exist. The bad news is, you have to starve yourself to drink from it.

The latest demonstration of the age-defying "caloric restriction" effect comes from a team of German neurologists who put elderly subjects on a severe diet. The subjects had to consume 30 percent fewer calories than normal, but after only three months, their performance on memory tests improved by nearly 20 percent. The scientists - who aren't sure why starvation prevents age-related cognitive decline but are working to isolate the pertinent gene pathways - speculate that the relationship between caloric intake and cognition also applies to younger folks. So put down that sandwich today, and think more clearly tomorrow.

"Caloric restriction improves memory in elderly humans"

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