We tend to think of our species as the only one that leaves a significant mark on the world, for better or worse. Far from it: beyond the engineering of beavers, consider the cities of the termites or the coral polyps, the soil moved by pocket gophers. All of us, man to microorganism, shape our various environments.

And our environments shape us back. Another book from the '80s, Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin's The Dialectical Biologist, tried to make that point, albeit with too much Marxist jargon for most tastes. (With us, there's another layer when culture feeds back into the genome, as when Northern European and East African cattle herders independently—by separate genetic pathways—evolved adult lactose tolerance.)

Woodpeckers—to pick just one of the cast of characters at Hat Lake—are builders and shapers in their own right.

PreMD Signs Marketing and Distribution Agreement with AstraZeneca

TORONTO, July 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Predictive medicine company PreMD Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP for the U.S. marketing and distribution of a novel non-invasive skin cholesterol test, currently marketed as PREVU(x), that helps assess an individual's risk of coronary heart disease. This is the first test in the world to use skin cholesterol to evaluate risk of advanced atherosclerosis. Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will have the exclusive right to market and distribute the skin test into the healthcare community, including physician offices, hospitals, retail chains and other institutions in the U.S., and a three month exclusive right to negotiate a global contract with PreMD. AstraZeneca and PreMD will explore a range of options for bringing this product to healthcare professionals and patients while awaiting the U.S.

Zitney Spears

Britney Spears' mug was popped last night as she headed into a supermarket to fetch a few groceries after a hard couple of hours in the recording studio. Wearing a tweed cap to hide her scraggly, shoe-dyed weave -- in her new disguise as a 1930s gangster/Calamine lotion spokeswreck -- the pop star picked up some corn flakes, eggs and cleaning supplies for her palatial mansion. It's hard to be squeezin' in everything when you're a single mom, y'all. .