Reasons to Flee the Modern World

This Is Where I'll Be Kjetil Bjørnsrud (GNU Free Documentation License)

Researchers found that teenagers who watched more television had greater odds of becoming depressed. Interestingly, there was no similar correlation between watching videos or playing computer games and depression. Ironically, I first read this news on a TV screen in an elevator. I felt kind of bad about that afterward.

Also in today's links: a new theory about infertility, solace in God, and sea sponges in Oman.

• A new study finds that women who had more difficulty getting pregnant had higher levels of nonstick chemicals in their blood. These chemicals are found in pots and pans, as well as popcorn bags and products treated with stain guards, and now in many people in the developed world.
• Is religion an evolutionary adaptation? Eh, probably not. But that's one of several thoughts on how the brain might be hard-wired to incline people toward finding a god. I'm not sure how much of this article I buy, but then, I'm not much of a believer. 
• Scientists found evidence of sea sponges living 635 million years ago in what's now Oman, giving scientists a better sense of what the earth looked like at that time. Life was probably a lot simpler then.
• Until everyone has a personal jetpack, people will still have to rely on sky diving for their flying-through-their-air thrills. But when something goes wrong, here's what's going on.