Searching For A New Metaphor

by Patrick Appel

Jonah Lehrer highlights a new study finding that mice with toys in their cages were better able to fight off cancer:

There is something spookyabout this new link between nice cages and reduced tumor growth.Cancer, after all, is just stupid cells run amok. It is life at itsmost mechanical, nothing but a genetic mistake. And yet, the presenceof toys in a cage can dramatically alter the course of the disease,making it harder for cancerous cells to take root and slowing...