In case you missed it: sick bats, Alan Spievack, psychogeography, strain for insured

In the Sunday Globe:

For more than four months, perplexed scientists have struggled to understand why upwards of a half-million bats may be at risk of dying in the dark caves and mines of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and New York. Finding an answer is critical for a population that eats thousands of tons of crop-infesting and human-biting insects. But scientists also worry that the sick bats are a potent sign of changing conditions in the natural world.

Boston surgeon Dr. Alan Spievack (right), a pioneer in cellular regeneration who spent more than 40 years teaching at Harvard and performing surgery at area hospitals, died March 15 at his home in Cambridge. He was 74 and had cancer.

Where do all the neurotics live? On the East Coast, of course. A psychological tour of the United States turns up other patterns, too, like the great river of extroversion that flows roughly southeast from greater Chicago to southern Florida and the vast lakes of agreeableness and conscientiousness that pool together in the Sun Belt, especially around Atlanta.

In the Sunday New York Times:

The economic slowdown has swelled the ranks of people without health insurance. But now it is also threatening millions of people who have insurance but find that the coverage is too limited or that they cannot afford their share of medical costs.