Girl, 16, faces 25 years for strangling molester

Posted for consideration of the medical / psychological content.

8-26-2014 Arizona:

Mentally ill teen 'said they got in a fight and he was hitting her'

A 16-year-old mentally ill girl – who is accused of killing her 43-year-old statutory rapist – now faces up to 25 years in prison for second-degree murder.

Jessica Burlew of Glendale, Az., reportedly suffers from schizophrenia and autism. She has been charged as an adult for the murder of Jason Ash, 43, a man described by almost every media outlet that has reported on the case as her “boyfriend,” even though the age of sexual consent in Arizona is 18.

Burlew, who is accused of strangling Ash with an electrical cord on Jan. 28, said the two had been engaged in a sexual game of autoerotic asphyxiation, a method of increasing sexual excitement by cutting off oxygen to the brain.

According to court documents, Burlew claimed Ash didn’t say the “safety word,” and she told police she began cutting him with razor blades in an attempt to wake him up since she believed he had passed out.

Once Burlew realized Ash wasn’t waking up, she said, she continued “cutting” him to “alleviate her stress from the situation.”

Burlew’s mother, Tracey Woodside – who left the apartment and claims to have gone to the store while her daughter and Ash were inside – said the teen has a history of cutting herself “as a release,” according to the court documents.

How Google's Calico aims to fight aging and 'solve death'

10-4-2013 National:

It is an age-old question: will humankind ever defeat old age?

Plenty of skin care companies would like us to believe so. And now, the multinational tech giant Google would like us to think it might be possible too.

Last month Google announced a new medical company called Calico, whose explicit aim is to take on aging itself. But what will Google's approach be? And what other research into prolonging life already exists?

With its proliferation of businesses, products and services, it would be easy to forget that not so very long ago Google was just a search engine. Today, offshoots of the sprawling global corporation can be found researching self-driving cars, developing their own smart phones and tablets and even launching giant balloons into near space.

Amid this growing portfolio of diffuse interests and initiatives has been added their latest company: Calico.

Calico -- or the California Life Company -- has been set up to research subjects related to aging and its associated diseases. Announcing Calico at a media briefing, Google said that the new and independent company will largely focus on age-attendant conditions such as Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease.

Larry Page, Google's ever youthful CEO said: "Illness and aging affect all our families. With some longer term, moonshot thinking around healthcare and biotechnology, I believe we can improve millions of lives."

But the question is, what will Calico actually do? At the moment the company isn't giving much detail away: "(Incoming CEO Arthur Levinson) and I are excited about tackling aging and illness," Page wrote in his Google+ blog post. But repeated requests from CNN to interview either Page or Levinson were politely declined. ..Long Article w/many parts..CLICK.. by Arion McNicoll