I covered monkey business of several types this week. First, I wrote a news story about Simon Singh, who announced that he hopes to appeal a judge’s ruling in a libel case about chiropractic. He and his supporters are also campaigning to limit the influence of English libel laws on public science-related debates.

I also wrote a news story about scientists who tickled apes and human babies so they could see how ape laughter reflects our evolutionary relationships.

Finally I blogged briefly about a topic that’s gotten attention in the media: the failure of the American health care insurance system to adequately protect Americans from financial ruin.