This Chinese noodle dish is literally addictive

A Chinese noodle vendor in the northern Shaanxi province has been arrested on charges that his method for getting customers to return to his shop is outside the bounds of the law.

The man, who was not identified, admitted that he added powdered poppy plant — from which opium is made — to his noodle dishes in a bid to get his customers to return. The whole scheme unraveled when one of his customers, a 26-year-old man, failed a drug test shortly after eating a bowl of noodles.

Experts say the risk of becoming addicted from eating the noodles was low, but it certainly was disconcerting for customers. According to a CNN report, adding poppy to Chinese food is not unheard of, with previous cases over the past four years.

German ethics council calls for incest between siblings to be legalized

Germany, like much of the Western world, has a strict law prohibiting incestuous relationships between close family members. But an advisory panel this week recommended that the laws prohibiting incest between consenting, adult siblings be repealed because "the risk of disability in children is not enough to warrant the law," the Independent reports. Rather, they say, the strong cultural taboo against incest will prevent almost all such relationships — and there's no reason for a law to criminalize that behavior.

The ethics council's recommendation comes after a German man was sentenced to three years in prison for having a sexual relationship, and four children, with his adult sister. The two met as adults and did not grow up together. The man argued before successively higher courts that the country's laws against incest violated his fundamental right to a family life — but all of the courts rejected his argument. Three of the couple's four children have been taken into government care; two of them are disabled.

Next time your doctor makes a recommendation, check his wallet

Today's American healthcare system is expensive — but the prices seem to have almost no direct connection to the market that exists. Hospitals charge what they want, insurance companies pay what they want and patients? Well they're stuck in the middle. A surgeon writes in a new book that too many medical decisions are made by doctors and hospitals looking to goose their finances, rather than by healthcare goals and outcomes.

Science Friday talked to Dr. Paul Ruggieri about his book and his allegation. He says surgeons and other doctors have direct financial incentives to push people into procedures that they may not need. And he says more of medicine is moving in that direction. He wants to change that. He says patients should be given more and easier access to information and pricing should be simplified so patients know what they should expect to be paying.

Here’s one way to beat the Italian mafia

Riccardo Cordi is only 18, but he’s the centerpiece of Italy’s latest effort to put the mob out of business. Cordi was the son of one of Italy’s mafia families, and so a judge ruled that then-16-year-old Cordi should be taken out of his parents home and placed in a facility for troubled juveniles until he turned 18. He also paired the teen with a psychologist, whose job it was to help him understand the consequences of the mob’s actions.

Surprisingly, it seems to have worked, at least for now. Cordi left government supervision in February with a track record of someone who’s changed his life. Since returning to society, he’s said that while he won’t condemn his own family, he wants to leave a clean life. Without the mafia ties. So then it seems, just maybe, the best way to beat the mob may be to re-educate its children. The Guardian has the story.

These Japanese Americans came together in social clubs 80 years ago — and remain friends today

In the years before and after World War II, many Japanese American immigrant women and girls came together in social clubs — places where they could make friends, dance, eat and, in many cases, meet boys without raising the suspicions of their parents. When World War II arrived, and most Japanese Americans were herded into internment camps, these social clubs proved to be important glue that held communities together.

As the women who joined them aged, the clubs mostly disappeared — but many of the friendships remained. PRI's The World visited some of the Japanese American women in Southern California who joined these clubs, and keep up their friendships and their meetings to this day. Because of the members' advancing age, they say every moment they still have together is prescious, and they're trying to make the most of it.

What we're seeing on social

Weather around the world

Typhoon Fung-wong has transitioned to a post-tropical low pressure system, but it's still packing a punch as it moves toward Japan and South Korea over the end of this week. Rainfall amounts in South Korea have totalled 2-4 inches across much of the country, with some areas reporting as much as 6 inches. The storm is forecast to move off South Korea and toward Japan in the coming days. Mudslides and oher damage are expected as the storm lingers, according to AccuWeather.