I’ve got your missing links right here (11 June 2011)
Top picks
You must read David Dobbs’ incredible story about his mother’s lost love. It’s a masterclass in storytelling. Buy it for the Kindle, iPad or iPhone. It’s cheap; you can thank me later. Also, read his eulogy to his mum, a companion piece to the story.
Richard Fisher shows you what it’s like to defend a company from a concerted cyberattack. Great piece.
How I Failed, Failed, And Finally Succeeded At Learning How To Code. Great piece about teaching and failure.
Competition to choose common names for 10 new species. I name the wasp Bob.
From the Wellcome Blog: looking at an obscure branch of life to find out where we all came from
A cracking (“nuanced even!”) analysis of Twitter by Megan Garber. Is it text or oral?
How antibiotics may have triggered the E. Coli outbreak, but not how you might’ve thought. A great piece by Marian Turner about phages. Also read: The E. coli outbreak, what we know, and need to, by Maryn McKenna.
David Sloan Wilson turns from “arcane” evolution debates to helping a faltering city.
“Their stories reveal the tragedy of a terrible experiment on a very young boy which would haunt him for the rest of his life.” Investigation about a boy subjected to anti-gay “therapy”
Madness industry: How one man sparked a strange, sweeping misdiagnosis of America’s children, by Jon Ronson.
Breathtaking pic of the Shuttle docking with a space station
The stats & algorithms of outrageous fortune. Data mining Hamlet – interesting use of mass digitization
Watch the fish blink out of existence with this McCandless visualisation
Natalie Angier is an awesome science writer. Check out this piece on jellyfish – “so much more than plasma and poison” – in the NYT
News/science/writing
“The urine did the trick, said Dr Hanus.” Chimps solves classic Aesop task by peeing in the tube. See how gorillas and orang-utans compare.
Is a lemon fast or slow? How the sounds of words affect our intuition
Britain axes climate change research, sacks staff, to balance budget.
Monkey see, monkey do, monkey regret.
Even if a story is familiar, it is worth hearing Robert Krulwich tell it. Here he is on gut bacteria types.
DARPA plays Spore, gets ideas. A proposed factory for modular DNA.
Soar over the seafloor using Google Earth, with video
Do electronic devices really mess with planes?
What’s that? You have a spare $700k? And you’d like to buy me a mounted set of Megalodon jaws? Oh GO ON THEN
Giant corpse flower seeks mate, prone to collapsing spadix.
Autism linked to hundreds of spontaneous genetic mutations. Girls partially shielded from effects
Scientists map caves by shooting them. Great Ferris Jabr piece.
Join Mary Carmichael in shaming “chemical-free” out of existence.
Twitter to astronomers: “Psst. Star exploding. Over. There.”
Invasive species – are they wrongly persecuted? An intriguing debate, covered by Brandon Keim
Brazil’s “Twin Town” was not the result of Mengele’s Nazi experiments. (paper)
Could Better Displays Prevent Nearsightedness? By Chris Mims
Hmm… Elsevier apologizes for retraction of an Intelligent Design-related paper, pays author’s legal fees
The compelling case for randomised trials before making policies, by Tim Harford
In mice, stem cells mend a broken heart
Scientists create artificial brain with 12 second short-term memory, raising hope for boosting memory of internet users by 11 seconds
“If they fail to name their 1st prototype Magic Unicorn, they’re missing out.” Biggest battery breakthrough ever
Sun fistbumps Earth. Huge solar flare races towards Earth
NYT interview with 4 women scientists about their scientific lives
Whistle-blower claims his accusations cost him his job
Winter ants kill Argentine invaders, students hold Petri dish deathmatches to find ant poison kill rate:
Climate change squashes the Earth
Top of Form
Was Spinosaurus a bison-backed dinosaur?
“When seeing a decision through an ethical frame 94% behaved ethically; when seeing it through a business frame 44% did… “
Biodegradable plastics: environmental boon or bane?
A pool-playing robot (although I’m more intrigued by the awesome projector at 1:27 for training)
Cosmic cookery: How religious groups helped launch the health-food movement
Supporting little bets. Tim Harford on taking a bet against the Taleb distribution
Now we are gods: Welcome to the Anthropocene
Heh/wow/huh
Daily Mail story contradicts headline in 4th para. “Increase” sort of like the opposite of “decrease”
Gorgeous time-lapse of the Arctic, where sunset bleeds into sunrise
“Bart, don’t make fun of grad students. They just made a terrible life choice.”
Have you ever wanted to make an Argentinosaurus defecate with your finger? There’s an app for that
Secrets of British gravitas (and the science of “cant’ be arsed”)
Well… that was unexpected.
Thrilling story of mustelid taxonomy & violence. Man with dead weasel accused of assault. The last line is awesome.
Badly stuffed animals. #11 is awesome though.
This paper is far far more boring than the title would suggest
Internet/blogging/journalism/society
Lizzie Crouch & three British sci-comm students are embedding in a lab that looks at the human body exploding, breaking and rupturing.
Iceland crowdsources its next constitution New draft will be announced by Minister for Lolcats
Apple’s first 10 employees – where are they now?
Nick Kristof compiles great suggestions on how journalists can better use social media.
Sexual Assault Prevention Tips. Superbly put.
What’s the value of a woman? I mean quantitatively
Inbox Influence – a gmail plug-in that tells you about the political connections of the people who email you
The New York Times’ Paywall Is Working! It led to an increase in print subscriptions, apparently.
Good Top Trumps material. A map of the world’s worst, most enduring dictators
A visual history of the London Tube Map, 1889-2002
Deborah Blum’s interview at The Browser, talking about five cool books, science, society, good writing:
“The style of debate practised by the Today programme poisons discourse in this country.”
Facebook silently rolls out face recognition tagging to the world. I want to upload lots of Batman pics and tag them with me.
Very interesting take by Wiliiam Cullerne-Brown on the New College of the Humanities. Meanwhile, Grayling is verbally attacked by and angry mob
Groupon is Effectively Insolvent. Also basically a Ponzi scheme.
Click here to add link. This is a great idea.
Slate takes a fascinating look at movie data from Rotten Tomatoes, and proves that Chuck Norris is the worst actor of all time.
Go Further
Animals
- Soy, skim … spider. Are any of these technically milk?Soy, skim … spider. Are any of these technically milk?
- This pristine piece of the Amazon shows nature’s resilienceThis pristine piece of the Amazon shows nature’s resilience
- Octopuses have a lot of secrets. Can you guess 8 of them?
- Animals
- Feature
Octopuses have a lot of secrets. Can you guess 8 of them?
Environment
- This pristine piece of the Amazon shows nature’s resilienceThis pristine piece of the Amazon shows nature’s resilience
- Listen to 30 years of climate change transformed into haunting musicListen to 30 years of climate change transformed into haunting music
- This ancient society tried to stop El Niño—with child sacrificeThis ancient society tried to stop El Niño—with child sacrifice
- U.S. plans to clean its drinking water. What does that mean?U.S. plans to clean its drinking water. What does that mean?
History & Culture
- Gambling is everywhere now. When is that a problem?Gambling is everywhere now. When is that a problem?
- Beauty is pain—at least it was in 17th-century SpainBeauty is pain—at least it was in 17th-century Spain
- The real spies who inspired ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’The real spies who inspired ‘The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare’
- Heard of Zoroastrianism? The religion still has fervent followersHeard of Zoroastrianism? The religion still has fervent followers
- Strange clues in a Maya temple reveal a fiery political dramaStrange clues in a Maya temple reveal a fiery political drama
Science
- NASA has a plan to clean up space junk—but is going green enough?NASA has a plan to clean up space junk—but is going green enough?
- Soy, skim … spider. Are any of these technically milk?Soy, skim … spider. Are any of these technically milk?
- Can aspirin help protect against colorectal cancers?Can aspirin help protect against colorectal cancers?
- The unexpected health benefits of Ozempic and MounjaroThe unexpected health benefits of Ozempic and Mounjaro
- Do you have an inner monologue? Here’s what it reveals about you.Do you have an inner monologue? Here’s what it reveals about you.
Travel
- Follow in the footsteps of Robin Hood in Sherwood ForestFollow in the footsteps of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest
- This chef is taking Indian cuisine in a bold new directionThis chef is taking Indian cuisine in a bold new direction
- On the path of Latin America's greatest wildlife migrationOn the path of Latin America's greatest wildlife migration
- Everything you need to know about Everglades National ParkEverything you need to know about Everglades National Park