I’ve got your missing links right here (17 September 2011)
Top picks
Italian seismologists are being accused of manslaughter for not predicting the L’Aquila quake. Great feature by Stephen S Hall
The dark side of the placebo effect: Alexis Madrigal looks at instances when belief can kill
Wonderful Robert Krulwich post about “extreme tidying up”
“Victor may have cerebral palsy, but cerebral palsy does not have Victor.” Wow. Bravo Jen Gunter, bravo.
If We Only Had Wings: delightful piece about the allure of personal flight from jet packs to hang gliders, by Nancy Shute.
Get laser-pointer 2) Get serval 3) Find crowded place 4) Hilarity
What People Don’t Get About My Job: From A(rmy Soldier) to Z(ookeeper)
“A slow, creeping, invisible pressure” – Guardian piece on radiation anxiety after Fukushima by Jonathan Watts
Cadbury’s creme eggs – how do you eat yours? Vacuum chamber? Blow torch?
Why are strange lights sometimes seen ahead of earthquakes? Great audio reporting by Rose Eveleth
” Like Nostradamus, the predictions of Nautilus are only really successful in hindsight.” Analysis by Martin Robbins about the software that apparently predicted where Osama bin Laden was.
Genius. From Slate: Is it rude to rename your wi-fi network to send message to loud neighbors?
Inside Nature’s Giants dissected a leatherback turtle. This link might not work for people outside the UK and Ireland, but my word, this was an amazing episode. Favourite bit: Mark says “This is really really strange.” Yes Mark. You have your hand inside a leatherback’s oesophagus. That is a little strange.
Five iconic science images, and why they’re wrong. Great post by Frank Swain.
David Dobbs unpicks the impulsive, maddening teenage brain in his standard beautiful prose, with a guest appearance from his son: Taylor Dobbs, boy-racer.
How did T.rex sit down? Now you know, as part of NPR’s celebration of the tyrant lizard king.
“The Krebs cycle. If there were one moment when kids all over the country lose interest in life sciences, it’s right here,” says Robert Krulwich. Elsewhere, this is how to teach the Krebs cycle!
Our Solar System, drawn to scale. Scroll right. Slowly.
Brainy molluscs evolved nervous systems not 1, not 2… but 4 times. Ferris Jabr reports.
“Please excuse my not mailing this but I don’t know your new address.” Richard Feynman’s love letter to his dead wife. Grab your tissues.
News/science/writing
I don’t buy this business about escaped birds teaching wild ones to speak English. Help allay/confirm my skepticism
The special trick that helps identify dodgy stats
Parenting is not just for the ladies: on testosterone, fatherhood & why lower hormones are good for you.
Voracious hermaphrodite giant African snails infected with non-fatal meningitis invade Miami. Must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.
On my post on dinosaur feathers trapped in amber, someone asked if they’d yield DNA. Answer: unlikely, and we won’t check
Do video games improve our mental abilities? We can’t say because most of the evidence is rubbish, says Daniel Simons (he of Invisible Gorilla fame) See also: Mo Costandi’s take on Nature News
“[They] did just about everything one could do wrong with a paper.” Bear infanticide paper retracted
Accidental sea turtles deaths drop by 90%, attributed to improvements in fishing equipment
US can’t track 5,900 lbs of weapons-grade uranium/plutonium. Come on US, it’s probably under the sofa
Jorge Cham, creator of PhD comics has turned his comic strip into a movie.
Contagion! Maryn McKenna does a Q&A with the film’s scientific expert, along with fact-checks!
Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man Recreated On Arctic Ice
Can a bird poop crack a windshield? Final line cracked me up.
Why the eye is not like a camera, and why it matters to people building bionic eyes
Washington announces new school: Henrietta Lacks Health & Bioscience High School. Excellent!
Kanazawa apologises. Evidence wins.
A Prosthetic Limb That Lets Amputees Ride Bikes.
Save antimony! Risk list of endangered chemical elements
More Americans think the world is warming (60% the world is warming & our fault; 22% say it’s warming & not our fault)
Bankers: an anthropological study. Wunchology, perhaps.
Rhino Advocate Proposes Poisoning Horns to Protect Them from Poachers
How Whole Foods primes your brain to empty your wallet
The future of cognitive neuroscience: a thoughtful look forward (and back) by Jon Simons
Dozy hamsters reverse ageing. Kurzweil’s probably eating one right now.
“Does a toe make a good thumb?” “I think it does. It’s all working.” Doctors replace severed thumb w/ big toe
Mega crocodile vs. giant snake? More like mega crocodile adjacent to giant snake
Being knowledgeable beats being merely accurate? I don’t think your study means what you think it means
“Magnetic Resonance Imaging has been used to study the baking of a cookie.” Finally, science does something useful
SuperOrganism with ‘Social Intelligence’ is Devouring the Titanic
A history of WWF, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth turns out to have been largely churnalised from various websites. See this. Rubbish.
Facts don’t persuade climate skeptics, so maybe making them feel better about themselves will
Heinous Guatamalan experiments were really, really heinous
Zoo Death Stirs Debate About Keeping Dolphins in Captivity
Crows can wait for a better reward, just as well as monkeys
Paternalism and expertism – how doctors deal with knowing stuff
Death by slow starvation. “Robots don’t want to kill all humans…they just want to take all their jobs”
In which Virginia Hughes debunks “ancient alien theory“, the History Channel and her mum.
Ghost-writing websites facilitate academic fraud. “The main response was one of indignant futility.”
“It’s stupid to stick to dry lands, because not only dry lands will become dry. It’s a global issue.” Scientists enter desert debate.
On the behavioural complexities of a child’s nap. Maybe we should all nap in the afternoon.
Robots invent own language, but “lingodroids” sounds like something you put ointment on.
Lions vs hyenas – fossil evidence of a deep rivalry over 37,000 years old http://t.co/Xzed3LE
Young bats learn to hunt by eavesdropping on more experienced bats
Glow cat: fluorescent green felines could help study of HIV http://t.co/STnezUs
Was Moses high?
Heh/wow/huh
Less than 100g – “a blog dedicated to tiny & beautiful stuff”
Unbelievable CT scan of a cocaine mule.
“She called it Spike.” Adorable 5-year-old girl finds massive 160 million-year-old ammonite fossil.
Here’s the faculty profile for Conan T. Barbarian, sacked yesterday by Trinity College Dublin.
This story, from headline to final line, is incredible. Surely a fake?
Pandora on Earth! The living tree bridges in the Khasi Hills of India.
“He’s always happy to tell everyone that they’re wrong” A catalogue of trolls
World’s first blue rose to be available in the US, except it’s not even remotely blue. It’s purple, as any fool can see.
Wonderful headline from Nature sub-editors
Cool test of colour vision acuity. I got 12.
Five of Saturn’s moons in one surreal photo
Videos of people impersonating the sound of dial-up modems.
It’s official, playing Dungeons and Dragons does not make you a satanist.
Journalism/internet/society
“An unprecedented legal attack on journalists’ sources.” Met use Official Secrets Act to force Guardian to reveal sources in phone-hacking story
This is a lovely idea from Sense about Science: Ask For Evidence, a campaign backed by hordes of the great & good, encouraging people to fact-check things.
Around the world in 12 animals that crapped on my head.
This is probably the best thing I’ve read about Johann Hari – great at apologies, shame about the ethics. Elsewhere: Gimpy to journalists: You are all Johann Hari
11 interesting things about the umbrella.
FBI training: if you practice Islam, you by definition hate America. WTF?
Language Log challenges Ben Goldacre over the passive voice. “Perhaps hypoglycemia was to blame.” BURN!
Massive congratulations to Andy Revkin, Rebecca Skloot and Amy Harmon for winning National Academies Communication Awards (Andy’s second)!
The Million Basic Plots: “Every story that’s ever thrilled you is there in microscopic cross section”
The Daily Mail is basically like Quora except the answer to everything is “No. That’s stupid.”
How to Beat Terrorism: Refuse to Be Terrorized
Go Further
Animals
- 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? - This biologist and her rescue dog help protect bears in the AndesThis biologist and her rescue dog help protect bears in the Andes
- An octopus invited this writer into her tank—and her secret worldAn octopus invited this writer into her tank—and her secret world
- Peace-loving bonobos are more aggressive than we thoughtPeace-loving bonobos are more aggressive than we thought
Environment
- U.S. plans to clean its drinking water. What does that mean?U.S. plans to clean its drinking water. What does that mean?
- Food systems: supporting the triangle of food security, Video Story
- Paid Content
Food systems: supporting the triangle of food security - Will we ever solve the mystery of the Mima mounds?Will we ever solve the mystery of the Mima mounds?
- Are synthetic diamonds really better for the planet?Are synthetic diamonds really better for the planet?
- This year's cherry blossom peak bloom was a warning signThis year's cherry blossom peak bloom was a warning sign
- The U.S. just announced an asbestos ban. What took so long?The U.S. just announced an asbestos ban. What took so long?
History & Culture
- How technology is revealing secrets in these ancient scrollsHow technology is revealing secrets in these ancient scrolls
- Pilgrimages aren’t just spiritual anymore. They’re a workout.Pilgrimages aren’t just spiritual anymore. They’re a workout.
- This ancient cure was just revived in a lab. Does it work?This ancient cure was just revived in a lab. Does it work?
- See how ancient Indigenous artists left their markSee how ancient Indigenous artists left their mark
- Why Passover is one of Judaism’s most important holidaysWhy Passover is one of Judaism’s most important holidays
- Is this mass grave a result of contagion—or cannibalism?Is this mass grave a result of contagion—or cannibalism?
Science
- This 80-foot-long sea monster was the killer whale of its timeThis 80-foot-long sea monster was the killer whale of its time
- Every 80 years, this star appears in the sky—and it’s almost timeEvery 80 years, this star appears in the sky—and it’s almost time
- How do you create your own ‘Blue Zone’? Here are 6 tipsHow do you create your own ‘Blue Zone’? Here are 6 tips
- Why outdoor adventure is important for women as they ageWhy outdoor adventure is important for women as they age
Travel
- Slow-roasted meats and fluffy dumplings in the Czech capitalSlow-roasted meats and fluffy dumplings in the Czech capital
- Want to travel like a local? Sleep in a Mongolian yurt or an Amish farmhouseWant to travel like a local? Sleep in a Mongolian yurt or an Amish farmhouse
- Sharing culinary traditions in the orchard-filled highlands of JordanSharing culinary traditions in the orchard-filled highlands of Jordan