I’ve Got Your Missing Links Right Here (30 August 2014)
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Top picks
H is for Hawk is the story of a woman who started training a goshawk to cope with the sudden death of her father. It is an autobiography, a natural history book, a biography of author T.B.White, and an exquisitely beautiful story about grief, love, and our connection to the wild. It is the best book I’ve read this year. Here is an extract.
For a profile of David Mitchell, you need a writer who can weave many elements into seamless cloth. That’s exactly what Kathryn Schulz has done. This is just masterful—writing that’s worth deconstructing as well as savouring.
An exceptional story about the seven scientists who were convicted of manslaughter after the devastating L’Alquila earthquake. David Wolman offers a textbook example of careful structure & brutally efficient storytelling
“Krulwich is probably not going to actually drink Abumrad’s blood…” Polymathic piece from Jess Zimmerman on the history and science of using young blood to restore health.
This week, Pluto-bound spacecraft New Horizons swept past Neptune’s orbit, 25 years to the day after Voyager II did. Images of Pluto to come next year. By Nadia Drake.
Watch as an ant colony forms a daisy chain to pull a millipede! Alex Wild has an update on their strange, known, but never formally described behaviour
A paean to the gorgeous Portuguese man-of-war, by Jane Lee
The Ebola virus is mutating rapidly in W. Africa, as discovered by a team that lost 5 co-authors to it. By Erika Check Hayden. Also, here is a superb and important portrait of African heroes fighting Ebola by Adam Nossiter and Ben Solomon, and biographies of the five people who died.
What happens when you raise a fish on land? An amazing study with important implications for the evolution of land vertebrates, covered by that sonofabichir, Carl Zimmer
Memories switch from negative to positive with a flash of light!
Nadia Drake’s ode to exploding stars is magnificent. Explanatory science writing at its best.
Science/news/writing
For insects, molting includes hacking up the lining of the lungs.
“Publication of non-replicable findings leads to enormous waste in science and demoralization of the next generation”
A beautiful profile of neuroscience power-couple Uta Frith and Chris Frith.
“I fall in love every time I look at a cheese rind.” That’s got to be inconvenient.
“The best thing you could do for the Amazon is bomb all the roads.”
Important reproducibility initiative: replicating 50 findings in cancer biology
Epigenetics are cool. Mind-controlling parasites, like Toxoplasma, are cool. Carl Zimmer fuses them together (with a lovely analogy about piano keys).
Scientists have finally spotted what moves the wandering rocks of Death Valley.
Birds sing the wrong tune when contaminated with mercury (scroll down to listen to the audio files)
How a super-fast fish inspired a super-fast car.
“If a complete history of autism is ever written, the 1950s and ’60s will be part of the dark ages.”
An image of Schrödinger’s cat made with entangled photons. The object was never directly photographed
Wolves may be vulnerable to contagious yawning
Pete Etchells on echo chambers and mental health stigma today
A rare glimpse of the dumbo octopus
Milk: it doesn’t just come from mums, and it doesn’t just come from mammals.
Pliny the Tosser, more like. The fantastically wrong legend of the fire-proof salamander.
These tiny scorpions would like to perform an important inspection of your old book collection, please
Baby fish swim towards the smell of a healthy reef.
Breeding deer to have more trophy-worthy antler sets
The world’s oldest muscle, from half a billion years ago.
“The Kitanemuk initiation ritual ceremony involves swallowing balls of live harvester ants…” Wonderful Vaughan Bell piece on how societies perceive hallucinations.
Well that’s intriguing. A book on cosmology, written in Upgoer Five text (only the 1000 most common English words)
A great talk on “WHY MODEL CLIMATE?” by Doug Mcneall
“We replaced Fredrickson[‘s] data with random numbers & continued to find… apparently statistically sig effects”. Absolutely brutal demolition of a positive psychology paper.
“Ecologists are testing more and more hypotheses, but their studies are explaining less of the world”
Gotterdammerung: Large Dams Just Aren’t Worth the Cost
Heh/wow/huh
This is the best possible sign in front of a volcano
The Ukraine Crisis Explained In GIFs And In-Depth Policy Papers From Esteemed Political Institutions
Slow-motion falling water balloons. Oh, well played, physics. Well played.
Oh dear, Batman
Science Headlines I Would Like to See More Of
First lines of novels as emojis
“Asian Human Rights Commission” and other things that can be sung to the theme of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Hitofude Ryuu: dragon paintings, finished with one, long, sinuous stroke
Internet/society/journalism
This London memorial commemorates people who died saving others.
Photos of Sri Lanka’s iconic stilt fisherman after the tsunami
The one word that shows up in women’s performance reviews, but never in men’s.
The Troll Slayer: A Cambridge classicist takes on her sexist detractors
There Still Isn’t One Good Way to Represent the Internet in Art
Maggie Koerth-Baker’s new newsletter—The Fellowship of Three Things—is brilliant. You should subscribe.
The worst part of the Ice Bucket Challenge is the people criticising it.
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
- 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?
- 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
History & Culture
- Strange clues in a Maya temple reveal a fiery political dramaStrange clues in a Maya temple reveal a fiery political drama
- 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 society tried to stop El Niño—with child sacrificeThis ancient society tried to stop El Niño—with child sacrifice
- 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
Science
- Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io has been erupting for billions of yearsJupiter’s volcanic moon Io has been erupting for billions of years
- 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
- This royal city lies in the shadow of Kuala LumpurThis royal city lies in the shadow of Kuala Lumpur
- This author tells the story of crypto-trading Mongolian nomadsThis author tells the story of crypto-trading Mongolian nomads
- Slow-roasted meats and fluffy dumplings in the Czech capitalSlow-roasted meats and fluffy dumplings in the Czech capital