I’ve Got Your Missing Links Right Here (29 August 2015)
Sign up for The Ed’s Up—a weekly newsletter of my writing plus some of the best stuff from around the Internet.
Top picks
Read the New Yorker’s devastating Hiroshima story from 1946, of six ordinary lives, brutally interrupted.
Here’s David Attenborough saying a blue whale’s heart is the size of a car. Which is not true.
Aatish Bhatia and Robert Krulwich have started a new blog together. It’s called Noticing. It’ll be great.
Talking on the phone stopped being enjoyable because the experience of talking on the phone fundamentally changed. By Ian Bogost.
There’s a version of Turkish in which all the syllables have been converted into piercing whistles. By Michelle Nijhuis.
Torture doesn’t work; so, what does? Peter Aldhous a fascinating look at the science of interrogation.
A story about corn wars between the USA and China, featuring spies smuggling corn kernels
Christie Aschwanden synthesises the ongoing fraud and irreproducibility crises in science.
Sandcastles built as if “Antoni Gaudi had designed the fictional island of Laputa in a dream.” By Adrienne LaFrance
How Big Pharma used feminism to get the “Female Viagra” approved. Great story by Azeen Ghorayshi. Meanwhile, Jen Gunter reports that the safety of this women-only drug was based on tests of 23 men and 2 women.
Emily Willingham reviews Steve Silberman’s new book Neurotribes, about “a haunting history and new hope for autistic people”.
What goes through the minds of people who try to break obscure world records? Cari Romm considers.
A massive study quantifies psychology’s reproducibility problem. By me at the Atlantic.
“In Space, Every Goodbye Could Be Our Last.” Beautiful writing from Nadia Drake about space exploration
News/science/writing
“Frankly, I just don’t think musk oxen have the sex appeal pandas do.”
Chemo drug works by tricking cells into thinking they’re infected
Helping the trees save themselves from a deadly insect invader
Sometimes, it’s hard to give a crap.
Biologists Are Tweeting Photos Of Animal Genitalia With The Hashtag #JunkOff
Can we save the Sumatran rhino from extinction?
Evolutionary secrets of cancer cells revealed in new research
Why do we sneeze when we look at bright lights?
Chickens help scientists study dinosaur death pose
The man who saw his double in the mirror. A creepy case
Dorothy Bishop on what the Reproducibility Project says about psychology and how the field can improve. Vaughan Bell has a good analysis of the results, too.
Karolinska fnds trachea surgeon Paolo Macchiarini not guilty of misconduct.
The Verge Review of Animals: the giant water bug
The First National Inventory of All Household Life (on a swab)
“3-D millipede genitals are strangely fascinating”
Professor re-encounters a very rare nautilus
Using microbial warfare as a possible treatment for bat White Nose Syndrome
Why humans are unique among predators on our planet
The Lost Dream Journal of the Man Who Discovered Neurons, Santiago Ramon y Cajal
Ants form amazing daisy chains to drag away millipedes
Smart piece on the recently hyped “first 3D-printed drug“, by Robinson Meyer
Gut bacteria –> autoimmune disease of the eye.
These just-discovered tropical spiders can soar from tree to tree
“Informed Consent” a play on genomics and bioethics
Some frogs can quickly switch on genetic resistance to pesticides
Environmentalism’s history as an élite, white movement
The Internet of Elephant Seals – Why animals make the best oceanographic instruments
Venomous animal trapped by alcohol: the quintessential Australian story.
A new paper claims to find epigenetic effects in Holocaust survivors. Not so, says Jerry Coyne.
Here’s PLOS, re-enacting that scene from Fight Club where Ed Norton repeatedly punches himself in the face.
Trophy hunting causes problems for lion societies beyond killing individuals.
To avoid mosquitoes, stop breathing and be invisible.
Ants drug themselves with toxins when they’re sick
“Mimicry has a puzzle at its heart: Time and again, scientists find examples of overkill. Animals don’t seem to receive an extra benefit from making their disguises more elaborate.” By Carl Zimmer.
Blood-Sucking Bugs Are Smart at Night, Dumb by Day
A vomiting machine shows how viruses spread in puke
Weird things start to happen when you stare into someone’s eyes for 10 minutes
Gulls are snacking on baby seals’ eyeballs
What Is Elegance in Science?
Mutilated rhino treated with innovative bandage made from elephant skin. Elephant now seeking innovative bandage made from rhino skin.
Fatal great white shark attacks on sea otters have tripled over the past 25 years
Heh/wow/huh
No One Knows Joy Like This Man Yelling Underwater About Sea Lions
Blue whales are really rare and we’re unlikely to see o… oh there’s one.
Internet/journalism/society
“Fountain pens want to connect letters. Ballpoint pens need to be convinced to write.”
Annalee Newitz finds that Ashley Madison was actively and maliciously scamming men
Everything you’ve heard about chastity belts is a lie: they were never really a thing
George Monbiot: roadkill squirrel eater.
Little girl breaks 2000-year-old vase, museum says thanks
Why I’m reading more women, and fewer men.
Like Uber but for poo.
ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape
How do algorithms rule Amazon’s warehouses?
Dog-sh*t Luck & other Chinese idioms we should start using in English
Very solid list of science accounts to follow on Twitter. High on really good people, low on celebs.
The Atlantic is bringing bloggy back with the Notes section.
Go Further
Animals
- This ‘saber-toothed’ salmon wasn’t quite what we thoughtThis ‘saber-toothed’ salmon wasn’t quite what we thought
- Why this rhino-zebra friendship makes perfect senseWhy this rhino-zebra friendship makes perfect sense
- When did bioluminescence evolve? It’s older than we thought.When did bioluminescence evolve? It’s older than we thought.
- 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
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
- Meet the original members of the tortured poets departmentMeet the original members of the tortured poets department
- Séances at the White House? Why these first ladies turned to the occultSéances at the White House? Why these first ladies turned to the occult
- 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’
Science
- Here's how astronomers found one of the rarest phenomenons in spaceHere's how astronomers found one of the rarest phenomenons in space
- Not an extrovert or introvert? There’s a word for that.Not an extrovert or introvert? There’s a word for that.
- 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?
Travel
- What it's like to hike the Camino del Mayab in MexicoWhat it's like to hike the Camino del Mayab in Mexico
- Is this small English town Yorkshire's culinary capital?Is this small English town Yorkshire's culinary capital?
- This chef is taking Indian cuisine in a bold new directionThis chef is taking Indian cuisine in a bold new direction
- Follow in the footsteps of Robin Hood in Sherwood ForestFollow in the footsteps of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest