I’ve Got Your Missing Links Right Here (24 October 2015)

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Top picks

Me at the Atlantic

• A Scientist’s Shocking Discovery About Electric Eels
• There’s a Mystery Machine That Sculpts the Human Genome
• A Genetic Study Writes a New Origin Story for Dogs
• Making Indigenous Peoples Equal Partners in Gene Research

A incredibly written coming-of-age story about dinosaurs, childhood, and friendship. By Steve Macone. If you only read one thing this week…

Utterly weird expose from Brooke Borel about a guy who got tangled up with Monsanto and created a shady podcast alter ego.

This Artist Painted Physicists Into a 3D Living Chalkboard

The mammography debate is about values, not science. From Christie Aschwanden.

The scientists at Oxford’s Centre for Time Use Research have terrible time management. And they know where your time really goes. By Helen Pearson

The Battle Over Genome Editing. Sarah Zhang on the untold background dispute over CRISPR

The Law of the Wonder Drug: a saga in three acts, by Katherine Sharpe.

“Many people will reject their own arguments if tricked into thinking that other people proposed them.” By Neuroskeptic

“Misdiagnosed and misunderstood, autistic women and girls frequently struggle to get the support they need.” By Apoorva Mandavilli

Meet the man who founded the now-defunct Museum of Menstruation. By Cari Romm

Science

Moscow biology department among the first to require that all manuscripts comply with law on state secrets.

Mega Tsunami vs Little Island

Plague has been plaguing us for 5000 yrs, far longer than previously thought

Tasting a Flavor That Doesn’t Exist

The Louder the Monkey, the Smaller Its Balls

Possible evidence of life on Earth at least 4.1 billion years ago

“I need to see the poop firsthand, and then the place itself. This is a recipe for time travel.”

A pioneer of continental drift theory also studied a fungus that makes what looks like icy hair.

They “created an algorithm that plans the safest way for a robot to fall“.

Oy, this silliness about hands evolving for punching again. This just isn’t how you test evolutionary hypotheses.

Genetics probe identifies new Galapagos tortoise species

Indigenous peoples must benefit from science

When you think it’s a shark, But you’re way off the mark, It’s a moray

Bacteriophages use slow, staccato movements to hunt bacteria on cell surfaces

This Is The Man In India Who Is Selling States Illegally Imported Execution Drugs

“According to the CDC, fewer Americans are burning up in their pajamas”

Oh good! The Crystal Palace dinosaurs are going to be repaired after all

Jumping genes in the brain

This man believed human aging could be halted by transplanting monkey testicles into people

What first case of sexually transmitted Ebola means for public health

Scientists have created fake skin that can actually feel pressure.

Seals catch prey by ‘slaloming’ their weirdly shaped whiskers

A comprehensive guide to Theranos’s troubles and what it means for you

Pernicious Parasite Strikes Explorers of ‘Lost City’

Gamblers, Scientists and the Hot Hand: How we perceive and misperceive randomness.

Every 48 hrs, malaria parasites shred their genes to evade the immune system. But not everything goes

The chief medical officer of Google’s life-sciences division is called Doctor Mega.

Conspiracy theories kill: on the horrific effects of AIDS denialism.

“When discussing photos of the blue orb and the black abyss, we’ll talk about our favorites, not the firsts”

One mathematician’s formula suggests all-male lineups don’t “just happen,” despite what conference organizers claim.

Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ recreated with bacteria in petri dish

Scientists follow Wood Thrushes around for 2 years. Also: machine guns, swamps & duct tape.

Christ. The Ebola outbreak killed >8% of Liberia’s health care workforce.

The biggest dinosaurs were picky parents.

23andme is making a comeback to direct-to-consumer genomics

Oestrogen in queen naked mole rat’s faeces turns subordinate naked mole rats into better babysitters

Crazy, frightening story of a cardiologist’s abuses–and the system that allowed him to get away with it for decades.

Miscellaneous

Human subjects

A 16th Century Pope Buried His Pet Elephant Under the Vatican

AHHH GILMORE GIRLS REVIVAL

The Pros And Cons Of Freelance Employment

On journalistic ethics and conflicts of interest

Julia Rosen asks 4 writers to expose the narrative skeletons of great stories.