I’ve Got Your Missing Links Right Here (12 December 2015)
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Top picks
By me at the Atlantic:
- That Time Europe Air-Dropped Vaccine-Loaded Chicken Heads to Bait Rabid Foxes
- The Quest to Make CRISPR Even More Precise
- What Can You Actually Do With Your Fancy Gene-Editing Technology?
- Gene-Editing Humans Edit Statement on Human Gene-Editing
- Meet the Necrobiome: The Waves of Microbes That Will Eat Your Corpse
- Make Science More Reliable, Win Cash Prizes
- How a Jellyfish-Obsessed Engineer Upended Our Understanding of Swimming
- Rival Scientists Cast Doubt Upon Recent Discovery About Invincible Animals
A beautiful read about the death of a whale, by Rebecca Giggs.
Wonderful piece on the glory of “Bitten by orca“, “Rough housing and horseplay”, and other ICD codes. By Alastair Gee
Carl Zimmer profiles a Russian refugee who figured out how to find important new antibiotics by making bacteria happy
Who makes the rules for outer space? Maggie Koerth-Baker on space law, space mining, and space pirates
Meet The Woman Who Made The Military Care About Climate. By Dan Vergano.
Language Log on Uhs, Ums, and other verbal quirks, featuring a table with a column called “UM per kiloword”.
The troubled quest to make an artificial heart. By Joaquin Palomino
The smartest thing I’ve read on driverless cars, by Adrienne LaFrance
“The world is on fire but at least we got a scrumptious acronym in the process.” Robinson Meyer with the funniest piece about the Paris climate talks. (And here he is again with one of the most helpful.)
How to Stop a Bird-Murdering Cat. Cool story about intuitive amateur solution, later validated by research. By Conor Gearin.
The Absurdly Complete History of Animals Parachuting From the Sky. By Andy Wright
Plants and lichens on a concrete wall used to be a sign of decay, but soon they might be a sign of sophistication. By Rose Eveleth.
The wonderful Story Collider gets some love at the Guardian. Congrats to my friends Ben Lillie, Brian Wecht, Erin Barker, and Liz Neeley.
11 Amazing Ways The World Is Dealing With A Hotter Planet. By Virginia Hughes
They Helped Erase Ebola in Liberia. Now Liberia Is Erasing Them. By Helene Cooper
A wonderful history of, and philosophical musing on, encyclopaedias. By Justin Nobel.
Science
Those blasts of radio waves from deep space? Not aliens. Instead, “flares from magnetars”. MAGNETARS.
Another study on trans-generational epigenetics. Getting a little sad when you can call for a study involving hundreds of people and it’s “bold”.
How loneliness wears on the body
The little fish that dies of old age a few months after hatching.
Syphilis is bouncing back. (Also, you own that problem, Spain)
Hawaii Supreme Court suspends permit to build giant R2-D2 head on sacred mountain
From starlings to Syrian refugees: Helen Macdonald writing beautifully about flocks
The Murky Origins of the Largest Dinosaur Museum in the World
How solar and wind got so cheap so fast.
Wisdom the albatross, banded in 1956, makes its return.
“Whatever differences exist “don’t add up in a consistent way to create ‘female brains’ and ‘male brains’”
How a 5-Ounce Bird Stores 10,000 Maps in its Head
The first ‘neurolaw‘ case took place in 1924.
Soooo, what the US is looking for in the Paris climate negotiations is a legally binding… snooze button?
Whales are dying from a bizarre cause: Fish getting stuck in their blowholes
Very interesting on attitudes among Chinese citizens to cloned meat
Like me, these ants can jump with their legs and their faces.
Chris Hadfield in conversation with XKCD’s Randall Munroe
“You can generally avoid someone else’s bodily fluids, if you know you need to. But breathing is not optional.”
The incremental nature of science, quantified
“To those who might be inspired to try baking with vaginal yeasts, Dr Roberts simply advises “don’t””
Open Season in Gene Editing of Animals
Driverless cars are like lifts
World’s Biggest Fly Faces Two New Challengers
Your happy friends will die just as early as you.
“I can still feel a ghost of its pressure thirty years later.” Jenny Rohn on sexism in science
This obscure law brought us nasal flu spray, the nicotine patch and the HPV vaccine
This Lonesome George doppelganger breeding project seems… dunno, like an exercise in denial?
Alligators Can Turn Armor Into Eggshell
On Pluto: “These are images where features smaller than a football stadium are visible.”
Global summit reveals divergent views on human gene editing
“I’m trying to teach the roboticists to think like a baby. And I mean that in a good way.”
A flesh-eating fungus that wrecks lives but that no one cares about
Fascinating examination of what foetal tissue is used to research
“Protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings”
Why Is the Human Vagina So Big?
Stumbling block on the road to a universal flu vaccine
Ruh-roh. Evidence of significant off-target effects for optogenetic studies?
No, suicide rates don’t peak during the holiday season
On the challenge of conveying scale in science writing
First dinosaurs arose in an evolutionary eye-blink
Infectious disease specialists – an endangered species
Microbiology labs face agar shortage due to dwindling seaweed harvests
A lake at the bottom of the ocean
How to control antibiotic misuse on farms: set international standards?
Public health experts guess the next Ebola
Biosensor-as-temporary tattoo that monitors vitals through your skin.
What makes Tom Hanks look like Tom Hanks?
Miscellaneous
Hulk smash puny committee
What Really Happens When You Get Shot
Star Wars: The Merch Awakens
Atlantic staffers choose the best books they read in 2015
Stop rebranding months as causes
An ode to the lightsaber
The Internet Isn’t Available in Most Languages
When Driverless Cars Were Deadly
Incredibly detailed paper sculptures resemble natural microbes
Go Further
Animals
- These 'trash fish' are among Earth's most primitive animalsThese 'trash fish' are among Earth's most primitive animals
- These photos are works of art—and the artists are bugsThese photos are works of art—and the artists are bugs
- The epic migration of a 6-foot long, 200-pound catfishThe epic migration of a 6-foot long, 200-pound catfish
- Frans de Waal, biologist who studied animal emotion, dies at 75Frans de Waal, biologist who studied animal emotion, dies at 75
Environment
- Are synthetic diamonds really better for the planet? The answer isn't clear-cut.Are synthetic diamonds really better for the planet? The answer isn't clear-cut.
- 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?
- The most dangerous job? Inside the world of underwater weldersThe most dangerous job? Inside the world of underwater welders
- The harrowing flight that wild whooping cranes make to surviveThe harrowing flight that wild whooping cranes make to survive
History & Culture
- Meet the powerful yokai that inspired the demon king in ‘Demon Slayer’Meet the powerful yokai that inspired the demon king in ‘Demon Slayer’
- A surprising must-wear for European monarchs? Weasels.A surprising must-wear for European monarchs? Weasels.
- Meet the woman who made Polaroid into a cultural iconMeet the woman who made Polaroid into a cultural icon
- Inside the observatory that birthed modern astrophysicsInside the observatory that birthed modern astrophysics
Science
- LED light treatments for skin are trendy—but do they actually work?LED light treatments for skin are trendy—but do they actually work?
- NASA smashed an asteroid. The debris could hit Mars.NASA smashed an asteroid. The debris could hit Mars.
- Humans really can have superpowers—scientists are studying themHumans really can have superpowers—scientists are studying them
- Why engineers are concerned about aging infrastructureWhy engineers are concerned about aging infrastructure
Travel
- 2024 will be huge for astrotourism—here’s how to plan your trip2024 will be huge for astrotourism—here’s how to plan your trip
- Play and stay in the mountains of eastern Nevada
- Paid Content
Play and stay in the mountains of eastern Nevada - This couple quit the city to grow wasabi in Japan's mountainsThis couple quit the city to grow wasabi in Japan's mountains