Top twelve picks
Sheril Kirshenbaum’s Science of Kissing is finally out. I wish I had time to write a full review, but here’s the gist: the book is one of the most accessible works of popular science I’ve read in a while. It takes a whirlwind tour through the world of kissing, from cultural studies to animal behaviour to neuroscience. Every chapter is perfectly judged for a general reader, with enough detail to stimulate the mind but without getting bogged down in anything. The prose is crisp and light-hearted but no less scholarly for it. The result is a quick, fun and informative read – a great example of taking a fascinating topic and running with it. For a taster, try this excerpt, read Razib Khan’s full review, or read Sheril’s latest piece in the New Statesman about why a kiss still outperforms a dating website.
OpenLab 2010 is here, collecting 50 of the best blog posts of the last year. I helped to judge it and I’m honoured to have an entry among the 50. It’s a great list and includes some favourites of mine from the last year by Steve Silberman, Carl Zimmer, Eric Michael Johnson, David Dobbs, Brian Switek, Deborah Blum, Emily Anthes, Christie Wilcox and PalMD. On top of that, you have posts by such illustrious folk as Phil Plait, SciCurious, Olivia Judson, Lucas Brouwers, Hannah Waters, Mo Costandi, DeLene Beeland, Darren Naish and Jason Goldman (who edited and coordinated the whole thing). It’s worth your time.
The Internet was clogged by reports of birds dying en masse and falling from the sky, followed by similar reports about fish and crabs. Google is tracking the deaths on a map. Alexis Madrigal was one of the first to point out that “it’s actually really strange how often thousands of birds die at once” and others have pointed out that these die-offs aren’t uncommon. Meanwhile, I took a shocking photo that reveals the latest tragic victim of the Aflockalypse, and the Hairpin decodes the pattern of the deaths.
What if people die because of your research? Synthetic chemist David Nichols describes how his research on psychedelic compounds has been abused — with fatal consequences. David Kroll has a great follow-up on the social responsibility of scientists.
