Shorter list today – I’ve been travelling.
Top picks
Feel Ben Goldacre’s ire in every syllable of this extract from his new book: Bad Pharma
WOW! Watch from INSIDE a mussel's shell, as a starfish shoves its stomach in and starts digesting
This chart details how to establish a permanent human presence in space. And it. Is. Amazing.
Amazing post by John Hutchinson on how thick rhino skin is, what a skinned rhino looks like & a big heart full of love for rhinos
What fresh sorcery is this? Hg(SCN)2 plus fire = bizarre root tendril monster thing.
WOW! Curiosity finds evidence of an ancient Martian riverbed!
"If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?"
Excellent article on the 17th century discovery of sperm and eggs by Matthew Cobb.
Two great pieces on the pseudoscience of food: Keith Kloor on how anti-GMO activists are polluting science communication with tactics commonly used by anti-vaccination people; and
Google Sea View. Incredible.
Mothers: your children are on your mind. No, literally, bits of them are inside your brain. By Emily Willingham.
In which Megan Garber chats to Randall Munroe of XKCD. I have a case of awesomeness poisoning
This headline will NEVER be beaten: "Buddhist "Iron Man" Found by Nazis Is from Space"
News/science/writing
Woman has new ear grown on her arm and attached to her head. Warning: graphic. Also: amazing.
How to carve a drop of water with a knife
Bot passes as human in a first-person shooter Turing test
Hummingbirds are just as efficient when flying backwards or hovering forward.
GM trials slash dengue mosquito numbers
Picture the Predator's face...but on fish genitals
Cancer rates set to drop 17 per cent by 2030. Also gives absolute rates. Excellent. "Stupid times require stupid solutions, says Romney"
"Drugs Live: The Ecstasy Trial" aired on Channel 4 earlier this week. It sounds absolutely awful.
Common sundew snatches prey up with super-fast catapult.
"Psychology (and probably all of science) needs more replications," says new President Elect of SPSP
Experimental setup: listen to laughter while a scientist burns your hands with a laser
Trees come from the air, explains Feynman
French doctors stand trial over cancer radiation scandal
More power to rangers: What can be done to stop record level of elephant poaching?
Russian chemist provides independent scientific testimony, jailed for her troubles
Great Ilana Yurkiewicz post on the RCT that shows gender bias in science is real, and why it matters
PLOS kicks of a riot when it announces that it will retract papers whose major conclusions are not supported.
Remember the horrendous Science It’s a Girl Thing video? Here’s a contest to make a better one.
Lawd, this cancer story irritates me: MD Anderson's unqualified hype, CNN's "Breaking news", the piss-poor sci-comm.
So exactly why can't we open the windows of an airplane? AV Flox talks to Michael Habib who lays it all out beautifully
Asiatic cheetahs snatch livestock. Amazing 2nd photo.
Korean eunuchs lived longer. <looks down, looks up, shakes head, reaches for beer>
In Prehistoric Britain Cannibalism Was Practical and Ritualistic. (Now, just impractical and slapdash).
Heh/wow/huh
A hummingbird skeleton next to an elephant bird femur
Well HELLO, you handsome devil
Why weapons forged from fallen stars will give you cancer
The Stone Balancers of Flagstaff
Heh. The Onion issues a correction
What kind of dinosaur is Godzilla?
Internet/journalism/society
Writers and their pet punctuation marks
Drones. Crap.
Driverless Cars Would Reshape Automobiles *and* the Transit System
Editor says blogs aren't journalism, but then retires. More of this please.
Guardian plans a new pyramid scheme training scheme for journalists, to fill the jobs that don’t exist.
Jonah Lehrer speaks up about the accusations against him... and is STILL lying.
Extraordinary (if slightly bizarre) post about meeting a troll.
HA! Four words that should never appear in the same page 1 story: Cancer, Cure, Gina and Kolata
Five feminists hate-read Naomi Wolf’s book. Hilarious.
11yrs ago, I was at university. Meanwhile, this man was imprisoned at Guantanamo. Never charged, never convicted, now dead
Robin Ince on comedians, rape jokes, where's the line? is there a line?
Fund newspapers w/ a broadband levy? Sure. Or you could make a product people actually want to buy..
