This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
I have dug through the Internet this week and uncovered all this geeky goodness. You can find the thousands of links from previous weeks here.
I have marked my favorite links with a ?. Enjoy.
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Science to Read, Write, and Watch
Don't worry, literally anyone reading this will be long dead! Earth's Days Are Numbered
I agree with this implicitly. Rethinking the confirmation bias when it comes to science communication
Study: Magnetic bracelets do *nothing* for arthritis (what do they work for again?)
We need to take another look at arsenic in our water supply
? Insect photographers make sacrifices to get the shot, and by sacrifices I mean ant jaws firmly in the skin
Keep It Simple Students: Camouflage (If you are a sci student and can explain a complex topic to me, email me!)
? How scientists are looking to explain "evolution's big bang"
Yes, There Are Arachnophobic Entomologists, Survey Finds
Are we hard-wired from birth to know that animals have insides? Fascinating study
Dinofuzz! Dinosaur Feathers Found in Ancient Amber
Parasite makes mice lose fear of cats UNTIL THEY ARE EATEN BY CATS. But what effect does it have on us?
? How do we test nuclear fuel containment cells? Try to slice them in half with aluminum going Mach 1!
I did 24% better than the average on this scientific literacy quiz (damn you moons of Jupiter). Beat me!
? A MASTERPIECE: Bohemian Gravity!
Alton Brown to science communicators: Don't be a wine snob
"A termite is effectively a machine that converts a house or tree into an underground, antibiotic, faecal fortress."
A visualization of 100-years worth of Sasquatch sightings. In fact, there are *too many* sightings for it to be a real animal.
? I have met Apollo Robbins, pickpocket, and he is literally at the helm of your attention. Watch his TED talk
It's pretty likely that you are a genetic chimera, and that makes medicine more complicated
Smaller animals actually perceive the world differently...faster
Who watches the NSA and Google datacenters? Maybe Pizza Hut
Like many emerging scientific topics, "fetal pain" is more complicated than politics can yet grasp
? Excerpts from The Mad Scientist’s Handbook: The Human Recipe. "If you wish to make a human being from scratch…"
How exactly do you raise a ginormous ship like the Costa Concordia? Like this
How whale earwax is like a tree ring that absorbs environmental pollution
? Dancing With Black Widow Spiders. We are working on a new anti-venin, and black widows are shy
Colorado’s ‘Biblical’ Flood in Line with Climate Trends. Exactly what AGW predicts...
Learn more about how fishing limits are rebuilding stocks in U.S. waters with this handy infographic
Great honeybee coverage lately: Why Queen Honeybees Are Living Shorter, Less Productive Lives
? No words. This brain. Is. So. Weird. Also awesome.
An incredible sight: Rare Photos of Migaloo the Albino Humpback Whale
Great, straight forward illustration of the Doppler Effect that you educators should use
Nerdery at its Finest
? "But are video games art? The short – and long – answer is yes." Yes, all of this.
"I own a small tile company. One of my employees is a major gamer. I don't think this was an accident..."
For Firefly's 11th anniversary, the piece that solidified my choice to cover science and pop culture
For around $16,000, you can have your own AT-ST
An infographic spiral galaxy of 700 NES games
? Genius cosplayers make camouflage to match hotel carpet, get threatened with legal action
Hey! Did you know I have a Tumblr where all I do is write sci-fi shorts in six paragraphs or less? Well, I do
? Pareidolia FTW! Mercury has a block in the shape of a certain carbonite-encased smuggler on its surface
A new show about the science behind FAIL videos. It's pretty fun
Who doesn't want to see a NASA mash-up of The Enterprise and the Enterprise?
Attention code monkeys! Here's the code for a perfect Star Wars text crawl!
Somehow it works and I love it: Calvin & Muad'Dib
? Soooo...toilet brushes are probably the best anti-zombie weapon, beating out my choice of katana
The rules that made Bill Nye The Science Guy what it was
Give me more sci-fi urban dance anime!
Star Trek: Predicting the future since 1966
? THIS SO WORKS: The Star Trek TNG crew in the original Star Trek uniforms
"Sci-fi art is a place where people who feel constrained by this reality can go have a romp outside of it."
? Is this the funniest thing a librarian has ever done, ever? I think so.
GIFs and Images for Two-Seconds of Wow
"Shimmer gears" are beautiful/painful to look at
? A new book shows us the haunting, beautiful weirdness of Mars. I could stare at these all day, wondering
I found Mordor! I should have some giant eagles just fly me there...
? I want an aquarium of a thousand bobtail squid
Lovely: A Mario Mobius strip
I really want a pushy pet bat!
? This is beautiful. Thanks, NASA.
A toy company mixed sand with some undisclosed polymer, and it blows my mind
Reflections of the sky on open bodies of water really mess with my brain
Asteroids that pass close to us, like this one in 2003, don't just fly by...they make a few scary rounds
Awesome: A human skull crafted from skateboard decks
The sensitive plant is sensitive
How tight are your violin's strings? They only look tight to your human eyes
? How much pressure does it take to explosively compress a watermelon? Ask this crocodile (It's a lot)
Why hasn't the internet declared sugar gliders the cutest animals?
? WOW. What an earthquake does to a hotel pool
Raising the Costa Concordia, a GIF
? Little known fact: Most drummer boys took lessons from jumping spiders
A portrait of a slender praying mantis (Idolomorpha dentifrons) from the Cheringoma Plateau.
Pop Culture Happenings
Maybe if we represent our emotional and psychological disorders as little monsters they won't be so bad
It's hard to be ideologically a big-L libertarian when they deny science
Adam Savage: Work your ass off, because your life depends on it
This just in: Books and TV and art all have graphic depictions of violence. Even...the news!
If there is a “wind turbine syndrome” it would seem it's a condition that can be prevented by the drug called money
? "When it comes to video games, the loudest voices are rarely gamers...this creates a hollow sort of analysis"
NFL Concussion Deniers See a “Liberal Sports Media” Conspiracy
"Dear Mr. Kennedy, Please stop the Russians from bombing the North Pole because they will kill Santa Claus."
Escalators are still dangerous because, "There is no incentive for escalator manufacturers to do anything different."
? The Bizarre Evolution of the Word "Cyber". You owe it to yourself to see "teledildonics" used in a sentence.
Very interesting NYT op-ed: Overpopulation Is Not the Problem
How inept charlatans still use science to advance homophobia
Science laureate? “It would still give scientists an opportunity to pontificate, and we’re opposed to it.”
David Attenborough thinks humans have stopped evolving. "Obviously he's wrong"