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, Watch
? A beaded chain, when given enough momentum, can "walk"!
NASA made a video that may be ISON's proof of "life"!
Why are more women having mastectomies? Some shocking numbers here
Fossilized insect sex can tell us more than you think about evolution
? Fascinating post on the fluid physics of nature's most famous archer
Why are some words "bad"? It's a linguistics questions that's way more complicated than you think
Venomous primates, mimicry, and molecular biology?
? A powerful and fascinating TED Talk talk about memory and crime: When eyewitnesses get it wrong
Another great TED talk by Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman: The riddle of experience vs memory. Which self are you now?
Tool use in crocodiles!? Apparently you can bait herons by balancing a stick on your snout. And then eat them.
Using medical records to find genetic links to disease, backwards
"It’s a glow-in-the-dark marvel that takes on beasts hundreds of times its size. It almost always wins"
The funniest Q&A about ISON that you will read anywhere. "It will be terrible, pass the popcorn."
? The living architecture of fire ants is compressible, buoyant, and very cool
The secret to a stealthy seahorse predation? A weird head shape and fluid mechanics!
The first brain collectors weren't really good dudes
First cicada wings, now dragonflies: More insect wings that shred bacteria
Are we sure the flames weren't extinguished because they were trying to get away from Nickelback?
It's hard for many to believe in evolution, because of evolution
NASA helps to make Thanksgiving dinner, with rockets
An "ice disk" forms in a cold, lazy river
Tracking the evolution of birds with teeth, and beaks...teaks?
Poorly executed, misleading study bites the dust: Study linking GM maize to rat tumors is retracted
? Vaccines have prevented so many diseases that they are probably the most important public health measure ever
"Wasting time" is a cultural thing. Some people don't know what it means, which seems wonderful
? Fleeting worlds on sunken wood--sea life that appears mysteriously to feed on land plants
How the Chelyabinsk meteor is changing the cosmic timeline for impact events
? How surface tension can make droplets dance, sort themselves and chase each other
A tree in Brooklyn drops stinky seeds for an animal that will never come; it's a ghost of evolution
It's time for psychology to start replicating its findings. It knows. It is.
Looking at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D using the universe's redshift
Think "bait balls" only occur in the ocean? Try Lake Michigan.
Some numbers suggest that we've won the battle against shark finning. They're probably wrong
Happy this isn't fake: Amazingly preserved baby dino skeleton!
? WOW! This just pressure from decomposition! Wow. Video footage of a sperm whale that explodes!
How do you ship a magnet that is over 15,000 kg? Very carefully
Woodpeckers should play football, because they don't get concussions
Fist-bump for health: The doctor is not trying to bro down; it's even bigger than that
What makes an icicle have ripples? Salt. Why? We are still figuring that out!
We measure sea level where there's no sea with the gravity that would be there if the land was sea. Just watch
? First it was sandpipers, now roaches: Do cockroaches have consciousness?
Meet Your Body’s Death Eaters--A fascinating guide to the different types of macrophages.
Vaccinate...Do it for the testicles
Extreme Nerdery
? Martin Freeman really does not like the behind-the-scenes camera
Comets should learn from their fallen friends
? Mapping out all the "monsters" in the US in one awesome...map. Guess where the fabled "eel pig" is
Genius art: Use bead curtains to make Star Trek portraits that look like they are mid-beam
? How close would a supernova have to be to kill you with ghostly neutrinos? Well, start by not being incinerated
For all the talk about violent video games and Newtown, the shooter was obsessed with DDR, and other factors explain more
The amazing Hook Island sea monster photos, revisited
GIFs and Images for Some Wow
? An amazing GIF of Africa's morphing sand dunes from a BBC documentary
Always blow bubbles with smoke instead of air!
Just before you fall asleep tonight, as your rods and cones adjust to darkness, look at this angler fish
In case you need a reality check for how weird life can look, here's a barreleye fish
On the square grid, the white dots in your periphery look shadowed. On the squiggly grid, the white dots appear white
? "I'm just carrying my kids to go play dead somewhere, what are you looking at?"
Artist draws incredibly ornate pictures of insects, re-imagining "creepy crawly"
? A katydid with and without UV light from Nicky Bay
Human have a lot of metabolic pathways, like so many it's cray (8640x6000)
The force was strong with that exploding sperm whale
NASA makes really cool comet GIFs, especially of ISON
? This awesome spinning flat screen is only awesome because your brain can't process how fast it is turning
A moth's head would make for a decent toothbrush. Visualize that
What I am dubbing "jellyfish mountain" is as amazing as it sounds
Spanish dancer nudibranch is not a dancer for money, does not do what you want it to do
Fish, fish, all around, but not a one to eat
Introversion as a GIF: Reverse crab molt
? Devil rays: The definition of majestic
So...there are a lot of flights into the US every day
Pop Culture Happenings
It is ridiculously expensive to charge your phone in rural Africa
C'mon y'all, slowed-down cricket chirps DO NOT sound like singing. Here, here's a recording a sound engineer made
Yes, what the hell is this "natural trampoline"?
? Watch this video on the lack of STEM women on YouTube. Funny, clear, insightful, and applies to so much more
A story about a parrot so evil that its terror stretched a dark claw from beyond the grave
Get up to speed on fair use and GoldieBlox with this very thorough explainer
Whatever this "transparent" art installation in the desert means, it's beautiful
? A beautiful piece about how seeing the world from space changed Chris Hadfield's views of home
A clear exploration of the potential problems, and benefits, of having the FDA go after 23andMe
Walter White’s “I Am the One Who Knocks” Speech as Written by Other Authors
To ensure that no one wasted valuable Russian nuking time, our launch codes were all zeroes for 20 years
? My favorite cinemagraph is from Fight Club
"Russia's Kildin island is a veritable petting zoo of the creepiest decaying military equipment"