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Nerds and Words: Week 30

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.

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 WatchWhen do kids understand death? A perplexing part of growing up. ? Why do some crocodiles eat fruit? Not quite sure, but we have some theories "The first stars were born of hydrogen, but they died in a cloud of heavier atoms." Don't worry, this ball of congregating flies isn't a sign of the apocalypse The dancing mud of New Zealand makes bubble physics all the more pronounced Usain Bolt uses 92% of his energy just to fight the air he rushes through Parasitic wasp gets a free ride on a damselfly...only to doom the fly's eggs with her own ? How big is our solar system? Here's a fun way to see for yourself The Poets of Starlight. A lovely post on how the natural world calls to scientists. Huh. Shrapnel isn't a thing, it is the guy who invented it Yes, we can trust Monsanto with our food. ? Mouseunculus: How The Brain Draws A Little You. The kind of science that makes your eyes widen. With an electron microscope and some software, we now have incredible videos of up-close everything FYI: You can get about a million miles from the Sun before dying ? Now Curiosity is a pale blue dot. Kinda poetic It's absolutely amazing to see "real-live death" move through an animal Sugar doesn't make children act badly, but parents might Thanks to one war photographer, two soldiers will live forever in the annals of fascinating physics Need to chill out? This helped me: A Year of the Sky Before we establish "Bigfoot language", we need to establish the existence of Bigfoot There's a name for when something obscure to you suddenly seems to be everywhere ? How Could We Stop An Asteroid? With LASER BEES It's a Myth That Cheetahs Overheat While Hunting. 'Nuff said. New species of shrew has a spine of the Gods, Gods with flowing blonde hair and sexy stubble It's summer time, so get your bug drugs straight: Busting five myths of mosquito repellents If you're a tropical tourist, be gentle with coral! You'll impale them with their own skeletons Good. God. In Bacon Therapy, the Meat Isn't for You: It's for the Bugs Eating Your Skin "Without loyalty, a meadow would be a much less colourful place." "Gravity waves" have little to do with gravity but are still very pretty from space ? Even the desert would rather put The Phantom Menace behind it. At least it was good for science. You can learn a lot more than "woah" from firing a gun underwater Zebrafish neurons fluorescently labeled with the Brainbow method Destroying priceless works of art with light, moisture, and xenophobia ? Stop it paleo-nerds, you can't beat a T. rex in an arm-wrestle The Lagoon So Beautiful (and Toxic) It Had to Be Dyed Black Think you know where the hottest place on Earth is? Satellites do ? An ostrich can run a marathon in 40 minutes, so yes, feel bad about your stupid human legs Why everything that movies told you about amnesia is probably wrong   Nerdery at its Finest ? Wolverine Science (Snikt!): What does a Wolverine without regenerative powers have to fear? Concussions, cancer, and magnets. Examining the healing powers of an X-man. What if Wolverine couldn't heal [Infographic]. The science behind adamantium and alloys. Everything wrong with the second film. What if You Were Fus Ro Dah'd? A fun analysis that gets a bit number-happy. Where would you find a real Sharknado? ? Pacific Rim Science:How a Jaeger rocket punch is a 747 to a Kaiju face. How could you create dry land on the bottom of the ocean? Detonate a nuke. A biological guide to the film. What makes Pacific Rim's battles look so epic? Scale. Got time to kill? Find the 48 scientific errors in this photo 17 people you probably saw at Comic Con   GIFs and Image for Two Second of WOW*Bad* taxidermy...Also ironically awesome ? These "water as it is perfectly covering you" photos captivate me When military snipers try to mimic great animal camouflage, they do a pretty damn good job I don't think cheetahs like the rain, but I watched this for about a minute before deciding that Hungry, hungry water tension A seahorse gives birth like a sneeze ? A skull at the shore of Very Salty Lake ? Sometimes a landslide looks like the Earth letter her hair down A galaxy in a lighter OMG the Earth from Saturn I see your water tornado, and raise you a fire tornado. Quicksand can be a non-Newtonian fluid FYI: You can also release the kraken with calcium gluconate ? So awesome: Bees are nature's 3D printer, and a great video of the "3-B" printing process It's amazing to watch an animal other than a human be amazed by something What happens when a wind turbine doesn't properly brake during a storm ? DJ Chameleon. That is all   Oh yeah, other stuff happens too Cosplay crossovers are officially over. These two win. I'd train for the Olympics just for that meteorite-infused medal... Tight-lipped prisoners are more cooperative than college kids in a classic moral dilemma It's my favorite image of Comic Con too. The accurate scientific fear factor Celebrate the Moon landing with 10 debunked 'Moon Hoax' arguments Alan Turing is set to be pardoned. But only by teaching his full story can we honor his memory And the winner for most annoying ringtone goes to... Chinese "nail houses" that refuse to be torn down are fascinating The time when James Randi un-convinced Barbara Walters that Uri Geller was something special Science makes little gods You shall not pass: The weapon inspectors of San Diego Comic-Con

Kyle Hill is a science communicator who specializes in finding the secret science in your favorite fandom. He has a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and a master's degree in communication research (with a focus on science, health, and the environment) from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Aside from co-hosting Al Jazeera America's science show, TechKnow, Hill is also a freelancer who has contributed to Wired, Nature Education, Popular Science, Slate, io9, Nautilus, and is a columnist for Skeptical Inquirer. He manages Nature Education's Student Voices blog, is a research fellow with the James Randi Educational foundation. Email: sciencebasedlife@gmail.com

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