Top picks

The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice: “A website dedicated to the .” And a wonderful one at that.

Happy anniversary to : read her lovely tribute to falling in love with a physicist.

Emma Marris on . I for one would love to see a sabre-tooth cat devour a ground sloth.

David Robson chronicles a from the first neurons to humans.

– a new blog by Simon Frantz about the prizes and coverage of the prizes. This should be good, especially since Simon used to work for the Nobel Foundation.

What? Huh? Wait.. how did.. UH? ? This apparently.

“What good’s a toolkit if you don’t use it to build something?” Jack Horner’s quest to

that are as small as a stamp and weigh less than a penny

Gauging an area’s biodiversity strictly through the .

Greg Dunn creates from human brain cell photos

Halfway down: a superb list of tips for avoiding

A very good write-up of that study about . Meanwhile, David Bradley asks some the researchers and gets some good answers.

Popular Science published a detailed and comprehensive , the scientist behind last year’s arsenic-life controversy. David Dobbs and Carl Zimmer voiced my concerns much better than I could have. They argue respectively that the piece , and in some places, .

The , as covered by SciCurious, with Real Time Storify!!

“The only way to do it is to bypass the cannibalistic phase.” birthed in artificial uterus:

The by Emily Anthes, with a.

The

Rat cyborg gets . Absolutely incredible story from Linda Geddes.

by Carl Zimmer

“Anger isn’t an issue when you start with birds you love” Robert Krulwich peers into the and wonders what it will take to make them see reason.

A gives thanks to his science teacher.

Science/news/writing

The world’s most expensive drug: a yr

From the , a possible new weapon against drug-resistant bacteria

“This is a genuine scientific debate… it is not a manufactured controversy.” John Butterworth on the supposedly

“If your has a zero failure rate, you’re doing it wrong”

Sigh. . Try not to smoke, drink, eat or have unprotected sex with goats, okay?

Watch a peel the skin off a grape. Cool. Now imagine it doing that to your prostate. NYEARGH.

Mystery illness in Australia

Why Brain Scanners Make Your Head Spin, and what it means for

, hear me roar

How the threaten the Christian era, or Why the Daily Mail have once again surpassed themselves.

The That Is Killing the Ocean

By 2020, it should be possible (technologically, if not practically) to in a year

After decades of research, we can now accurately . (It weighs 2.2 pounds, right?)

Are really slave-raiders?

Carl zimmer asks “Do smell their own odor? Do they mind?” Answer seems to be yes and yes.

“The device uses sunlight to rip apart molecules of water, just like a . ”

A striking case of in fish – sharks barrelling into a shoal

Apparently, NASA had a Congressionally-mandated goal of finding > 90% of . Which it has now met

New evidence for * in the bloodstreams of people & cows. This is such an amazing story.

gives bats their hunting edge

mice created and treated. Well, not really treated. Either way, the Mouse Research Council is really getting value for its money.

“You can adopt a of yr own.” In Thailand, giant rats are on their way to sniffing out land mines.

“We need a more systematic approach to ”

23andMe now offers !

“The dominant way of thinking about the role of science journalists historically was to view them as . Now, however, a powerful metaphor for understanding their work as science critics is to see them as cartographers and guides.”

“You need to mentally . If it’s green, it’s actually a little more yellow.” Fossilised beetle colours preserved after millions of years.

How a Helped to Eradicate Smallpox

“There’s a lot to loathe about climate change. But if after reaching Antarctica, it’s O.K. to cheer.” No, it’s not. Slap them in their smug faces.

Porcupines and tigers and serpent eagles, oh my. in the jungle, 1 mth of footage, 5 mins of edited video.

Beat Monkeys at Replicating Shakespeare.

The hunt is on for BBC’s competition

The last by Razib Khan.

Traces of and Number System Discovered on the North Coast of Peru

 

Heh/wow/huh

caught with his pants down

. That is all.

A superb for the Twitter generation

The world’s most . Although I heavily dispute the idea that NYC’s map is more famous than London’s

How in less than 10 seconds

“Full disclosure: I’m because I was asked to by the publisher.. I’m glad I didn’t pay for it”

This is a building that looks like an

An amusing Slate piece about working as a .

Heh. … Al…most… there…

Neal Stephenson’s entire handwritten manuscript for the (inc pen nibs & ink bottles)

2011

“You’re a total .” 30 vetebrate common names potentially useful as insults.

“?” Some unfortunate veterinary X-rays, including a dog that ate a dinosaur

What the RT @NeilWithers: @carlzimmer http://t.co/NGqEnD4q”

Long exposure photos taken from the fronts of

“ has been utterly, profoundly changed thanks to Facebook’s new features.”

 

Internet/journalism/society

The world’s first . Sort of.

George Monbiot , asks all journos to do the same. Hmm. The amount seems completely irrelevant; it’s the source that matters.

“Authors more interested in whether than whether she loves him

What . This continuing treatment of Rebecca Watson is just appalling.

“Shrapnel, Leotard, Maverick, Boycott and Cardigan and other

“The more to understand, and convey, the process of science as well as the findings, the better off everyone will be.” – Andy Revkin on finding reliable source in an age of too much info.

, but what’s it like to write for them?

“Copy. You’re being hit with a green laser.” Wow, it’s really not a good idea to point a

Tips on

Megan Garber: Google News is treating as a vector of trust

A network , by Paul Bradshaw

Data journalism,

“” – a tool that lets you automate the internet.

“From religion to trend and from trend to infrastructure.” On and the Internet as a disruptor.

How do view fact-checking by science writers? With a and another , with a long discussion in which I have chipped.

(1) horrors of pre-anesthetic surgery
URL: http://thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/the-chirurgeons-casebooks-1-2/
(2) Jennifer Ouellette and Sean Carroll
URL: http://bit.ly/p5ptRh
(3) cloning extinct animals
URL: http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2011/09/26/guest-post-should-we-clone-endangered-species/
(4) brief history of the brain
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128311.800-a-brief-history-of-the-brain.html?full=true
(5) NobelPrizeWatch
URL: http://nobelprizewatch.wordpress.com/
(6) What happens when a slinky falls
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCMmmEEyOO0&feature=youtu.be
(7) reverse-engineer a dinosaur
URL: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/09/ff_chickensaurus/all/1
(8) Paper-based diagnostic tests
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27paper.html
(9) DNA in its dirt
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110923/full/news.2011.556.html
(10) Japanese-style paintings
URL: http://scienceblogs.com/bioephemera/2011/08/greg_dunns_golden_neurons.php
(11) crap he-said-she-said journalism
URL: http://pressthink.org/2011/09/if-he-said-she-said-journalism-is-irretrievably-lame-whats-better/
(12) reconstructing what people see from their brain activity
URL: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2011/09/28/how-did-researchers-manage-to-read-movie-clips-from-the-brain/
(13) searching questions to
URL: http://www.delicious.com/browsebar?urlmd5=9255693c14e7910645b7256682be47b4&url=http://bit.ly/pUkhTi
(14) profile of Felisa Wolfe-Simon
URL: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-09/scientist-strange-land
(15) neglects its journalistic duty by leaving out key details
URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/cutting-to-the-chase-on-the-arsenic-paper/
(16) airbrushing history entirely
URL: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com//loom/2011/09/30/arseniclife-goes-longform-and-history-gets-squished/
(17) 2011 IgNobel Prizes
URL: http://bit.ly/qMJvXd
(18) Baby sharks
URL: http://arst.ch/r2i
(19) innovative word of animal prosthetics
URL: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/09/ff_animalprosthetics/all/1
(20) follow-up on her blog
URL: http://blogs.plos.org/wonderland/2011/09/28/how-animal-prosthetics-are-spurring-innovation/
(21) Dinosaur Baron of Transylvania
URL: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-dinosaur-baron-of-translyvania
(22) digital cerebellum
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128315.700-rat-cyborg-gets-digital-cerebellum.html?full=true&print=true
(23) The Atlas of the Human Ecosystem
URL: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/09/mf_microbiome/
(24) minds of climate deniers
URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/08/140317111/avoiding-global-warming-stories?ft=1&f=5500502
(25) neurosurgeon
URL:
(26) steal at $409,500/
URL: http://blogs.nature.com/nm/spoonful/2011/09/soliris.html
(27) blood of wallabies
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128314.800-resurrected-ancient-protein-is-a-potent-antibiotic.html
(28) faster-than-light neutrinos
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/life-and-physics/2011/sep/24/1?CMP=twt_gu
(29) funding programme
URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/the-necessity-of-funding-failure/
(30) Goats and cancer
URL: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-09/elf-gci092211.php
(31) prostate surgical robot
URL: http://t.co/0GOD8Cgp
(32) making parrots “drunk”
URL: http://t.co/Ig6uWfbU
(33) MRI scanning studies
URL: http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2011/09/why-brain-scanners-make-your-head-spin.html
(34) I am koala
URL: http://t.co/NaUQauPR
(35) BBC’s dark forces of political correctness
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/sep/25/1
(36) Soup
URL: http://gizmodo.com/5843307/the-soup-that-is-killing-the-ocean-warning-graphic-content
(37) sequence every human genome
URL: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/09/243-full-human-genomes-sequenced-per-second/
(38) measure a kilogram
URL: http://io9.com/5844977/after-decades-of-scientific-research-we-can-now-accurately-measure-a-kilogram,%20http:/io9.com/5844977/after-decades-of-scientific-research-we-can-now-ac
(39) slave-raiding ants
URL: http://www.delicious.com/browsebar?urlmd5=60467bc2f9abd62adfaf5b9aa6a4a56b&url=http://j.mp/o6oISI
(40) skunks
URL: http://plus.google.com/u/0/111770459801993602257/posts/cjrdEN4wSdd
(41) photosynthesizing leaf
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110929/full/news.2011.564.html
(42) predator avoidance
URL: http://wp.me/ppUXF-bIK
(43) planet-killing asteroids
URL: http://bit.ly/qAHTlT
(44) functional* plant RNA
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128323.100-eating-your-greens-alters-your-genes.html
(45) Terminal buzz
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20981-terminal-buzz-gives-bats-their-hunting-edge.html
(46) ‘Autistic’
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20984-autistic-mice-created--and-treated.html
(47) HeroRAT
URL: http://www.good.is/post/could-giant-rats-eliminate-land-mines-in-thailand
(48) animal experiments
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110928/full/477511a.html
(49) whole-exome sequencing for $999
URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2011/09/27/the-future-is-now-23andme-now-offers-all-your-genes-for-999/
(50) translators, or transmitters, of information
URL: http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/skeptical_of_science.php?page=all
(51) redshift the color
URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/beetle-fossil-colors/
(52) Failure With Measles
URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27docs.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
(53) adventurers sip champagne
URL: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2093232_2093233_2094653,00.html
(54) 10 video camera traps
URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/leuser-camera-trap/
(55) Dawkins’ Weasels
URL: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/shakespeare-monkey-typewriters/
(56) Amateur Scientist of the year
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15061847
(57) 100,000 years in human history
URL: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2011/09/the-last-100000-years-in-human-history/
(58) a Lost Language
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1548-1433.2010.01245.x/full
(59) Hummingbird smuggler
URL: http://t.co/qxEONrnp
(60) Sleeping baby pandas
URL: http://kqedscience.tumblr.com/post/10778955058/omg-sleeping-baby-pandas
(61) warning sign
URL: http://twitpic.com/6szm0y
(62) interesting subway maps
URL: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2011/09/20-subway-maps/227/#slide5,%20http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2011/09/20-subway-maps/227/
(63) to peel a head of garlic
URL: http://www.openculture.com/2011/09/how_to_peel_a_head_of_garlic_in_less_than_10_seconds.html
(64) River dolphin fetus
URL: http://adventures-of-the-blackgang.tumblr.com/post/10783660239/river-dolphin-fetus
(65) reviewing this book
URL: http://mindhacks.com/2011/09/27/book-review-willpower-by-baumeister-tierney/
(66) impaled head
URL: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665092/tacky-and-terrific-a-building-shaped-like-an-impaled-head
(67) fact-checker of Cosmopolitan’s sex tips
URL: http://www.slate.com/id/2294870/
(68) Almost there
URL: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22a+step+closer+to+reality%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-a#q=%22a+step+closer+to+reality%22&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=vpu&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&prmd=imvns&ei=whuDTsr5FcSk0
(69) Baroque Cycle
URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/djwudi/3617012248/
(70) British Wildlife Photography awards
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2011/sep/26/british-wildlife-photography-awards-in-pictures?CMP=twt_fd
(71) hairy bush viper
URL: http://t.co/QEibJ3W0
(72) They Ate What
URL: http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-cover-stories/they-ate-what-2011-x-ray-contest-winners.aspx?cm_mmc=4996256
(73) British mean
URL: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3154
(74) Tokyo trains
URL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/appurupai/tags/motion/
(75) All of life
URL: http://realdanlyons.com/blog/2011/09/23/all-of-life-has-been-utterly-profoundly-changed-thanks-to-facebooks-new-changes-and-nothing-will-ever-be-the-same-and-all-i-can-do-is-sit-here-and-weep-at-the-beauty-and-magic-that-mark-zuckerber/
(76) iPhone 5 review
URL: http://www.delicious.com/browsebar?urlmd5=08ccd1c94624b2f693fcbaf8f702c9f4&url=http://gizmodo.com/5844836/why-wait-the-worlds-first-iphone-5-review,%20http://gizmodo.com/5844836/why-wait-the-worlds-first-iphone-5-review
(77) discloses his salary
URL: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/29/george-monbiot-journalists-register-interests?newsfeed=true
(78) he loves her
URL: http://bit.ly/qVwUUt
(79) misogyny looks like
URL: http://www.delicious.com/browsebar?urlmd5=9d3cc41d4f39e66468c4208086f57ab4&url=http://skepchick.org/2011/09/mom-dont-read-this
(80) people who became nouns
URL: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/28/140467781/wanna-live-forever-become-a-noun
(81) journalists can do
URL: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/reliable-sources-in-an-age-of-too-much-information/
(82) Reading the Daily Mail is nauseating
URL: http://thecollectivereview.com/anna-blundy/no-need-to-hack-phones-we-stitch-ourselves-up.html
(83) laser pointer at the sky
URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/09/laser-pointers-are-a-very-big-problem-for-aircraft-apparently/245784/
(84) becoming a better writer
URL: http://www.imaginehq.com/2011/09/26/25-insights-on-becoming-a-better-writer/
(85) news orgs’ willingness to credit others
URL: http://www.niemanlab.org/2011/09/with-its-standout-tag-google-news-is-giving-publishers-new-incentive-to-credit-the-competition/
(86) infrastructure for journalists online
URL: http://onlinejournalismblog.com/2011/09/26/a-network-infrastructure-for-journalists-online/
(87) 1821 style.
URL: http://t.co/RXdeQoRx
(88) If This Then That
URL: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/a-web-tool-that-lets-you-automate-the-internet/
(89) open access
URL: http://del-fi.org/post/10561649700/open-access-is-infrastructure-not-religion
(90) scientists
URL: http://blogs.plos.org/takeasdirected/2011/09/25/how-do-scientists-view-fact-checking-by-science-writers/
(91) related piece by Ananyo Bhattacharya
URL: http://bit.ly/qbDVgP
(92) related post from Al Dove
URL: http://deepseanews.com/2011/09/getting-on-the-same-page-with-science-journalists/