• The virophage - a virus that infects other viruses
  If a virus itself can become infected, does that mean it is one step closer to being alive?
• Google tool identifies linchpin species
  Google is now using its brain trust to tackle major problems in ecology.
• but is it art?
  Scientific imagery may be beautiful, but can it be classified as art?
• Antivaxxers and the media
  The newest Hollywood trend is misinformed and potentially very dangerous.
• ‘Slow Life’ and its Implications
  We have trouble conceiving of our own lifespans, so how do we deal with those exponentially longer?

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• Dolly's Creator Moves Away from Cloning
  Though cloning is still an oft-mentioned policy hurdle, many scientists are moving on.
• The things I didn't believe in graduate school
  Yes, graduate school is a painful process. But it's also the last chance many academics get to simply learn.
• Trapped: Mental Illness in America's Prisons
  Jenn Ackerman's video essay is beautiful, haunting, and revealing.
• Video Stores vs. Online Rentals
  Believe it or not, Netflix is an extremely green choice.
• Dogs catch yawns from humans
  Can we really be in that much of a funding crush if inter-species yawning studies are being funded? Just saying.

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• Prehistoric great white shark had strongest bite in history
  Sometimes I am thankful for the odd extinction.
• Why Do We Capitalize the Word "I"?
  A fascinating explanation of our capitalist tendencies.
• How magicians control your mind
  Card tricks and white rabbits lead to fascinating insights into human cognition.
• Do they really think the earth is flat?
  Skepticism or silliness?
• 9 Reasons Not to Date a Tyrannosaurus Rex
  There are only 9?

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• Your Science Your Say
  Is it good for grants to be crowdsourced? Find out here.
• Micro Microscope
  This edition of NPR's Science Friday looks at the potential applications for the newly invented microscopic microscope.
• What Will the LHC Find?
  This thorough cheat sheet tells you all you need to know about what possible discoveries might be upcoming at the LHC.
• Are We Stuck With 'Blah, Blah, Blah, ... Bang'?
  Call it future discounting or call it dumb—our species seems to lack the ability to act until it's afraid. Why?
• Our brains react differently to artificial vs human intelligence
  Brain scanners: the new turing test.

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• Final Pieces of the CMS Puzzle
  Everything you ever wanted to know about CERN's pixel detector.
• Academy Answers Gates' Call for Technology to Aid Poorest Farmers
  The Gates Foundation produces a compelling report.
• Stem Cells for ALS
  An impressive technological feat nonetheless signals a new, more muted future for stem cells.
• It's Time to Vote: Choose Your Science Idol!
  There's one more week to vote in the Union of Concerned Scientists' scientific integrity cartoon contest.
• 3D Printing
  It's here: DIY 3D printing.

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\sō-lä-stál-jə\ n.: A pain or discomfort caused by the present state of one's home environment.

Around the turn of the millennium, residents of the Upper Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, started to express concern to environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht about the extensive coal mining in their home environment. Albrecht, who visited the region to confirm the destruction, realized that these people were experiencing a specific kind of distress: a homesickness felt at home. Albrecht coined the term "solastalgia" — a mash-up of "solace," "desolation," and "nostalgia" — to describe the inability to derive comfort from one's home environment due to negative environmental change. The concept was introduced in 2004 in the journal EcoHealth, and the first paper devoted solely to solastalgia was published in 2005. With climate change poised to displace up to a billion people in the next 50 years and alter the home environments of countless others, Albrecht predicts that physical and mental illness related to the environment will increase dramatically.

• 10 Big Questions for Maverick Geneticist J. Craig Venter on America's Energy Future
  From the human genome to green fuels, Venter is on the cutting edge.
• Is the cinematograph making us stupid?:
  Cultural growing pains or technological dystopia?
• Do-It-Yourself Addiction Cures?
  Will it work for internet addiction as well?
• Girls, boys, and math.
  A break down of the math differences between boys and girls reveals insights into how we test our children.
• Five ways to trigger a natural disaster
  Will somebody please make sure these stay out of the hands of an evil genius. (via kottke)

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• An Appetite For Science
  Alton Brown serves up science for supper.
• Revkin & inaccuracies in the media
  How should science be reported in the face of uncertainty?
• Grow Your Own
  Locavores get creative.
• The Nature of Glass Remains Anything But Clear
  How is it that we know more about string theory than we do about glassware?
• A Closer Look at Preserved Dinosaur Soft Tissue Reveals .. Slime
  We might have to wait a little longer to get our T-Rex clones.

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• Other Simulated Worlds
  Behind the scenes photographs of the American Museum of Natural History.
• A Modest Proposal: Eco-Friendly Stimulus
  A creative proposal for helping those most at need while removing the greatest polluters from the road.
• Spider vs. Bee... BBC vs. National Geographic
  Intriguing observations regarding the subtle differences between American and British nature documentaries.
• Edward Burtynsky, "The 10,000-year Gallery"
  The Kodak Moment just evolved into the Kodak Millenia.
• What Makes Us Explore?
  Interesting theories that rationalize the need to push the limit.

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• The Science of Satire
  What studies of cognition have to say about the recent New Yorker cover.
• Texas to Tel Aviv
  Unlikely heroes push a green energy agenda, says Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.
• The Innumeracy of Intellectuals
  Is there an academic double standard for faculty?
• YouTube's star lecturer dies at 47
  You may have seen this before, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't find an hour and watch it again.
• What philosophy of science and "postmodernism" have in common
  What exactly is the goal of science, again?

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• Dennett on magic and misdirection
  An analogy about magicians shows why we might be wrong about consciousness.
• Outside the Ghetto and the Ghastly Example of Michael Crichton
  No matter how much fun Jurassic Park is to read, Michael Crichton is still annoyingly anti-science.
• Make Mine a Double--and Turn Down That #*^%!! Music
  Why does loud music make us drink more?
• Why do more Asians have perfect pitch?
  Research suggests culture plays a large role in developing perfect pitch.
• Crunching PETA's numbers
  PETA vs. the FDA, deconstructed.

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• Dennett on magic and misdirection
  An analogy about magicians shows why we might be wrong about consciousness.
• Outside the Ghetto and the Ghastly Example of Michael Crichton
  No matter how much fun Jurassic Park is to read, Michael Crichton is still annoyingly anti-science.
• Make Mine a Double--and Turn Down That #*^%!! Music
  Why does loud music make us drink more?
• Why do more Asians have perfect pitch?
  Research suggests culture plays a large role in developing perfect pitch.
• Crunching PETA's numbers
  PETA vs. the FDA, deconstructed.

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• Physical Theories As Women
  In other news, Stephen Hawking has decided to become a relationship counselor.
• Deliberate Practice
  And I thought the only way to get to Carnegie Hall was on the N train.
• Ode To Joy
  Beaker breaks the laws of physics in the name of musical genius.
• No, no, no, no, no no!
  On why lime should be used in mojitos, and not to deacidify the oceans.
• Could IMF Loans Be Causing TB Deaths?
  How loan stipulations can fundamentally change health care.

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• Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain
  Nature Neuroscience 13 April 2008

Whether or not one subscribes to the doctrine of free will, it is difficult to imagine that we're not responsible for most of life's little choices. We can accept the fact that we have unconscious yearnings and desires, upon which we act, without this ever impinging upon the idea that we are ultimately in conscious control of our actions. In the 1980s, however, Benjamin Libet performed an experiment that seemed to show that areas of the brain responsible for certain body movements activate before we are conscious of our decision to move. Researchers in Europe recently decided to test Libet's conclusion again. A group of 14 volunteers was asked to press either of two buttons, one with the left hand and one with the right, whenever they wanted, so long as they noted the time when they made their decision. Watching the patterns of activity in the volunteers' brains, researchers could predict which button the individuals would pick up to 10 seconds before they had consciously made their choice.

• Mystery science eater
  The products of the industrial kitchen, at a fancy restaurant near you.
• Domino's Scientists Test Limits Of What Humans Will Eat
  According to these (Onion spoofs of) Domino's Scientists, "People willingly ate everything our lab created."
• Vaccine fearmongers versus Steve Novella
  Steve Novella vs. David Kirby, in a battle between science and....something else.
• Thom Mayne's U.S. Federal Building
  The famous architect attempts to create a federal building that is both secure and environmentally friendly.
• Dent, I've found you!
  A blogger looks back on a cartoon tailor-made for entry-level scientists.

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• Leopard Attacking Crocodile
  It may not be very scientific, but it sure is awesome.
• Mirrors Don't Lie. Mislead? Oh , Yes.
  Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most deluded of them all?
• You are hereby sentenced eternally to wander the newspapers, fruitlessly mocking nutriwoo
  The danger of baseless nutritional claims and the bad science behind them.
• Cambridge Manufacturing Engineering Design Show 2008
  Interesting design solutions for strange problems.
• Rational Voters?
  Is there anything about politics that is rational?

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• In Vitro We Trust
  The first test-tube baby turns 30.
• Software to video meteors (and other stuff in the sky)
  Long nights with the telescope will soon be a thing of the past.
• EPOXI: Clues to Terrestrial Worlds
  New images show just how useful looking at Earth can be to learning more about other Earth-like planets.
• Psychopharmaparenting
  Vaughan takes a look back at a 2006 Stephen Colbert segment.
• The ideal energy crop
  Let's put the corn ethanol debate aside for now. What would a better energy crop look like?

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• Non-Newtonian Fluid On Subwoofer
  Proof that oobleck still has a post-elementary school allure.
• Adithread Nano-engraving for All Blacks
  Nano-engraving, new and improved for the psychotic football fan.
• With Apologies to ...
  David Brooks' science columns in the NYT have enraged some in the blogosphere.
• The Limits of Neuro-Talk
  The most thoughtful analysis of "neurotalk" yet.
• Black and white twins & perils of Colored admixture
  These twins don't look like twins.

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• 'Fly By Night'
  Delightful hand drawn animation of back porch bugs on a summer night.
• Darwinist
  Insightful buzz in the blogosphere about Olivia Judson's request to move past darwinism.
• Bees Enlisted to Attack Crows in Tokyo
  Why can't Americans think of conservation mechanisms like this? .
• Country, the City Version: Farms in the Sky Gain New Interest
  Penthouse or penned pigs?
• Crackergate
  The curious cracker controversy clarified.

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• Colder climates favor civilization even among Whites alone
  Could a warming planet mean the end of civilization as we know it...
• Kidney stones: an inconvenient truth
  Or would it just mean a rising tide of kidney stones?
• It's All Decked Out. Give It Somewhere to Go.
  Michael Benson argues a higher calling for the International Space Station.
• Video: Gordian worm leaves its cricket host
  The parasite in this amazingly creepy video takes over its host from the inside by seducing it with a neurological chemical cocktail.
• Night of the Living Meds
  Sleep is the new enemy on the international battlefield.

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