http://ksj.mit.edu/tracker/2014/04/it-okay-say-female-insect-has-%E2%80%9Cpenis%E2%80%9D-se

As usual, Ed Yong pwns. The comments on his article are good too. Scicurious gets to what I think Newitz was trying to say, and ( Read more... )

I don't understand how theoretical physicists can do work at all, what with having their minds constantly blown. I think there's a relevant joke about becoming a cosmologist, but seriously, just go read that shit.

/today's big-picture missive from your context-obsessed proprietor.

Ed Yong discusses HIV/immune cell interaction. Really good.

( talks about sexual harassment in atheist activism and science journalism...a bit dry unless you have a topical interest in both )

You guys remember when that big ass meteorite exploded over Russia, right? A refresher:

Click to view

Well they found a 1,000 pound chunk of it in a lake and hauled it out. FOR SCIENCE.

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“The average infant has minimal firsthand experiences with road kill, surgical dissections, slaughterhouses, or other graphic displays of animal interiors.”

( summary for the link shy )

Forebrain Engraftment by Human Glial Progenitor Cells Enhances Synaptic Plasticity and Learning in Adult Mice.

Bonus random commentary from Ben Barres.

I love it SO MUCH.

You know what's really amusing to me? Creationists insist dragons and dinosaurs lived with humans, and now we think we've found an actual quadripedal flying dinosaur. Even better, it was found in China, where dragons have been part of the culture and folklore for ages. But since fossils were put into the earth by Satan to trick humans, isotopic ( Read more... )

Cool things in the sky.

A mole of moles. The funnest bit of chemistry I've read in ages.

When your scientific expedition turns into an Indiana Jones' movie.