Science online, periodical feast edition

A periodical cicada from brood XII. Photo by JanetandPhil (Correction, 2 June 2011: replaced photo by James Jordan, which depicted the wrong cicada species).
  • Still not as fast as on CSI. The lab work for genetic identification of, say, that terrorist mastermind you just killed, goes quicker than you might expect.
  • Not named Uroptychus pinnochio because that name is taken already. A newly discovered lobster is distinguished by its prominent rostrum.
  • Time to reinstate the noon-time martini. Is lunch in danger of extinction thanks to social anxieties?
  • The case of the missing (bird) baby boom. You’d think that the emergence of huge swarms of periodic cicadas would be a boon for bird populations—but you’d be wrong.
  • Born that way. “Lesbian” lizards (of the sort discussed here) have been bred in the lab from sexual parents.
  • Maybe these were better bird food than cicadas? A two-inch long fossilized ant has been unearthed in Wyoming.

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