Cliff swallow in flight. Photo by donjd2.

• This week, at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! Doing natural history like a Victorian—but with gigabytes of genetic data.
• And, at the Molecular Ecologist: A tale of two Dryad submissions.
• Speedy evolution in more ways than one. Cliff swallows living under highway bridges have evolved shorter wings—maybe because they help dodge oncoming cars.
• Breaking! It’s possible to make science accessible without reinforcing sexist stereotypes.
• Which, I would argue, is most of the time. When evolution and ecology happen at the same time.
• Not the only way in which it’s fantastical. The paleofantasy of “alternative” medicine.
• Step one: read good science writing. How to write good science.
• Handy! Convert technical units of measurement into more comprehensible terms using Wolfram Alpha!
• And why that makes the whole business suspect. Why proposals to resurrect extinct species are really all about Homo sapiens.
• First, they came for the political scientists … The U.S. Senate decides it can ban the National Science Foundation from funding an entire field of research.
• Related: who still does this? Why do we call it the “wild type,” anyway?

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