Science online, anthropocentrism and budgetary doomsday edition

Lab Mouse checkin out the camera Another victim of the shutdown. Photo by Minette Layne.
  • This week at The Molecular Ecologist Is the ultimate model organism for molecular genetics Homo sapiens?
  • This week in shutdown science: The CDC sits out an outbreak of drug-resistant salmonella, experiments on hold, lab mice euthanized and an entire season of Antarctic research cancelled.
  • Not like they have much state funding to lose, these days. Public universities are looking for ways to be less, um, public.
  • Of course, it can be both! Is behavioral genetics “taboo,” or just bad science?
  • From the personal to the general. The New York Times Magazine goes in-depth on underrepresentation of women in science.
  • Because bunnies! The Central Limit Theorem turns out to be adorable.
  • This sounds … familiar. The Great Library of Alexandria wasn’t destroyed by a fire, but by budget cuts.
  • Literally, because he says he can’t. Why Malcolm Gladwell can’t be trusted.
  • About 35 years. A new study estimates how long global warming can continue before average temperatures exceed historical highs.
  • It’s more likely to be MRSA. No, that’s almost certainly not a brown recluse bite.