Science online, craziest of ants edition

Expulsion from Eden It was probably all because Eve’s brain is so different. Photo by Sebastian Bergmann.

Science online, pumpkin pie hangover edition

paleo pumpkin pie 3 Barnacles. Photo by Minette Layne.

Science online, if you give a mouse a thermostat edition

Mousey Is it cold in here? Photo by Ikayama.

Science online, migrate me to the moon edition

migrating birds against the sunset Photo by dreamingyakker.

Science online, Godwin’s anatomy textbook edition

He doesn't fit in... Photo by mjsmith01.

Science online, death march of the penguins edition

Sea Otter Christ, what an asshole. Photo by K Schneider.

Science online, poison in your potatoes edition

rhubarb Rhubarb. Delicious but toxic. Photo by Heather Quintal.
  • This week at Nothing in Biology Makes Sense! Lizards that adjust their development for their habitat based on the temperature outside their eggs.
  • You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll hopefully learn a little about harassment and how to stop it. Hope Jahren sure can write.
  • Color me not surprised, still unhappy to see it. There’s a gender gap in citation counts.
  • Plants versus everyone else. The not-so-hidden chemical warfare agents of the vegetable aisle.
  • “Use the left lane for passing, Mr. Sulu.” What an Alcubierre warp-drive spacecraft would look like on its way past.
  • Hmm. Should peer reviewers review methods even before the experiments are done?
  • Welcome to the hominid family! On that new, impressively complete skull of an early Homo species.
  • Bookmarking for (hopefully not too much) later. How life as a professor isn’t like anything you’ve done before.

Science online, what is this I can’t even edition

2008.10.04 - fall colors Photo by jby.

So this week, these things happened: Biologist and Scientific American blogger Danielle N. Lee called out a deeply disrespectful editor at the website Biology-Online, only to have SciAm take down her post. In response to widespread outrage and agitation, SciAm‘s editor-in-chief relented and more-or-less apologized.

And then Monica Byrne and Hannah Waters came forward to report that Bora Zivkovic—the SciAm blogs editor, co-founder of the ScienceOnline conference, series editor of the Open Lab anthology, and all-around godfather of online science communication—had sexually harassed them. Bora’s confirmed Monica Byrne’s report, apologized, resigned from the board of ScienceOnline, and is apparently taking leave from SciAm.

Not a good week for some leading institutions of science outreach—but also, one hopes, the first steps toward doing better.

Also these things:

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.

Science online, shutdown edition

Aedes aegypti mosquito A safer DEET successor can’t arrive soon enough. Photo by Sanofi Pasteur.