Top picks

“If this were true adios theory.” Darwin’s margin scribbles show the evolution of a theory

Video games that use living microbes

It’s survival of the weakest when bacteria play rock-paper-scissors

Humans guided evolution of dog barks

The last Indian vultures, and the feral dogs that are replacing them

A fascinating piece about the real secrets behind Area 51 (no, really), involving stealth planes and a mystery illness

Thomas Knudsen carefully poisons a 3-week-old human embryo… in a computer.

What do you get when you put a terrorist inside of a brain scanner? We don’t know. Important piece by Virginia Hughes

“These critters are hell-for-leather, flat-out just gonna get there.” Wonderful David Quammen piece on animal migrations

The evolution machine: genetic engineering on fast-forward, a great story by Jo Marchant

Beetles with screws and nuts in their legs

News/science/writing

How airplanes punch spreading holes in clouds, cause snowfall

The value of simulations – why crew/pilot errors have become a minor cause of plane accidents

Bacteria in Carl Zimmer’s belly button was previously known mainly for being in Asian soil. What has he been putting in there?

Electrocuting women who look at photos of their partners… for SCIENCE

“Garcia inserted the compressed-air ...