Top picks

What a marine massacre looks like – great nuanced post by Rick Macpherson on shark-finning and what the reality is

“One of the animal kingdom’s greatest and most unappreciated symbioses.” Brandon Keim on fungus-farming beetles.

Does he have schizophrenia or is he simply Cockney? An amazing story from Vaughan Bell with a medical use for urbandictionary.com.

Personal genomics: no longer just for white folks. Great post form Daniel Macarthur

Kids are natural scientists. They too are bitter and frustrated by budget cuts.

What lurks at the deepest point of the Earth? We don’t know, but $10m goes to the person who finds out

US government proposes required consent for all human tissue research, citing Rebecca Skloot’s Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks in the decision.

I’m now a freelancer. My new workplace.

“My god is this complexity ever going to end?” You can spend 37yrs studying spider dancing & barely scratch the surface.

Jennifer Frazer on the almighty prion (“the Rasputin of biology”) and why the humble lichen f**ks them up

“Our knowledge of the past is almost completely deodorized.” Fascinating piece on the smell of history, by Courteney Humphries

Do prey struggle when swallowed whole, or do ...