Science Has a Low Opinion of Pop Music; Kamikaze Termites
Discovered: Today's pop music is loud and monotonous; termites send their elderly on suicide missions; storms can damage the ozone layer; Monday isn't actually a mood killer.
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Discovered: Video games can help dyslexic kids read; pregnancy increases foot size; around 100 million sharks are killed annually; mammalian sperm swims upstream.
Discovered: Today's pop music is loud and monotonous; termites send their elderly on suicide missions; storms can damage the ozone layer; Monday isn't actually a mood killer.
Today in books and publishing: The Writer goes on hiatus; watching the Cloud Atlas trailer; say hello to Random House Television; Alison Bechdel chats with NYT.
Jen Doll's take on hate reading books struck a nerve with many of our readers. One commenter walked us through the logic behind her masochistic tendency to stick it out with books that bring her no joy.
Discovered: Weird weather informs beliefs about global warming; sight brought to blind mice; encroachment on tropical reserves; the popular anti-depressive Zoloft can prevent fungal infections.
Today in books and publishing: Man Booker longlist announced; unpacking the DOJ's e-books suit; DC delays new Batman comic; titles censored in China sell quick in Hong Kong.
As journalists, we're naturally interested in what the Associated Press' new social media guidelines have to say about "liking" on Facebook. It turns out our readers are, too.
Discovered: Tick bites can lead to red meat allergies; networking gets you farther ahead in the US job market; scientists develop ways to extract CO2 from the atmosphere; too much light at night can cause depression.
Today in books and publishing: Martin Amis talks class; agent to the literary stars Tina Bennett has a new employer; the Justice Department responds to criticism of its investigation of Apple's e-book pricing; dispatches from the Rare Book School.
As we noted today, even the Muslim Brotherhood finds Michele Bachmann's suggestion that Huma Abedin is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood preposterous. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, one commenter suspected the organization of covering up their Abedin connection.
Discovered: Polar bears have been around for milions of years; the Big Rip gets moved up; a rat's heart becomes a jellyfish; JFK and LAX, hubs for the spread of infectious disease.
Today in books and publishing: Antonin Scalia, DFW fanboy; Neil Gaiman as a 7-year-old Scientologist; this Paterno biography sure is ill-timed; forget Hollywood, e-books are where it's at.
Elspeth Reeve's post about Mitt Romney's post-retroactive retirement activities featured a photo from one of the candidate's campaign stops. One commenter noticed that a man in the background looked less than captivated by Romney's speech.
Discovered: Titan shows marks of a river network; a potential black hole in the heart of the Milky Way; poverty can cause mothers to develop anxiety; windows that generate electricity.
Today in books and publishing: Joan Rivers dishes with the NYT; the book embroiled in a sexual harassment suit; a new player in e-books; authors say Harlequin owes them.
Richard Lawson's post on the Emmy nominations had some of our commenters dreaming up absurd award categories. Who would you nominate for "Best Scowl in a Comedy Series?"
Discovered: The Pacific Ocean is polluted with caffeine; Stanford scientists sequence entire sperm genomes; a compound that kills petri-dish HIV; and drinking can prevent kidney cancer.
Today in books and publishing: Hollywood courts crime novelist Don Winslow; prescriptivists versus descriptivists; University of Missouri Press struggles to stay afloat; Penguin purchases self-publishing company.
Today's post about Samuel Williams, the 71-year-old man who fired upon two robbers fleeing from an Internet cafe in Florida, solicited a pretty informative comment.
Discovered: Astronomers find the oldest known spiral galaxy; dolphins are good with numbers; Japan's nuclear disaster will probably result in 130 deaths; and laziness is on par with smoking.
Today in books and publishing: E-books are now the best-selling format for adult fiction; queering comic books; how Shakespeare inspired South African activists; and blind Chinese dissident gets a book deal.
The question of having it all cropped up yet again in the comments on today's post about newly appointed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. She just announced that she's pregnant, which has some people wondering how she'll balance work and family.
Discovered: The world's lightest material; babies understand more than we thought; even in the womb, identical twins aren't completely identical; superweeds are resistant to RoundUp.
Mega-event promoter Goldenvoice just christened a cruise offshoot to their popular Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The news may seem odd at first glance, but cruise music festivals are nothing new, and based on that prior experience it's not a good idea for Coachella to join them.
Today in books and publishing: Junot Díaz chats with The New Yorker; the worst history books in print; a literary prize goes anonymous; and the Library of America introduces you to '50s American sci-fi.
Our piece on a recent skirmish in the age-old breastfeeding wars struck a nerve with many of our readers. One commenter provided some personal perspective on the issue.
Discovered: Young kids who binge on TV don't become athletes; there's a gender gap in Scandinavian universities; to live longer, eat less; people aren't following their prescriptions.
Today in books and publishing: The New York Times' book reviewers are "outsiders"; dispatches from a Borders-less Ann Arbor; Hari Kunzru on American xenophilia; mapping Infinite Jest's Boston; E.L. James tops the charts.
Our probing look at the inner workings of the Park Slope Food Coop left commenter k___bee with such an icky taste in her mouth that she even pondered jumping ship for a chain store.
Discovered: glial cells play a role in memory formation; you can control a computer with your eyes; we've unearthed a long-lost relative; asteroids brought water to Earth.
Today in books and publishing: Dave Eggers likes to read in the tub; play matchmaker in a new Jane Austen Facebook game; you'll never guess which BDSM-themed book is making waves in India; and Neil Gaiman announces a Sandman prequel.
Following reports that hackers got 453,000 Yahoo passwords, Rebecca Greenfield noted that "dumb" passwords are sometimes smarter than overly complicated ones. Our commenters had a few thoughts of their own about safeguarding your online presence.
Discovered: A fish that fishes for mates; coma patients respond well to familiar music; fat that fights fat; and a turtle too round to eat.
Today in books and publishing: A first-time Aussie novelist becomes a millionaire; writers who think they can act; online retailer wants to replicate the instant gratification offered at bookstores; and a publishing company profits by ditching Amazon.
Jen Doll's piece on bosses getting wise to employees who "work" from home stirred up some debate today. One commenter pointed out that it isn't all that hard to hold people accountable for work done off-site.
Discovered: The Hubble telescope finds a fifth moon circling lowly non-planet Pluto; global warming takes a toll on cows; watching nanoparticles break up blood clots is fun; scorpion venom is actually good for you (sometimes).
Today in books and publishing: Details from the upcoming David Foster Wallace biography are trickling in; Neil Gaiman inks a multi-book deal with HarperCollins; fantasy author wreaks viral vengeance on e-book pirate; remembering E.B. White's sense of humor on his 113th birthday.
A number of commenters were miffed by the news that a yoga instructor was recently fired for her no-phones-during-class policy. It's not only inconsiderate, they argued, it's defeating the whole purpose—how do you expect to clear your mind and cleanse your body while manically checking your inbox?
Discovered: Scientists debunk the discovery of new life, blame your friends for your weight fluctuations, a citizen science project finds that bees are disappearing from cities, and scientists teach flies to count.
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