Weekly Webcrawl: Jane Goodall, open source science, and a plasma shower on the sun by Angela Herring February 24, 2013 Share Facebook LinkedIn Twitter Photo courtesy of NASA / SDO. Photo courtesy of NASA / SDO. Hi friends. This week’s Webcrawl is coming in a little late, but it’s been no less raucous a science party than usual. Wind down your weekend with the following lovely reads: Jane Goodall has written a new book, but this one is about plants rather than chimps. Here’s a fabulous interview at the Smithsonian. If you read only one thing from this week’s webcrawl, let it be this. My mentor George Johnson has a new blog at Discover and this week, in addition to a series on fluoride in New Mexican water, he had a post on the mathematics of rock and roll. This was also the subject of a recent arXiv paper on the emergent behavior of moshers, which reminded me of this study about the attractiveness of Mick Jagger’s hips from a couple weeks ago. Carl Zimmer had a great post about the possible shapes brains can take on National Geographic Phenomena, where Ed Yong had his on great piece on the news that bees can sense electric fields PLOS blogged about a recent study in ONE that suggests reading fiction gives us a boost in our power for empathy. Here’s a wonderful video of a 3D printer making an implantable ear. Mesmerizing: plasma shower on the sun What does the future hold for fusion research? Take a tour of a nuclear fusion lab for some context. Chagas disease is an infectious disease that doesn’t get much attention, but turns out it’s costing us more than we may realize. Secret video cameras reveal the secret lives of animals while researchers wonder whether dolphins call each other by name. Weekly Canine Science Update: dogs recognize other dogs in a crowd and, surprise, steal food when no one’s looking. US kids are finally eating fewer calories but our current calorie counting methods may not be quite right. The US government made a big step toward open source science and PLOS approves. Time Magazine published the longest story by a single author this week, by Steven Brill about the cost of healthcare. Here are David Dobbs’ and Paul Raeburn’s responses. Northeastern network scientists’ work was recognized in Scientific American and the Economist in two great pieces this week: Influential Few Predict Behavior of the Many and Dr. Seldon, I presume. Along those lines, the Internet is approaching its limit. What are we to do? The most wonderful underwater photography you’ve ever seen. It’s not only fun and hilarious, but also educational. A sad period in science history I knew it! Men and women see color differently When I was in college, one of my English professors confessed to hypnotizing his girlfriend. It was a funny, if discomfiting, story. But if you don’t want to hypnotize, perhaps you’d be interested in implanting false memories into the minds of your friends and loved ones? Three-year-olds know better A Scientific American writer has been living on Mars time for a few weeks now. These are her hilarious posts on the experience.