photo credit: goldenrectangle

So here’s what went down since you logged off.

I don’t know what’s more shocking about this story – the fact that there is a 1 in 450 chance that an asteroid will hit Earth in 2036, resulting in fire, brimstone, general chaos and the end of life as we know it – or that a 13-year old corrected NASA’s estimate of the risk (which they put at 1 in 45,000) in a science fair project.

Just add water, bio-sludge, seaweed and a shrimp: Quest and MAKE magazine show us how to make an ecosystem-in-a-jar. Seal it up, and your little eco-naut lives happily ever after.

As if you didn’t already have enough – here’s yet another really great reason to stop smoking.

The meat you eat might be worse for the Earth than the car you drive. In fact, cutting out just 20% of those hamburgers is like trading in your Hummer for a Prius.

Physical anthropologists heart hobbits - even if they can’t decide whether they are human.  

Nerds vs. Jocks: female fruit flies reveal that “there’s more to mating than beating up the competition.”