The Ed's Up #115

Meet the Necrobiome: The Waves of Microbes That Will Eat Your Corpse

"A body falls in the woods. Quickly, a dedicated coterie of bacteria, fungi, and nematode worms emerges to dine on this artisanal feast. These cadaver microbes—let’s call it the necrobiome—change in a predictable clock-like way. It’s consistent in the species that show up, the order in which they arrive, and they pace at which they do so, seemingly regardless of soil types, seasons, or even species. This means that forensic investigators should be able to tell how long ago someone died, to within two to four days, by swabbing and sequencing the microbes that pervade and surround their body." (Image: Reuters) 
 

How a Jellyfish-Obsessed Engineer Upended Our Understanding of Swimming

"During a photoshoot for Popular Science, a photographer convinced Dabiri to hold a small lion’s mane jellyfish.  “The tentacles were dripping on my legs and thighs and I got dozens of stings, mostly on my crotch,” he says. “After that, I’ve learned to say no to photographers.” Both the setting and the stings were unusual for Dabiri. He’s not a marine biologist but a mechanical engineer, and he studies jellyfish while they’re in aquarium tanks and he’s on dry land. His discoveries have cast these gelatinous animals as the most efficient swimmers in the sea, and as sources of inspiration for medical devices. Just this year, he made a truly surprising discovery that upturns our understanding of how animals swim, with important implications for the design of underwater vehicles." (Image: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation) 
 

Parasite Kills Insect, Then Makes It Smelly and Unappetising

"The caterpillar is all but invincible. It has bright warning colours that deter any birds which might want to eat it. It releases foul odours that deter hunters like beetle larvae, which rely more on scent. And it carries toxins that would make good on its threats. It’s a shame, then, that this caterpillar is dead. Its defences are the result of the creatures that killed it—an alliance between a parasitic worm and a glowing bacterium." (Image: Peggy Greb, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org) 

A Study of Unfaithful Voles Links Genes to Brains to Behaviour

"Phelps’ study does what few others do: It weaves threads that connect genetics, neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology. It shows how a few DNA differences can change the molecules in an animal’s brain, dramatically changing its social behaviour in ways that affect its success at siring the next generation. It’s a bravura piece of work." (Image: Aubrey Kelly) 
 

Make Science More Reliable, Win Cash Prizes

"Some scientific prizes reward people for their skills as mentors, or for the quality of their scientific discoveries. But the new Leamer-Rosenthal Prizes for Open Social Science, awarded today for the first time, honor a different kind of achievement: keeping science itself honest. Created by the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS), the $10,000 prizes recognize social scientists who have contributed to the process of science, either by developing tools to allow others to carry out rigorous research, or by exemplifying such research themselves." (Image: Carlos Garcia Rawlins / Reuters)
 

More good reads

• "The world is on fire but at least we got a scrumptious acronym in the process." Robinson Meyer with the funniest piece about the Paris climate talks. (And here he is again with one of the most helpful.)
• How to Stop a Bird-Murdering Cat. Cool story about intuitive amateur solution, later validated by research. By Conor Gearin.
• The Absurdly Complete History of Animals Parachuting From the Sky. By Andy Wright
• Plants and lichens on a concrete wall used to be a sign of decay, but soon they might be a sign of sophistication. By Rose Eveleth.
• The wonderful Story Collider gets some love at the Guardian. Congrats to my friends Ben Lillie, Brian Wecht, Erin Barker, and Liz Neeley.
• 11 Amazing Ways The World Is Dealing With A Hotter Planet. By Virginia Hughes
• They Helped Erase Ebola in Liberia. Now Liberia Is Erasing Them. By Helene Cooper
• A wonderful history of, and philosophical musing on, encyclopaedias. By Justin Nobel.
• A harrowing story about autism's lost generation--misidagnosed, wrongly drugged, and consigned to institutions. By Jessica Wright. 

More good links will be released in tomorrow's linkfest on Not Exactly Rocket Science.

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And that's it! Thanks for reading.

-Ed