# astrobiology
A new idea in the search for intelligent alien life argues that we should focus on aliens that could see us too.
# science
Lamar Smith refuses to give up on manufacturing a scandal, demanding publicly available data from NOAA
# science
Quantification and tracking gets people to do more of what you want them to do, but makes doing it a lot less fun.
# science
A modern twist on a classic experiment shows how we mentally disassociate from ourselves when carrying out orders.
# oddities
Turns out conspiracy cruises are less lectures on reptilians and men in black, and more scam informercials for illegal and harebrained financial schemes of sovereign citizens...
# space
While studying mysterious fast radio bursts, astronomers figured out why the universe weighs as much as it does and where that mass went.
# politics
Donald Trump being a viable presidential candidate should be a major sign that we're careening into the future with no plan and a system that's coming unglued.
# tech
Let's not surgarcoat this. We will build autonomous killer robots because we have every incentive to. So let's make sure we get them right.
# politics
A thorough study of prison records spanning 15 years shows that recidivism is actually a lot lower than the numbers commonly cited in the media.
# health
The first cancer-fighting gene therapy has been approved by the FDA, a major step towards turning cancers into manageable diseases.
# politics
Congressman Lamar Smith desperately wants another Climategate and he's happy to abuse his power to manufacture one.
# health
Media reports about the carcinogenic properties of bacon have been greatly exaggerated thanks to the extremely confusing way IARC classifies studies.
# tech
The bad news is that we can't wipe offensive speech and trolls off the web. The good news is that trolls tend to turn on each other quickly.
# tech
After analyzing millions of comments researchers can say for sure that the best way to deal with trolls is with deafening silence.
# tech
Amazon is not a nice or fun place to work, even if you're one of its supposedly vaunted techies. But it's not like we expect any better from a company that big.
