I’ve passed on the usual stories about Phineas Gage, and how his famous incident changed him into a sociopath. It turns out that how his damage affected his personality is less certain than we thought.

Phineas Gage neuroscience case: True story of famous frontal lobe patient is better than textbook accounts..

Why do we yawn?

The short answer is that we still don’t know for sure, but here’s a pretty good (popular) summary of some current research.

The Surprising Science Behind Why and When We Yawn : The New Yorker.

Paralysed woman moves robot with her mind – by Nature Video – YouTube.

The Inquisitive Anystid | Ponderings on Words and Biota.

So there’s a copepod, normally transparent, whose shell has a gap between two crystalline plates of just the right size to reflect blue light while allowing other frequencies to pass. Thus it shimmers between invisible and iridescent blue.

This stunning animal looks like a glitch in reality’s programming.

Society of Biology Blog.

The world’s oldest known wild bird just became a mother again.

The 63-year-old Laysan albatross named Wisdom was spotted taking care of her hatchling earlier this month on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge,

via Oldest Bird Hatches a New Chick | LiveScience.

International Darwin Day Foundation.

68% of young adults (18-29) accept evolution.

Is America Evolving on Evolution? – Scientific American.

Sexism, intellectual theft, and the discovery of trisomy 21. History, interesting and sad.

via RRResearch: Who really discovered trisomy 21? righting an old wrong.