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I have dug through the Internet this week and uncovered all this science/pop culture goodness. You can find the hundreds of links from previous weeks here.

I have marked my favorite links with a ∞. Enjoy.

Must Read

∞ Did faith save this snake-handling preacher on TV, or was it a bit of snake biology?

∞ The last thing the squirrel saw was terrifying, but the aftermath is gorgeous

Catch the giant squid footage? Want to know why its eyes are so big? Amazing how “human” they look.

An amazing story about how a fish can’t compute alone, but a shoal of the fish can compute as one

How do owls twist their heads all the way around without dying? Now we know by putting a dead one in a scanner

Must See

This footage of a neuronal thunderstorm in a zebrafish’s brain is astounding

Will We Ever Visit The Stars?

∞ Required viewing: Alternative Medicine–Penn and Teller

∞ I really enjoyed this TED talk: Steven Pinker–The Surprising Decline In Violence

Have you ever seen a blanket octopus? You can thank me later

A talk about the coolest parasite you haven’t heard of, and boy, is it nasty.

27 years ago we lost Challenger. Here is some stunning amateur footage of the disaster from a family on vacation

This picture of lensed flowers completely made my day

Lawrence Krauss piles on the science: Stop Validating Ignorance (Creationism)

Dude. You’ve had a long day. This simply wonderful video of a moonrise will soothe your metaphorical soul

Science

∞ How to tell whether a mosquito is male or female (without getting bitten) and then presumably kill it

The story behind the “plague mask” is a morbid one, but interesting

Could you fly a plane on other planets? Interplanetary Cessna–XKCD

Fact-checking XKCD’s Interplanetary Cessna

How do you sample lava? Verrrry carefully

Adventures in Pedantry: How much would a Death Star *actually* cost?

Your cat is a straight-up DESTROYER OF SMALL MAMMALIAN WORLDS

∞ ”The evidence for ghosts is no better today than it was a year ago, a decade ago, or a century ago.“

Steve Novella puts one of his posts through the Up-Goer Five challenge and not surprisingly sounds like Steve Novella

Ohhhh, that’s why plastic in the dishwasher is wetter when you take it out

Did you know you can melt metal in a microwave?

Funny/Cool/Interesting

∞ My favorite crossover to date: Boba Man/Iron Fett

This is what two buildings falling into a sinkhole in China looks like

Jenny McCarthy Dumped from Bust A Move Ottawa Event

I can guarantee that this is the most complicated maze you have ever seen

An amazing photo of a rocket launch

∞ I used to live in China, and I can attest that the bootleg DVDs are indeed this ridiculous

When Harrison Ford wrote notes in the margins of the Raiders script, he actually made the note, “too Soloish”

Star Trek Into Pedantry–XKCD

After The Lion King came out, Disney was sued by a hyena researcher for “defamation of the hyena’s character”

∞ Just when you thought you were done with Gangnam Style, dude animates the whole video. WITH A FLIPBOOK

The best “horse walks into a bar” joke ever

Facebook in Hyrule

Heh. If you’ve played Mario 64 this is *truth*

An old Carl Sagan quote.

The Oatmeal thanks a donor with a great bit of sci comm about dinosaurs

I found this awesome floating organism with stinging tentacles in the ocean. You jelly?

A whale photobomb is as cool as it sounds

The coolest mantis you will see today

Anamorphic sculptures are *sweet*

One theory of where “Darth” comes from is that it is a contraction of “DARk lord of the siTH” Mind blown

This is a picture of a bumblebee. Sometimes they drink human tears. That is all.

This guy who made bulletproof vests had it tested by having the police chief shoot him in the chest

Tweeps in this week’s linkfest: @chirurgeonsappr @tweetsauce @edyong209 @JREF @carlzimmer @Wired @APOD