“If you’ve never witnessed a whale necropsy, here’s how it works.” Superb, vivid account of a fin whale dissection, by Nadia Drake.

Is there danger lurking in your lipstick? The first of Deborah Blum’s new Poison Pen column at the New York Times.

A virus fragment from a Saudi Arabian tomb bat is a perfect match for MERS. Helen Branswell explains what that means

16 Things BuzzFeed Doesn’t Know About The Ocean. A great response from Christie Wilcox to Buzzfeed at its worst.

Dolphins: largely unexceptional. Jessa Gamble on Justin Gregg’s new book

The Onion at its best. Study: People Far Away From You Not Actually Smaller

Fascinating Aeon essay on technology, psychosis, and how a culture of hyper-reality