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This David Dobbs story, on how our lives shape our genes, is just a stunning piece of world-class writing.

Some weird insect/spider/thing is building a white fence around its eggs, and no one knows what it is. Matthew Cobb has the story. Nadia Drake also covered it for Wired, with tons of quotes from baffled experts.

Come for the mucus carpentry of snails; stay for Robert Krulwich’s adorable drawings

Christian Jarrett brings some much-needed scepticism to the widely reported Neuroracer study. And Daniel Simons lists 19 questions he would have asked about the recent brain-training study, had he been