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Me at the Atlantic:

A good profile of “Planetary Protection Officer” Catherine Conley, by Kenneth Chang

This is a superb op/ed about the folly of big science prizes, like the Nobels. By Vinay Prasad

This plant exploits dung beetles by making nuts that look like poo. Isn’t nature beautiful? By Elif Batuman

What If Everything Your Doctor Told You About Breast Cancer Was Wrong? Essential piece from Christie Aschwanden on why mammograms are largely ineffective

Two pieces by the peerless Carl Zimmer: one on the first ancient human genome from Africa and another on why elephants rarely get cancer

This is amazing.