Science writing I’d pay to read – June 2011

It’s time for June’s Science Writer Tip-Jar picks. For those new to this, here’s the low-down:

Throughout the blogosphere, people produce fantastic writing for free. That’s great, but I believe that good writers should get paid for good work. To set an example, I choose ten pieces every month that were written for free and I donate £3 to the author. There are no formal criteria other than I found them unusually interesting, enjoyable and/or important.

I also encourage readers to support these writers through two buttons on the sidebar. Any donations via “Support Science Writers” are evenly distributed to chosen ten at the end of the month. Donations via the “Support NERS” button go to me; I match a third of the total figure and send that to the chosen writers too.

So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the picks:

• “Do you worry that the research you do might be exploited in a way that harms people?” Anna Perman and David Robertson on an important topic, reporting from within a lab that tests how the human body crumples and explodes.
• Stephanie Warren for this illuminating piece about scientists who are looking at the effects of dangerous chemicals by poisoning virtual embryos
• Carl Zimmer on the extended world of animals that shrug off one of the world’s deadliest poisons, and time-travelling sea monkey sex.
• Christie Wilcox asks, “So do we over-vilify invasive species?” and answers, “No, we don’t.”
• Greg Downey with another superb opus, this one on blind people who can use sonar like bats.
• David Winter on placozoans: animals that are sheets
• Maryn McKenna with a great perspective on the recent German E. coli outbreak
• Virginia Hughes for this important piece on what you get when you put a terrorist inside of a brain scanner?
• Kyle McCittirick for this thoughtful piece on prosthetics and why they could do without looking human.
• Matt Novak, ostensibly for the post about jetpack mailmen, but really for the entire Paleofuture blog, which I’ve only just discovered.

And for interest, the tip-jar initiative has raised US$900 since its inception. Thanks to everyone who contributed.