A close-up B&W shot of the Willamette Meteorite. The holes the riddle one face of the meteorite were not caused by “cosmic collisions” but by the bolide rusting away in the ground prior to its removal from the Oregon soil (it consists of 91% iron).

Virginia Hughes is an editorial assistant here at ScienceBlogs who was especially helpful in moving Laelaps over to it’s new home, and now she’s brought her excellent writing to The Gist on Smithsonian.com. The first story? A 30-pound hunk of the Willamette Meteorite appraised at $1.3 million was withdrawn from auction after it failed to receive more than $300,000 in bids. The main body of the meteorite, weighing 15.5 tons,