Weekly Roundup

 

Show your lady scientists some love with these sleek posters. www.brainpickings.org/hydrogeneportfolio.tumblr.com

Here it is, your weekly roundup of the best science-related stories you may have missed. This week:

Science lists the top 50 scientists on Twitter, by followers, and reflects on the notion of the "Kardashian Index" - the ratio of a scientist's twitter followers to published papers.

What is the future of the venerable plastic shopping bag? (Side note: the plastic bag has been called the "national flower" of various countries, including South Africa, Kenya, and Jordan.)

Fresh from saving the humanities from themselves, Steven Pinker and his hair are here to teach us how to write. http://m.chronicle.com/article/Why-Academics-Writing-Stinks/148989/

An in-depth profile about the ways in which perverse financial incentives from both Medicaid and Medicare shape end of life care in the United States. 

Redecorating? Check out these awesome posters celebrating great women in science.

AmericanScience alum Lee gives us his take on our love affair with innovation. (Click here for Part II)

Control over the spaces of expertise is at stake in this expose by "This American Life" of the Federal Reserve's docility towards Goldman Sachs. Read more about the story at ProPublica.

I was told there’d be jetpacks. 

Some experts are concerned that Germans are conserving too much water.