Discover Magazine: My top 12 longreads of 2011
Ed Yong:
“The world of science offers great opportunities for journalists to flex their writing muscles by fusing rich storytelling and reporting with deft explanatory skill. After all, what could make for better stories than intelligent people trying to understand how the world works?
Here are my top dozen stories from the year, originally tweeted as daily treats in the run-up to Christmas. Yes, I know everyone else has picked five, but we bloggers hate word restrictions – I’ll pick my Top 67 of 2011 and you’ll like it. Each of these features left a firm impression so, taking my lead from Jodi Ettenberg, each choice comes with a note about where I was when I read it.”
The Mystery of the Canadian Whiskey Fungus by Adam Rogers
(A brief history of distillation and a look at the dying art of mycology)Could Conjoined Twins Share a Mind? by Susan Dominus
(A portrait of two extraordinary four year old girls, joined at the head)A man-made world, by Oliver Morton
(Humanity’s impact on our world)The Possibilian by Burkhard Bilger
(a nigh-perfect blend of solid protagonist, fascinating science, and rich, biographical reporting)The Mouse Trap, by Daniel Engber
(Why our reliance on fat, lazy rats might be holding back medical progress)
Number One with a Bullet by Rowan Jacobsen
(In India’s lush Kaziranga National Park, a new policy allows rangers to shoot wildlife poachers on sight. As a result, rhinos and tigers are thriving.)Autistic and Seeking a Place in an Adult World by Amy Harmon
(Harmon’s take on Justin Canha, a young autistic man trying to find his place in the world)
E.O.Wilson’s Theory of Everything by Howard French
(French crafts a portrait of an inspirational figure, entranced by nature at the age of 82 as a boy would be at the age of 8. It also has the year’s best final line)Deep Intellect: Inside the mind of the octopus by Sy Montgomery
(Invites you to consider what life must be like with an utterly different mind and body)The Human Lake by Carl Zimmer
(a long-form blog post that goes from the residents of a Connecticut lake to those within human intestines)Beautiful brains by David Dobbs
(Dobbs unpicks the impulsive, maddening teenage brain in his standard mix of pithy explanations and colloquial flourishes)What Made This University Researcher Snap? by Amy Wallace
(In 2010, scientist Amy Bishop gunned down six of her colleagues at the University of Alabama)
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