The Conversation

Deinocheirus mirificus. Credit: Yuong-Nam LeeBy Stephen Brusatte, University of EdinburghEverywhere scientists look it seems like they are finding dinosaurs. A new species is emerging at the astounding pace of one per week. And this continues with the announcement of perhaps the strangest dinosaur find over the past few years: the toothless, hump-backed, super-clawed omnivore Deinocheirus mirificus that lived about 70m years ago in what is now Mongolia.

How many continents can you count on one hand? Image: ChonesBy Nick Rawlinson, University of Aberdeen

Credit: Khairil Zhafri, CC BYBy Anita Collins, University of Canberra

Your second brain? Credit: hey__paul, CC BYBy Clio Korn, University of Oxford

Structure of Bisphenol A. Credit: Ian MusgraveBy Ian MusgraveBisphenol A is in the news again. A paper just published in the Public Library of Science with the alarming title of “Holding Thermal Receipt Paper and Eating Food after Using Hand Sanitizer Results in High Serum Bioactive and Urine Total Levels of Bisphenol A (BPA)” is bound to ratchet up anxiety levels about this chemical yet again.

Credit: The ConversationBy Jordan Gaines Lewis, Penn State College of MedicineIf you’ve ever applied for a job, you know how hard it is to write the perfect cover letter that will make you stand out above all the other applicants. It’s a competitive job market, and more often than not, career seekers find themselves face-to-face with blank computer screens in an attempt to pen that one short masterpiece.

By Alessandro R Demaio, Harvard UniversityThere’s been a lot of discussion about obesity this week. Whether or not it’s a disease (as it is in the USA now) and how this label would positively or negatively influence action taken by society and governments in addressing this large and growing burden.This conversation is important, but I have noticed very often it ends with confusion. Questions around why we begin talking about obesity - and end discussing mental health, cancer, heart disease or diabetes. To make things even more confusing, the term ‘Non-Communicable Diseases’ might even be mentioned.

The Ord River dam, completed in 1971, formed Australia's largest artificial lake in the far north west. Graeme Churchard/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SABy Willem Vervoort, University of SydneySome 27 irrigation and dam projects are highlighted in the green paper for agricultural competitiveness released this week by agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce.

Science can't tell us exactly when the rising oceans will swallow up the Maldives, but it can give us a good idea. Credit: Hiroyuki-H, CC BY-SABy Richard Pancost, University of Bristol and Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol

The Slave Trade painted by a French abolitionist artist.By Daina Ramey Berry, University of TexasPeople think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think the majority of African slaves came to the American colonies, but they didn’t. They talk about 400 hundred years of slavery, but it wasn’t. They claim all Southerners owned slaves, but they didn’t. Some argue it was a long time ago, but it wasn’t.

It's easy to sneer at people for protecting their backyards, but what if there's a compelling reason to do so? Mickey DeRham photos, CC BY-NCBy Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University.The term NIMBY – “not in my back yard"– has long been used to criticize people who oppose commercial or industrial development in their communities. Invariably pejorative, it casts citizens as selfish individualists who care only for themselves, hypocrites who want the benefits of modernity without paying its costs.

Think twice before you over-react. Image: Jim Bourg/ReutersBy Alfred Hermida, University of British Columbia Whatever you do, don’t turn to Twitter for news about Ebola. The volume and tone of tweets and retweets about the disease will make you wish you were watching the zombie apocalypse of The Walking Dead instead. It is much less scary.