The fascinating story of how researchers ran a placebo-controlled trial of a new scorpion anti-venom. (Via Ed Yong)

Baroness Susan Greenfield is an Oxford neuroscientist known for dire, evidence-free predictions about how the Internet and video games are probably going to turn us all into mentally deficient social cripples any minute now. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she gets made fun of on the Internet a lot. — Read the rest

London's Tube map is a masterpiece of abstraction, abandoning accuracy to create a more easily-navigated mental map of the city. Designed by Harry Beck in 1931, the diagrammatic format has changed little, even in the stylistic details, since then. Occasionally a designer attempts a more realistic plan, but the results only add confusion proportionate to London's demented geography. — Read the rest

Scientists have long speculated that large tsunamis could be linked to the calving of icebergs—where chunks of ice break off of the side of a glacier or ice shelf and float away. The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami that happened in March off the coast of Japan finally gave them much more direct evidence of this phenomenon. — Read the rest

Guido sez,

My friend Joseph Jackson is organizing again the Open Science Summit this year. After the great success of OSS in 2010, it is back to help to gather and broadcast voices from all around to discuss the ways that science is changing these days, how to improve access to research results and how regular citizens can use these results to learn more about themselves, their environment and act if needed.

Suddenly, I'm curious. Back in the days when newspaper classifieds ruled the Earth (and charged by the line), did wacky parodies like this one from Vancouver Craigslist also exist? Or is this sort of humor dependent on the Internet and the existence of a free public billboard? — Read the rest

Fun trivia game at the Smithsonian website—Given a list of inventions, how many of the inventors can you name in 6 minutes. Cheat if you must, but know that every time you do, you make an adorable baby alpaca cry. — Read the rest

The Jitney, a legendary form of transportation said to be available in The Hamptons, is explained here by Nina Katchadourian. Headphones at respectable workplaces, if you please. [via The Awl]

Photo: Feisal Omar / Reuters

NORTH AMERICAN: Is it an animal, mineral or vegetable?

SOMALIAN: Yes sir, I believe it is all three, sir.

NORTH AMERICAN: Hmm… Can I get it online?

SOMALIAN: I'm sorry, sir. I do not understand your meaning, sir. — Read the rest

Tom Chatfield writes in: "The End is a free, online web-game commissioned by Channel 4 Education, and scheduled for release in August 2011. It is a game of self-discovery for 14-19 year olds which integrates strategy, puzzles and philosophical questions into a world which explores a range of commonly (or less commonly) held views about death, belief and science." — Read the rest

Adam Penenberg on the secrets to a successful fake twitter character: "To do it right is like being a method actor: You have to get inside the head of a famous person but with a twist; the post has to be funny and insightful. — Read the rest

DSLR controller is an Android app that allow you to remotely control the functions of your fancy Canon shooter. Wired's Charlie Sorrel writes: "To control a camera with an iPhone, you need to first tether the camera to a computer or use some funky, limited BlueTooth triggering. — Read the rest

The computer games people buy in shops are not the ones they buy online. [RPS]

Fuck Yeah Dinosaur Art! is a great Tumblog specializing in pictures of classic Italian automobiles. Just kidding, it's about dinosaurs. Pictured above is an illustration of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins's dinosaur models at Crystal Palace.

A traffic warden places a parking ticket on an illegally-parked car in London, England, earlier today. Photo: Luke MacGregor / Reuters.

Quote of note from Futurismic's Paul Raven, writing on Makers and Breakers: "If there's any lesson to be taken from punk, grunge, rave and any other subcultural scene that went mainstream, it's this: the aesthetic is not just a veneer. — Read the rest

The website of Syria's Ministry of Defense, now down, briefly displayed this message today:

To the Syrian people: The world stands with you against the brutal regime of Bashar Al-Assad. Know that time and history are on your side – tyrants use violence because they have nothing else, and the more violent they are, the more fragile they become.

The nice folks at Colbyjack have begun a free, Creative-Commons licensed fan podcast serial of my novel For the Win. The first of 37 installments is here (here's the MP3), and the RSS feed for the podcast is here. — Read the rest

Police in Milton, New Hampshire, found the carcass of a shark in woods more than an hour's drive from the sea.

Officers from the Milton police and New Hampshire Fish and Game were called, and after their investigation, decided to leave the shark where it was dumped and let nature take its course.

Scott sez, "Scott Edelman's zombie play A Plague on Both Your Houses' — think Night of the Living Dead crossed with Romeo and Juliet — was up for a Stoker Award in 1998 and collected last year in his all-zombie collection What Will Come After. — Read the rest