trees Poland's bizarre Crooked Forest: what makes these trees bend? Popkin

Ad John Carter of Mars' Secret Weapon: MDRNST Boxer Briefs Boing Boing

Delightful Creatures Nearly 10% of all wild California condors are wreaking havoc on one person's home Carla Sinclair

Spoken Word with Electronics Behold, Massospora! The Insect Pandemic That Turns Cicadas Into Uncontrollable Sex Addicts Ethan Persoff

zoology Paris zoo opens a new exhibit with an immortal mutant slime mold called "The Blob" Thom Dunn

Science Female adolescent macaques practice sex by mounting male deer Cory Doctorow

Weird Trees "sucking" on things Rob Beschizza

obits Mandy Johnson, 1953-2015 Rob Beschizza

evolution The most unusual and beautiful evolutionary tree maps from the last 200 years Kevin Kelly

offworld Get a wistful, mysterious brain-teaser at a ridiculous discount this week Leigh Alexander

books How will California's drought impact its ancient redwood forests? Jason Weisberger

spiders Gigantic 40-feet-tall spiderwebs found in Dallas Carla Sinclair

40 of the world's weirdest flowers Nadina Hughes

travel What bees taught me about Cambodia Tom Fassbender

science fiction Describing the indescribable with Jeff Vandermeer Peter Mendelsund

Entertainment The Desolation of Tolkien Ethan Gilsdorf