The best science writing online 2012 / Bora Zivkovic, series editor ; Jennifer Ouellette, guest editor.

Includes bibliographical references.

Somata / Aubrey J. Sanders -- Make history, not Vitamin C / Eva Amsen -- Saving Ethiopia's "Church forests" / T. DeLene Beeland -- What it feels like for a sperm / Aatish Bhatia -- Incredible journey / Lee Billings -- In the shadows of greatness / Biochem Belle -- A view to a kill in the morning / Deborah Blum -- It's sedimentary, my dear Watson / David Bressan -- Menstruation is just blood and tissue you ended up not using / Kate Clancy -- Joule's jewel / Stephen Curry -- Unraveling the fear o' the Jolly Roger / Krystal D'Costa -- Free science, one paper at a time / David Dobbs -- Tinea speaks up: a fairy tale / Cindy M. Doran -- Man discovers a new life-form at a South African truck stop / Rob Dunn -- Moon arts: fallen astronaut / Claire L. Evans -- Science metaphors: resonance / Ann Finkbeiner -- Bombardier beetles, bee purple, and the sirens of the night / Jennifer Frazer -- Mpemba's baffling discovery / Greg Gbur -- Romeo: a lone Wolf's tragedy in three acts / Kimberly Gerson -- Rats, bees, and brains: the death of the "Cognitive map" / Jason C. Goldman -- Don't panic: sustainable seafood and the American outlaw / Miriam C. Goldstein -- On beards, biology, and being a real American / Joe Hanson -- I love Gin and Tonics / Matthew Hartings -- Adorers of the good science of rock-breaking / Dana Hunter -- "I feel the percussive roar on the skin of my face" / Karen James -- Freedom to riot / Eric Michael Johnson -- Inside the "Black box" of nuclear power plants / Maggie Koerth-Baker -- This ain't yo momma's muktuk / Rebecca Kreston -- Chessboxing is fighting for good behavior / Andrea Kuszewski -- Mirror images: twins and identity / David Manly -- Did the CIA fake a vaccination campaign? / Maryn McKenna -- Free will and quantum clones / George Musser Jr. -- Dear Emma B / PZ Myers -- Faster than a speeding photon / Chad Orzel -- Sunrise in the garden of dreams / Puff the Mutant Dragon -- Volts and Vespa: buzzing about photoelectric wasps / John Rennie -- How to stop a hurricane / Casey Rentz -- Shakes on a plane: can turbulence kill you? / Alex Reshanov -- How addiction feels: the honest truth / Cassie Rodenberg -- Ten million feet upon the stair / Chris Rowan -- Woof! Living boldly as a "free-range aspergian" / Steve Silberman -- The dodo is dead, long live the dodo! / Brian Switek -- Sex and the married neurotic / Melanie Tannenbaum -- Why do women cry? Obviously it's so they don't get laid / Christie Wilcox -- How to take the real measure of a man / Allie Wilkinson -- The origin and extinction of species / David Winter -- Genome sequencing and assembly, Shakespeare style / Richard F. Wintle -- The intelligent homosexual's guide to natural selection / Jeremy Yoder -- The Renaissance man / Ed Yong -- Fragmented intimacies / Shana Yurkiewicz -- The human lake / Carl Zimmer.

Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, "The Best Science Writing Online 2012" will change the way we think about science -- from fluids to fungi, poisons to pirates -- Featuring noted authors and journalists as well as the brightest up-and-comers writing today, this collection provides a comprehensive look at the fascinating, innovative, and trailblazing scientific achievements and breakthroughs of 2011, along with elegant and thought-provoking new takes on favourite topics -- This is the sixth anthology of online essays edited by Bora Zivkovic, the blogs editor at Scientific American, and with each new edition, Zivkovic expands his fan base and creates a surge of excitement about upcoming compilations -- Now everyone's favourite collection will reach new horizons and even more readers -- Guest-edited and with an introduction by the renowned science author and blogger Jennifer Ouellette, "The Best Science Writing Online 2012" marries cutting-edge science with dynamic writing that will inspire us all.