Popular Science has a nice follow up to the news about the discovery of decades-old smallpox samples — including the fact that scientists found 327 vials of other forgotten disease samples in the same place.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/pgSdUb-TSSQ/after-smallpox-find-big-quest.html

Stress does affect the body in numerous ways. But how we think about what stress is, what it does, and its connection to pop psychology, have all been shaped by cigarette companies.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/qsmLgqXBvBA/behind-the-science-of-stress.html

The "kaffir" in "Kaffir lime" is actually a racial slur. At National Geographic, Maryn McKenna struggles with how to deal with foods that have offensive names.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/mwO79tIUv8g/this-lime-is-offensive.html

Ernst writes, "For over three years, I've been collecting photos of writers at work, including Hemingway, Faulkner, Didion, but also modern day authors like Safran Foer and... Cory Doctorow. My collection consists over 400 photos now." Although watching people type is canonically dull, there's a lot of motion and potential in these portraits (above: Pearl Buck)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/5ZgxmW-4zrc/photos-of-writers-at-work.html

Around 11:00AM ET today, Interfax, CNN, and other news agencies began reporting that a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 passenger jet flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed on the eastern border of Ukraine, near the border with Russia.

Some 280 passengers and at least 15 crew members, a total of 295 lives, are believed to have been on board. If the crash happened as early reports suggest, it would be the second crash involving a Malaysia Airlines plane within the past few months.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/130JL0jCip8/malaysia-airlines-passenger-je.html

Armed pro-Russian separatists stand at the sprawling, burned site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, July 17, 2014.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/KMGERV3cdOk/photos-from-the-malaysia-airli.html

General Electric and Jack Threads are releasing a super-limited edition of Apollo 11-inspired speakers, called "The Missions," designed by Android Homme.

Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Wifth6CFz_k/apollo-11-inspired-sneakers-fr.html

Futility Closet on the curious cases of Ernest Cody and Charles Adams, two naval officers who vanished from a World War II surveillance blimp over the Pacific. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/QomxhFYVFOA/the-mystery-of-the-disappearin.html

MIT engineers have developed a pair of robotic fingers that are worn around your wrist to enhance your own grasp.The fingers are controlled by your own fingers via a new control algorithm.

"We could make this into a watch or a bracelet where the fingers pop up, and when the job is done, they come back into the watch," says researcher Harry Asada. "Wearable robots are a way to bring the robot closer to our daily life."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/yreyJnrOwks/mit-researchers-give-us-the-fi.html

Mouse Trap (1963) became a classic but its cousin Crazy Clock (1964) vanished into history's toy chest. Above, vintage TV commercials for both (via Strange Universe).

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/JQwnpfJ_IFE/mouse-traps-cousin-crazy-clo.html

Human rights video nonprofit WITNESS created a guide to archiving video, after hearing from hundreds of activists and citizen journalists worldwide that preservation and future access to their media was a crucial concern. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/I5cXMJWmb-I/how-to-archive-your-video-medi.html

If you miss your Big Wheel, you might dig this $2,000 motorized Big Wheel Drift Trike. Below, video of trike drifters (via Laughing Squid).

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/M38hkgtUTNs/adult-motorized-big-wheel.html

Until 2013, chikungunya was an Old World disease, writes Maggie Koerth-Baker. Not any more. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/xaUz271rOL0/its-only-a-matter-of-time-be.html

Joaquin Phoenix has a face in his forehead. (via Devour)

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/xTzgfIA3D2E/joaquin-phoenix-forehead-fac.html

A visit through George Whitman's Paris bookstore on the eve of Marilyn Monroe's death. A comic by Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Y1OesLELByo/the-death-of-marilyn-monroe-a.html

A French judge ruled that a scathing restaurant review was "too prominent" in search results, and fined its author for hurting the restaurant's business. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/6aLHctRVl9A/is-il-giardino-in-cap-ferret-t.html

There was a fellow from Redmond /
who ruled a while in Finland /
It was an odd little ruse /
but few are amused /
to see them sack eighteen thousand

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/aomHdocveWU/microsoft-lays-off-18000-work.html

"Sea Flowers," A new acrylic painting shared by Boing Boing reader Robert Steven Connett in our Flickr Pool. Read the rest

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/yK2pK3ZvxNs/sea-flowers-outsider-surr.html

This song always makes me think of you. Dunno why.

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/nmiJSy7HdI0/happy-birthday-cory.html

Thank God he didn't try to dance. [YouTube]

A German television reporter launched into a rendition of Happy Birthday, Liebe Bundeskanzlerin (dear chancellor) at a news conference in Brussels early on Thursday – but got no backup from his colleagues.

Merkel laughed and said: "I should have sung along, then it would have been better. But thank you."

http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/Mna5EnEZgEo/reporter-sings-happy-birthday.html