Science News for the Week of 5.24.10

As part of our blog makeover here at Scienceline, we’ve added “Scienceline Selects,” a round-up of the week’s important, interesting, and exciting science news stories, chosen by none other than your beloved Scienceline staff. Check for these posts every Friday or Saturday, and feel free to add to the curation in the comments section below!

Jonah Lehrer has the cover story for the June issue of Wired, offering an inside look at Pixar’s brilliant animations in Toy Story 3.

Also check out an article adapted from Nicholas Carr’s recent book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains, discussing how the web quickly rewires our brains.

The Boston Globe offers a series of beautiful pictures of Saturn, taken from various missions in the past few years.

The Guardian reports that only 62% of Britons are concerned about climate change.

Andy Revkin discusses recent research that suggests a warmer world wouldn’t necessarily have more malaria.

Andrew Wakefield, made infamous after The Lancet retracted his paper linking the MMR vaccine to autism, has been banned from medical practice in the UK, The Guardian reports. The New York Times also has coverage.

The blog Neuroskeptic has a good explainer post detailing how fMRI works.

Ed Yong has an interesting post about how racial bias weakens our ability to feel someone else’s pain.

Check out a nice shark slideshow at Discovery News and learn about sharks’ finely tuned sensory skills.