This is just a collection of links I found interesting. Most of them are not related to (analytical) chemistry – so I just labeled it ‘outliers’. Number one source for these interesting articles is Research Blogging!

• What is in a smile? by Janet Kwasniak
  

  A broad smile (fake or real) opens the mouth by lowering the jaw. But only authentic smiles are marked by crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes. This is the Duchenne marker. Would you believe that it is just not that simple?

• Smiles really might warm your heart (or brain) (part one) by Dr. Katharine Blackwell
  

  Holding a warm physical object not only led these volunteers to report that they felt warmer, but also that they felt more connected to other people; and reading a loving message not only meant more social connection, but also a greater sensation of warmth. But it that warmth really about temperature, or is it about the colorful metaphors in our language?

• Solution to alcoholism? Get sober friends! by djmac
  

  Dependent drinking shortens lives. Is the process of finding sober friends helpful as a solution to alcoholism? Mark Litt and colleagues from the University of Connecticut tested this out a few years back.

• No need to only send your best work to Science Magazine by Björn Brembs
  

  Speaking more generally: there is no need for any researcher to wait (perhaps indefinitely?) until they have the perfect data set, with the unambiguous results and the foolproof conclusions. Just send your plain decent work to CNS magazines as well! If they publish it, you will get a job and nobody but some lone blogger will ever ask about the content of that paper ever again.

• Is it okay to eat fish if they don’t have any feelings? by Adam J Calhoun
  

  Many other fish can recognize multiple individuals, and can count the number of fish in a group at a glance. Some fish also use tools: a number of species use rocks to break open shellfish, or glue their eggs to leaves that they can them drag around as they go about their errands.

• Upcycling PET Bottles – Roof Applications by John
  

  The first uses the bottles as an internal light source. The bottles are filled with water […] and then placed in a hole cut into the metal roofing material. After being sealed into place, sunlight is collected by the upper part of the bottle and diffracted throughout the living quarters below providing the same light as a 40- to 60-watt incandescent bulb.

• New York Attorney Warns of “Junk Science” and “Trial by Literature” by Jeffrey Beall
  

  This statement highlights the new reality that predatory journals have created. No longer can one rely on research just because it was published in a scholarly journal. Predatory journals are essentially counterfeit, accepting much bogus and sloppy research just to earn the author fees.