Enjoy the Warm Weather Until the Horde of Angry Scorpions Eats You

It's seventy degrees in New York right now, and recently much of the east coast has been bathed in balmy warmth. Which seems all fine and dandy until the high temperatures cause an insect explosion! One guy in Greenville County, South Carolina has fire ants all over his yard and kudzu bugs all over his house. And a…
Five Ways Narcissists Screw Up Everything
Narcissism has been a hot topic in the last few years, and it's been the subject of some overblown freakouts of the kids-today-are-such-assholes variety. That said, there's mounting evidence that actually being a narcissist is pretty bad for you — and the people around you. Let's take a look at some of the interesting…
When Prejudice Is Sexy: Inside the Kinky World of Race-Play
A bitchy white woman belittling her black maid. A Latino man being tied up and called racial slurs. A black woman being offered for sale at a slave auction. All of these are awful in reality, but for people who are into race-play — or racialized sexual situations — they can be extremely hot. I talked to two people…
St. Petersburg's Anti-Gay Law Could Ban Talking About Tchaikovsky
The governor of St. Petersburg, Russia has signed a law that bans "promoting homosexuality and pedophilia among minors," and the law is now officially in effect. LGBT rights activists say that even talking about LGBT people is now effectively illegal in the city. And according to ABC, "activists are quick to point out…
Cosmetics Company Actually Does Something to Help Animals
On Monday, L'Oreal announced that it would donate $1.5 million to the EPA to help the agency develop computer models that would eliminate the need for animal testing. The company will also give the EPA results of its earlier animal tests to help calibrate the models and ensure that more tests aren't needed in the…
Beloved YA Author in War With Bank of America
Today in depressing housing-market news, YA author Francesca Lia Block could lose her home because the bank won't return her calls. The author of the Weetzie Bat books is underwater on her mortgage due to the recession. To make things more complicated, the mortgage is in her mom's name, and her mom is now dead. To…
How Should Google+ Stop Sexual Harassment?
Google+ has had a rocky start, and one of its problems has been its skewed gender ratio — the social networking platform remains overwhelmingly male. Now one user is arguing that the way to fix this is to make it easier for users to report sexual harassment on the service. Does Google+ need a special harassment button?
Cats (and Dolphins) Have No Sweet Tooth
What does a cat have in common with a bottlenose dolphin? Aside from being cute and having a plot to take over the world, the answer is: a total inability to taste sweets. Scientists have known for years that cats and their wild feline friends lions and tigers have lost the sweet receptors on their scratchy tongues,…
Fourteen-Year-Old Owns More Property Than You
We have math prodigies, music prodigies, language prodigies — and now, meet a fourteen-year-old real estate prodigy. She owns a house, sort of.