Start your week with some discoveries: from entomology to natural history, Academia & beyond! Expiscor - a weekly digest. (you can find past editions here).

• Good news for spiders: It was previously reported that Jeff Hanneman (of Slayer fame) died of liver failure following complications blamed in part on a spider bite. This week, the facts emerged. Spiders vindicated!

• Bad news for spiders: NJ Governor Chris Christie kills a spider as it wandered across his desk while speaking to school kids. Shame on you, Mr. Christie!

• On the topic of scary spiders, a paper was published this week about potential for a vaccine against Loxosceles spider bites. Interesting… but I’m highly suspect that there really are 7,000 ‘accidents’ related to spider bites, per year, in Brazil.

• In other entomology news, a paper about fatigue of insect cuticle. Yes, insects do wear out, eventually (mind you, it took 100,000 cycles before the wing samples failed!).

• A new bug blog by Daniel Llavaneras - this post is about an overlooked research paradise. Here’s a lovely photo from that post:

• Sperm web! Sperm web! (need I say more?) - via Dave Stone.

• Spider colonies - some individuals are nice, some are nasty. What’s better in the long term? Jonathan Pruitt looked into this and, well, nice spiders finish last.

• Entomology is all a-buzz about Cicadas these days! So many stories and blog posts out there, including contributions from Carl Zimmer and Morgan Jackson. I also love this little photo selection of ‘cute’ cicadas. They are indeed lovely animals. However, perhaps not so lovely during weddings (thanks Rose Eveleth for that link!)

• World Lyme Disease Day - such an important disease, and one that is increasing in incidence. Good idea, Elizabeth May from Canada’s Green Party.

• On to another critical disease involving insects - some hope against malaria may rest with Wolbachia bacteria. (thanks to Doug Currie for tweeting that link)

• Hipsters - that was so last year. The current fad is clearly THRIPSTERS (again, Ainsley Seago show up in Expiscor!).

• What about a hemimetabolous story… plagues of locusts hit Madagascar. Yikes.

• A milestone I’d rather we did not reach: Carbon dioxide levels pass 400 ppm. Not good news. So, I suppose I should not let my car idle while I stop in for groceries, right?

• Muzzled Government scientists in Canada - here’s a must-read article on the topic from Maclean’s Magazine. Here’s a quote from David Schindler: ‘They’re [the gov’t] all for science that will produce widgets that they can sell and tax, but it’s clear that environmental scientists are lumped right down there with Greenpeace in their view’

• Why the heck do Narwhals have tusks? A great piece on this from Why Evolution Is True.

• But I like oranges!! Florida’s citrus industry is under threat - this time due to Citrus Greening.

• Speaking of food, this photo essay has been around for a while, but worth a look - it’s all about how groceries for a week, from around the world. Clearly quite a lot of us overeat.

• Achoo! Allergy season is upon us here in the Montreal area - pollen counts are apparently ridiculously high this year (yes, you can get a ‘pollen report‘). Here’s the hood of my car one morning last week:

• Where in the world am I? Great little game using Google Street View. I spent a lot of time playing with this on the weekend - amazing to see what ‘clues’ tell you where you might be. Street signs, styles of the cars, electrical lines (above ground, or not?).

• One of my most favourite explorers is the good Sir Ernest Shackleton. The Royal BC Museum has an exhibit about him, starting 17 May. You can also follow Shackleton on twitter (ok, it’s not actually him… but rather tweets from one of his expeditions)

• Here’s a nice idea: suspended coffee. Buy an extra coffee for someone who may later come along and need a coffee but be unable to pay for it.

• Return to earth: Today is the day that Commander Chris Hadfield returns after many months in orbit aboard the International Space Station - he was busy up there! We welcome you home. A great Canadian, and a great global citizen. He has opened my eyes to a different way of viewing our fine planet thanks to the stunning photographs he shared. Here are some of his reflections.

• Good news for Dale Boyle (a guy with more than a few McGill connections). He’s a heck of a songwriter and that was recognized recently. Incidentally, he also sold me a guitar a few years back and that was a catalyst for me to start playing music again. Although this particular video doesn’t display his songwriting skills, it sure is lovely: