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Tabitha M. Powledge marks the end of the SciLogs blog network and quotes some of its orphans about what went wrong and what they plan to do with their blogs now: "The reason SciLogs is coming to an end is not terribly complicated. Spektrum took on this network of English-language blogs in hopes of broadening readership of its own German-language journals. Perhaps not surprisingly, the plan didn’t work. So, kaput." Also, Carl Zimmer's deep dive into his own genome.

NASA marked Independence Day by putting its Juno probe into Jupiter’s orbit just before midnight, and Tabitha M. Powledge explains what researchers hope to learn during the 20-month mission: "Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed, so scientists are hoping it will tell them things about the beginnings of our galaxy, the Milky Way. They also want to know such things as how much water there is and whether it has a rocky core." Also: Jonah Lehrer is back.

Pro-choice forces were buoyed by last week's decision on Texas abortion clinics, and Tabitha M. Powledge discusses the details: "The 1992 SCOTUS decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey held that laws must not put 'undue burdens' in the way of access to abortion. The necessity of traveling several hundred miles, or out of state, is such a burden, the present Court ruled." Also, the consequences of Brexit, and what the campaign says about the role of emotion in politics.

Tabitha M. Powledge writes about a Vox post by Julia Belluz on what's still wrong with medical journalism (and science writing generally) in the digital age. Going online has been a mixed blessing, she writes: "We have fewer space constraints than dead-tree journalism, so we can explain more. We can update with ease. We can link to background information, primary studies, and other kinds of illumination. Arrayed against those, however, are those clickbait pressures."

Almost a week after Orlando, Tabitha M. Powledge weighs the gunman's various reported motives — ISIS sympathies, homophobia — but ultimately blames his ability to easily and legally buy an assault weapon: "It’s fair to say that U.S. gun violence is a health crisis. And lo and behold, this week the American Medical Association stepped up and said exactly that. The AMA called on Congress to stop forbidding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do gun research."

"So one plan is to link together chunks of synthetic DNA, making a researcher-created human genome that can control a cell in a lab dish," Tabitha M. Powledge writes in reviewing coverage of a not-quite-secret recent meeting at Harvard and an associated Science paper. Though the proponents say they aren't creating synthetic humans, ethicists still worry that their work opens the door to that. Also, what could possibly be wrong with gene-editing an end to mosquitoes?

Neither of the scary news stories from the past couple of weeks — about a new milestone in antibiotic resistance and new findings on the link between cancer and cellphone radiation — warrants an overreaction, although both should be taken seriously, Tabitha M. Powledge writes: "Is the antibiotic-resistance apocalypse upon us? Do cellphones cause cancer? Fraught topics, but there’s no better advice (as in so many other situations) than Douglas Adams’s: Don’t panic."

Tabitha M. Powledge reviews the latest news on the possible link between Alzheimer's disease and infections in the brain. She concludes that the basic message is not a new one: "The idea that Alzheimer’s could result from infection is based on an increasing pile of indirect evidence. For one thing, the disease is accompanied by inflammation, the body’s response to an invading microbe. Also, postmortem studies commonly reveal microbes in the brains of the elderly."

The National Academy of Sciences has issued a new report on the debate over genetically modified organisms and it doesn't settle much, Tabitha M. Powledge writes: "In short, if you nursed the fantasy that there is a simple yes or no answer to the decades-long contention over GMO safety, forget it. No 388-page report is going to contain anything other than nuances and caveats." Also, more reaction to John Oliver's takedown of science reporting.

Tabitha M. Powledge returns with a review of the criticism surrounding the New Yorker story on epigenetics by physician/author Siddhartha Mukherjee, and an attack on the journalistic approach that she sees as the root of the problem with that story: "Writing for Story distorts and cripples explanatory prose. The fact that narrative science/medical journalism is fashionable — and at some pubs obligatory — doesn’t make it right. Or informative."