Dr. Francis Collins’, Director of the NIH, blog post titled, Merry Microscopy and a Happy New Technique!, is a story about the holidays, scientific discovery, and a tribute to a Nobel Laureate’s legacy.

From Nature News, Nature’s 10; Ten People who Mattered this Year. The Post gives profiles of individuals whose work made an impact in 2016 and folks to watch in the future. Each of “Nature’s 10” for 2016 is described as one of the following, “Gravity spy,” “Mind crafter,” “Reef sentinel,” “Cooling agent,” “Zika detective,” “Paper pirate,” “Fertility rebel,” “CRISPR cautionary,” “Planet hunter,” and “Diversity trailblazer.” Can you guess who they are?

Ed Yong brings us a very cool discussion of slime mold, A Brainless Slime That Shares Memories by Fusing. If that title didn’t grab you, please consider the subtitle, “The oozing yellow organism has no neurons, but it can solve mazes, make decisions, and learn by merging together.”

NIH Director Francis Collins blogged about his discussion and performance with Yo-Yo Ma during the recent J. Edward Rall Cultural Lecture in Bethesda. His post includes an overview of their conversation as well as a video of their duet.

Nature News included a story about two large scale biology projects which are moving towards requiring submission of manuscripts to preprint sharing servers in an effort to encourage sharing within the biological research community.

From the NY Times, on the life of John Glenn, who passed away Thursday at the age of 95.

A first proposal on Copyright Office Reform has been released by the House Judiciary Committee. Additional proposals will be forthcoming and written comments from stakeholders are being requested by the committee through the end of January.

Stat News Gut Check questions whether Clinical Trials overstate the effectiveness of cancer drugs for most patients. A recent piece in JAMA Oncology and a 2016 study looking at differences in trial patients versus regular patients may indicate that they do.

Hey Medical Librarians, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get acquainted with the new MeSH Browser!

From the ACRLog (Association of College and Research Libraries) comes a timely discussion on of the importance – and difficultly – of asking critical questions. On Critical Habits of Mind, by Veronica Arellano Douglas concludes, “Critical questioning is not just an information literacy or academic skill, it’s a life practice and habit of mind we’ll need in the years to come.” With the confusion and uncertainty following the election and the debate about fake news gaming social media algorithms, it is crucial for everyone, not just librarians or researchers, to practice and teach critical thinking skills.