Cloud-sourcing: NASA needs your help. The launch of its new polar-orbiting weather satellites is delayed until 2017, and its two satellites currently in orbit might not have another five years in them. Recognizing the dilemma, the space agency is looking to the public for solutions to the impending gap in weather data. (No word yet on whether you get a free trip to the moon if your idea is chosen, but it can't hurt to ask.) Climate Central
Toxic tech: The minerals mined to manufacture electronics aren't dangerous to gadget users, but the deadly waste they leave behind are poisoning local communities. MotherJones
Silent Springs: Underground aquifers feed nearly 1,000 springs scattered across Florida, but as humans and their agriculture tax the water supply, these clear and sweet waters are turning saline, or stopping to flow altogether. Tampa Bay Times
Atlantis?: The age of discovering new lands and continents is over, or at least, we thought so. Scientists are looking into a mysterious island that has been marked clearly on old maps and navigation charts but that doesn’t actually exist. The island, roughly the size of Manhattan, was supposedly located near Australia. CNN
Shell shock: Life isn’t easy as an Antarctic sea snail, but its about to get harder. Rising CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere lead to more acidic ocean water, and seawater with lower pH levels can dissolve minerals in the protective shells of snails and crustaceans (and wreak havoc on coral reefs). In the Southern Ocean, scientists have found pteropod sea snails with severely weakened shells, which make the mollusks more vulnerable to predatory sea birds and infection. Reuters
Pass the pees: Settlers at the first Thanksgiving had much to be thankful for: food, survival, and rat urine. Yes, rat urine, which apparently contained the deadly virus that wiped out some Native Americans before the Pilgrims' arrival. Slate
Just dew it: A tech company has turned to a tiny insect for what it hopes to be the next big thing in water bottles: a bottle that fills itself. The Namib Desert beetle collects water by allowing dew to condense on its back and has inspired a design for a bottle that can take moisture from the air. (We advise not drinking it all in one gulp. Could take a while ...) BBC
Skyfall secret: A dead pigeon has been stumping code breakers for the British government for 30 years. In 1982, a coded message from WWII was found on the leg of a dead carrier pigeon -- also known as Agent 40TW194 -- that expired inside a chimney in southern England, but its meaning remains uncrackable. Hey 007, any ideas? New York Times
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