Weekly Recap: Kevorkian, antimatter, Reapers, and a facepalm!

The past week has seen me making a road trip to Chicago with my wife and being miserable with a head cold, and it looks like I missed out on a few developments during my hiatus from the news and the blogosphere.  I've been playing catchup since Tuesday.

• Dr. Jack Kevorkian, infamous for assisting in the suicides of patients with terminal or otherwise incurable degenerative diseases, has himself shuffled loose the mortal coil; atheist bloggers across the ideological spectrum seem inclined to agree with his assertion that people ought to be allowed to choose a quick, painless death over a slow, agonizing one.

• The crew over at CERN managed to trap 300 atoms of antimatter for 16 minutes, long enough to get some serious science done.  (Side note: what does a photo of someone looking through a low-power microscope have to do with studying subatomic particles?  I expect better science reporting, Telegraph.)

• New gameplay videos of Mass Effect 3 were released this past weekend at E3, showing the devastation wrought by untold legions of colossal Reapers descending on our planet.  I normally don't like to geek out on this blog, but I am (to say the least) very excited for this game to come out next year.
  
  

• PZ Myers has showcased what is quite possibly the dumbest thing ever sent his way.  The stupid, it burns.
  
  
• Anthony Weiner.  Obvious jokes abound, but there have been worse scandals.  All that aside, I've generally been impressed with debate he's given on the House floor.