Tuesday Top Ten will be a new weekly feature on this website’s blog! Read on to learn more about how and why I’m starting this series.

It probably does not come as a surprise that I enjoy learning. Humans are naturally curious, and scientists are exceptionally curious. In graduate school, there would be times when I sat in a particularly engaging lecture or discussion with my lab group and paused to think how awesome it was that it was literally my job to be there, soaking up information and feeding my quest for new knowledge.

This love of learning can sometimes be a double-edged sword when it comes to surfing the internet. Brief visits to my blogroll or to Facebook can sometimes result in getting side-tracked by a cool article, and a quick Google search can spiral out of control into several hours spent reading about a topic. That being said, I often find really awesome, unique news stories that I wish to share. Not wanting to bombard my Facebook friends and Twitter followers with an insane amount of links, I have decided to summarize the ten best articles I find each week into a list, published on this blog, and let you, my readers, discover new and interesting articles on your own time.

I know many bloggers provide such features, and I always enjoy seeing the links that others stumble across on the web. I hope this feature becomes a part of your weekly routine. Let me know if you have any suggestions or articles you think I should share. Here’s my inaugural Tuesday Top Ten list – enjoy!

10. Last week, AAAS hosted their annual meeting in Chicago. This little blurb about the link between fungi and daguerreotypes caught my eye – wish I could have been there for the researcher’s talk!

9. What do Leonardo DaVinci, evolution, and hernias have in common? This article from Slate has the answer.

8. Some theories on why writers are the worst procrastinators (via The Atlantic). I can identify.

7. Is is better to have more science coverage, or better quality reporting of science? I side with The Washington Post editor interviewed in this article, but what do you think?

6. A double! Two articles, posted on NASW, discussing the use of the Oxford comma. I’m a proponent, FYI.

5. Think that being a freelance writer will give you more freedom (or free time)? That may not be the case, as explained by Noah Berlatsky in Salon.

4. Can making a contract with a friend up your productivity? Oh, and the utility of owl-shaped timers. Published on the blog at The Science Writers’ Handbook.

3. The Smithsonian Magazine talks about the science behind “the munchies.”

2. The legalization of marijuana in several states has led to an uptick in news articles about use of the drug. This article from The New York Times provides a comparison of drunk driving vs. driving while stoned, and discusses which causes more of a danger to those on the road.

1. Finally, how a medical device engineer ended up creating the most unusual, nerdy, awesome tool for drinking wine. Hint: you can drink from a bottle without removing the cork! Unusually good reporting from Buzzfeed.