New York Times Video

“It disappoints me that people don’t think more highly of our native species.” The uproar is over the timber rattlesnake — Latin name, Crotalus horridus — which is large, ranges from yellowish to black, and has a plangent rattle and a supply of venom that it primarily uses to snare prey for feeding. The species lives throughout the Eastern United States, but its population has dwindled in New England, where the creatures live in colonies, hunkered in deep dens to survive cold winters. http://nyti.ms/1O64KAJ

Learn more: http://nyti.ms/1lfpfwE

Betty Crocker’s midcentury recipes evoke the era’s peculiar optimism, encased in gelatin and smothered in mayonnaise http://nyti.ms/1k7H1l4

Computer scientists have a way to manipulate videos to change a person’s facial expressions in real time http://nyti.ms/1P1qYkE

Neon has declined rapidly since the 1990s, as building regulations here have tightened and new signs are made of LEDs, which lack neon’s warmth but are brighter and less expensive to maintain. http://nyti.ms/1Pxqlja

These days, however, their numbers are increasing. http://nyti.ms/1QAARVj

Biologists are unearthing surprising details about the anatomy, evolution, biochemistry and hunting tactics of “the green flesh-eaters” http://nyti.ms/1KnX603

Drinking nectar requires a tongue that fits the flower and works like a pump: http://nyti.ms/1XGm6p4

But how, exactly? Do they suffocate them? http://nyti.ms/1h9Am8A

Marijuana’s effects can vary from person to person, and scientists are not quite sure what to make of the common distinction users and growers make between cannabis sativa and cannabis indica http://nyti.ms/1JfOG61

That means no splash, and it leaves the water as a stable launch platform http://nyti.ms/1JIihKo

It’s hot out.

Watch the video and read the article here: http://nyti.ms/1R7mI6i

After astronauts fitted it with "glasses", the universe snapped into focus http://nyti.ms/1bAWV3L

From 250 miles up, you can see the earth breathe, belching gas from volcanoes, and wrapped by whirling storms of raging lightning.

Velvet worms — which are not worms at all — squirt slime in a wavy, oscillating stream, trapping their prey in a sticky nest: http://nyti.ms/1Hg32nR

Each droplet contains a "tiny tornado." Simple materials; complex physics http://nyti.ms/1HsiWvb