This week in science: Money

Money is seductive. Not having it is misery. I'll have more on the latter tomorrow on Sunday Kos, in a quasi-autobiographical form as someone who's gone from affluent to poor in five years flat. For now, here's one small example of what money can buy:

Former senior aides to President Barack Obama were among several dozen U.S. officials and lawmakers who traveled to Baku, Azerbaijan, this week, for an event sponsored by major oil companies.

Jim Messina, the former Obama 2012 campaign manager, Robert Gibbs, the former White House press secretary, and David Plouffe, the former Obama senior adviser, all received five-figure checks to deliver remarks at the event, called the U.S.-Azerbaijan Convention, according to The Washington Post.

The effect of money on politics and rise of legalized bribery in the form of campaign contributions, lucrative post-term jobs and speaking gigs, sweetheart business deals and loans, this ought to be the scandal everyone's talking about. But since both parties are corrupted by it and the GOP especially so, there is nary a peep.

• The asteroid mining company, Planetary Resources, is crowdsourcing the design of a new telescope.
• The migration of the Red Crabs. Both fascinating and a little creepy.
• How the turtle evolved its shell.
• We had a close call yesterday:

  If the slowly tumbling QE2 were to strike Earth it would make for a truly bad-hair day for the planet. The asteroid presents no threat to Earth during this visit or during its next "closest" approach more than 200 years.