1. Popular music: Tomfoolery [2](Babbage)

"There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium..." writes Babbage.

2. Why do more people die when the economy gets better? [3] (Washington Post)

The mortality rate rises when the economy improves, writes Suzy Khimm.

3. Robotics: a new twist on an old idea [4] (Babbage)

A new experimental hand can swiftly grasp and raise a load weighing five kilograms, writes Babbage.

4. Another dot.com gold rush is under way [5] (Telegraph)

$1bn to buy a two year old venture that doesn't make a cent - well that's just silly isn't it? Writes Jeremy Warner.

5. America’s teen birth rate is at a new low -- and still 10 times higher than Switzerland’s [6](Washington Post)

Economists are trying to understand why, writes Suzy Khimm.