Headlines from April 20, 2012

The real story of this year’s presidential election in France is the “rock and roll” far left.
Hollande, French Socialist candidate, uses “Ni**as in Paris” video to appeal to youth voters.
Touré considers the mind of a woman who tells him she’s racist.
Investigation into the current thinking about “fluid” intelligence, and whether it can be changed. #longreads
Incredible: Researchers will redo every 2008 study published in three psychology journals to test for bunk.
Network science says big cities don’t produce what’s next in music.
Why music may be both intuition and invention: “nature-harnessing”
How a sociology theory and an anti-NRA campaign spawned the Huffington Post. #longreads
Original $130 check that bought the rights to Superman sold at auction for $160,000.
When your whole life is collapsing, you might very well become obsessed with pencils. Interview with David Rees, sincerely dedicated to the art of sharpening.
Dutch men destroy things at 2500 frames per second. #video
Technology is changing the way we read and write—but that’s no reason to freak out.
Chemist collects smells—from sweat, pay phones, the homeless—to study for social implications.
Company creates perfume with the ink, paper, foam, and “hint of glue” that is a MacBook’s smell.
Other Hispanic writers to love once you’ve finished the latest Bolaño.
Part-by-part analysis of the corgi concludes it is not so great.
Global approval of U.S. leadership continues to decline, but is still higher than the final years of the Bush administration.
Visualizations of demographic trends if the world were a village of 100 people.
Key to U.S. recovery and growth aren’t New York and Los Angeles, but America’s “middleweight” cities. #opinions
Larger, denser cities are cleaner and more energy efficient than smaller cities, suburbs, and even small towns.
Few Egyptians can explain the rules governing the selection of the president and the drafting of the constitution.
Kobe beef: If you’ve never been to Japan, you’ve never eaten it.
Commerce and religion clash over India’s growing beef trade.
Explosives may be required to remove cows that wandered into a ranger cabin in the Rocky Mountains, then died and froze solid.
Dermatologists say new UK coins could cause skin problems for those with nickel allergies or eczema.
Jalopnik readers identify vehicle part, help police catch suspects in deadly hit and run.
Man arrested for posting a photo of himself on Facebook siphoning gas from a police car.
Market research for the YouTube era: NBC Universal creates a film unit to communicate with potential advertisers.
How the movie Titanic could have ended. #photos
Penn and Teller lawsuit tests whether a magic trick can be copyrighted.