* People close to Obama noticed two telltale signs he's been a little down—his low-energy April 30 news conference...and his demand for more campaign-style road trips. * Recent additions to the literary subgenre of Texas secessionist fantasy. * Regardless of how you look at it, at all
* IRS scandal grows from targeting not just "tea party"-branded groups, but also nonprofits critical of the government. * Astronaut Chris Hadfield says goodbye to the International Space Station with a cover of "Space Oddity." * Last week, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide reached their highest level in
* Federal prosecutors indict eight people for stealing $45 million from thousands of ATMs in just a few hours. * For many, Twitter verification is badge of self-worth—but with good reason, others have rejected the offer. * Entomologists inject mosquitos with bacteria that could permanently rid the insects and their offspring
* Republicans use Benghazi to attack Clinton's fitness to lead the country after Obama's term. * Klein: The Senate runs on norms rather than rules, and now that we've broken the norms, they're broken forever. * Fueled by a race-baiting, national marketing campaign and
* The Indian government's new monitoring system can access all its citizens' phone calls, texts, emails, and social media exchanges. * Cholera victims in Haiti threaten to sue UN for negligence in allowing appointed peacekeepers to contaminate water supply. * Scientists invent microparticle that, when injected, can keep a person
* Wisconsin approves bill to require recipients of food stamps to spend at least two-thirds of monthly benefits on food that's not junk. * Photographs of Chinese farmers', engineers', and businessmen's do-it-yourself projects. * See also: Jack Hitt's "Amateurs' Role
* Nigerians morgues are flooded with evidence—in the form of corpses—of the military's war against Islamists. * Bristling at U.S. accusations of hacking, China claims Washington is the "real hacking empire." * To have a constructive conversation about drones, maybe don't call them "
* Critics of Keynes say because he was childless he didn't care about "the long run"—but they don't understand what he meant by "the long run." * The law student behind the world's first 3D-printable gun is a "principled&
* The black hole of North Korea intelligence gathering is getting blacker. * Related: An illustrated guide to the on-again, off-again romance between Pyongyang and the U.S. * Daniel C. Dennett tests a theory that "surely" signals a weak philosophical argument. * Long-tongued bat uses the hair on
* Investigators piece together what happened in West, Texas, where unverified amounts of volatile chemicals may have been housed. * One year after Obama affirmed his support of same-sex marriage, public opinion has followed suit. * For more than two years, a government lab has been running a quantum-sized internet. * Signs
