Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending March 21, 2014)

The Making of Myths
A software developer discusses how fallacies in his field form and ossify, and how that limits our imagination of what software can do.
—Brian Bergstein, deputy editor

Silicon Valley’s Youth Problem
A young technologist asks why so much of Silicon Valley is drawn to creating trivial applications.
—Brian Bergstein

Most of Us Are Part Neanderthal
Steven Mithen in the New York Review of Books reviews Svante Pääbo’s new book about sequencing the genome of a neanderthal. It’s a classic technology story: Pääbo’s breakthrough occurred only because he made a bet on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) when his academic competitors bet on different technologies. But the insights derived from the sequencing will tell us how humans differ from neanderthals; and in that difference is what makes us uniquely us.
—Jason Pontin, editor in chief and publisher

U.K. to Replace 1-Pound Coin with Secure 12-Edged Design
You can keep your bitcoins. U.K. readies counterfeit-proof 12-sided £1 coin, modelled on discontinued threepenny.
—Tom Simonite, senior editor, IT

How 3D Printers Forge New Art from Old Etchings
Flat art turns to sculpture with 3-D printing technology.
—J. Juniper Friedman, editorial assistant

Venture Money Flows Into Hardware Startups (WSJ paywall)
Interesting numbers from the Wall Street Journal show how much money is being invested in hardware startups.
—Mike Orcutt, research editor

Tesla’s Bet on Winning the Global Lithium Race
I really liked this piece on Tesla and its battery ambitions.
—Nanette Byrnes, senior editor, Business Reports

Dorian S. Nakamoto Hires Lawyer to ‘Clear His Name’ of Bitcoin Claim
Man named as Bitcoin creator hires lawyer to deny it.
—Antonio Regalado, senior editor, business

Bitcoin-Stealing Malware Hidden in Mt. Gox Data Dump
Downside to everyone’s-a-reporter trend: leaked Bitcoin documents contain bitcoin-stealing malware.
—Antonio Regalado