Hot Links: Tech to Stop the Apocalypse, Samsung and Apple Talk Truce, Bill Gates Goes Nuclear

Welcome back to Hot Links, Motherboard’s weekly roundup of awesome science and tech news to help you start the week.

Don’t worry folks! Technological advances will outpace the apocalypse.

Republican Rep. Todd Akin, who believes all abortion (including morning after pills) should be illegal, said that victims of ‘legitimate rape’ can’t get pregnant. What a terrible person.

Apparently the ForcePad will revolutionize laptop touchpads forever.

Samsung’s CEO is set to meet with Apple today to discuss the two firms’ unending patent war.

In response to worries about SMS iPhone hacking, Apple said to use iMessage instead. So yeah, you can only talk to other iPhone users now or you’ll be HACKED.

On the other side, 500,000 Android users have been hacked in China.

T. Ryan Gregory wrote a must-read piece on evolution that looks at how arguments against evolution don’t actually disagree with the concept itself. It’s worth the time.

This 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster sold for $11.8 million at auction in Pebble Beach over the weekend, during Pebble Beach’s annual festival of all things automotive. A 1968 Ford GT40 sold for $11 million, which is the most expensive American car ever sold at auction.

How’s this for insane: Melky Cabrera, a baseball player with the San Francisco Giants suspended for failing a drug test, had a fake website made that advertised fake products that he attempted to use to get out of his suspension.

Climate change is throwing off butterfly migration patterns.

“Penny-sized” microthrusters are fitted with all of the jets and nozzles needed to rocket mini satellites into space.

Hubble just found a pair of colliding star clusters. Powerman 5000 was not reached for comment, unfortunately.

Bill Gates is set to develop a new sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is supposed to be a safer, cleaner nuclear tech, with South Korea.

A pair of new owl species were just discovered in the Philippines. Awesome!

The president of Nintendo said that no, Mario games aren’t released too frequently. Who doesn’t want more Mario?

Interesting piece discussing where the presidential candidates stand on net neutrality.

Follow Derek Mead on Twitter: @derektmead.