Summer is officially over (astronomically, at least), and its been a wild one. Record-breaking heat waves, the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France, widespread drought, town-threatening wild fires, and the windup to the presidential election have contributed to one of the most exciting seasons on record.

At the heart of much of our attention this summer has been something that's generally more associated with winter: ice. Namely, how rapidly it is melting. Over the past few months, the news has been filled with headlines about the end of ice and what that means in terms of rising sea levels and mineral exploitation.

In addition to melting ice, this summer has seen heat waves, plenty of fires, and devastating droughts. One map gives viewers a pretty incredible look at exactly where the fires are raging and what’s going on at the ground level. It’s continuously updated with information like fire potential and precipitation data, too.

Along with the weather, the Olympics were obviously one of the summer’s biggest stories. While they received far less attention stateside, the Paralympics were a smashing success in Britain, where advertising rights were granted to Channel 4. The result: The events were heavily promoted and reached more viewers than ever before.

Lance Armstrong may be receiving all of cycling’s attention, but a host of strong performances by Americans in the Olympics, world championships, and not to mention Vuelta and Tour show that American cycling is still going strong, even if the sport is facing some serious issues, like the decision of the UCI to sue cycling journalist Paul Kimmage for accusing the organization of “having knowingly tolerated tests, of being dishonest people, of not having a sense of responsibility, of not applying the same rules to everyone.” It turns out that those are the same accusations made by Tyler Hamilton and USADA. Look out UCI.

Now, for the five articles you should be reading this weekend:

Not only have you heard it before, but you’ve likely said it, too: this tastes like chicken. But when did chicken really start to taste like, well, chicken? Jackson Landers, Slate.

“Looking further back in time to before the amphibians, we arrive at the fish. I’ve been told that many kinds of fish taste like chicken, but in practice I have never found this to be the case unless the meat is disguised in some way. Only last week I fried some fresh haddock in a beer batter and refrigerated the leftovers. The next morning I found that the cold fish tasted just like chicken—right up until I tried a bite without the breading. Then it tasted like fish again. My brain had been confused by an outer layer that reminded it of a chicken recipe.”