Extra Credit: Our pick of stories from around the web that bridge the gap between news and scholarship. Brought to you each Tuesday from the editors of JSTOR Daily.

Takes a virus to catch a virus (The Atlantic)
by Ed Yong
Over hundreds of millions of years, humans’ bodies have gotten really good at fighting viruses. A new study looks at a key way this happened: the repurposing of viruses themselves to build defenses against their cousins.

What works to stop violence? (Pacific Standard)
by Francie Diep
Is “broken windows” policing effective? What about gun buybacks, or interventions targeting the people responsible for the most shootings in a city? A review of more than 1,400 studies shows which approaches actually have evidence behind them.

Does chocolate make you smarter? (Good Magazine)
By Mike Albo
A new study has found a surprising thing about chocolate. People who eat the stuff on a regular basis tend to do better on a variety of tests involving visual-spacial memory, abstract reasoning, and other cognitive tasks.

The international Twitter strike force (The Washington Post)
by Marco T. Bastos and Dan Mercea
Think online activists are just tweeting hashtags to the choir? A study of some of the most prolific international Twitter activists shows how they’ve been able to provide intelligence and logistical support to rebellions around the world.

The suburbs of the future (The Boston Globe)
by Kevin Harnett
Dense city living is an eco-friendly solution to the problems that come with population growth. But most people around the world don’t live in megacities, and many prefer suburban settings. An MIT project points to a new way of thinking about suburbs, without the sprawl.

Have you seen a story online that does a good job of bridging the gap between the news and scholarship? Or something that seems particularly well-researched? Let us know and we may include it in next week’s roundup. Email us at jstordaily_submissions (at) jstor (dot) org.