Loony toons: SpongeBob SquarePants, Invader Zim, Ren and Stimpy, Doug and Rocko’s Modern Life. Composite: Alamy, Nickelodeon & Rex FeaturesLoony toons: SpongeBob SquarePants, Invader Zim, Ren and Stimpy, Doug and Rocko’s Modern Life. Composite: Alamy, Nickelodeon & Rex FeaturesAnimation on TVThis month sees the 25th anniversary of Nicktoons, an offshoot of Nickelodeon that delivered kids’ TV and changed the way we think about animation itself Nickelodeon broke a lot of ground: it was the first offering of its kind on television, it attracted (and maintains) a huge audience of children, and since the late 1980s it’s been a hive of high-concept game shows, unusual animation and clever visual gags.

The Handmaid's Tale: episode by episodeThe Handmaid's TaleA sacrifice was made this week to save the 52 children, but whether it was justified is another matter Spoiler alert: this recap is for people watching The Handmaid’s Tale, series three, on Channel 4 in the UK. Please do not add spoilers for later episodes in the series. How many lives does it cost to get 52 children out of Gilead? Two so far, with a whole lot more at risk.

10 of the bestDiscoThe California group’s hybrid soul and funk took a while to form but it was finessed to perfection on hits including Chainey Do, I’m So Excited and Slow Hand 1. Yes We Can CanThe Pointer Sisters’ parents – both preachers – banned rock’n’roll from the family home (along with nail polish, trousers and boys), intending to raise gospel singers. But by the late 1960s, youngest sisters June and Bonnie had been bitten by the pop bug and were performing at nightclubs, adding older sister Anita to the lineup and signing with Atlantic Records in the early 70s for a couple of underwhelming singles.

ShortcutsSpidersThe ultimate lovely legs competition: the world's nine most beautiful spidersThis burrow-dwelling, blue-legged tarantula is turning heads – and there are plenty of other charismatic eight-legged friends out there In case you missed the news in the latest journal of the British Tarantula Society, a rather lovely new spider with iridescent, electric-blue legs has been discovered. The burrow-dwelling spider [Birupes simoroxigorum] has reportedly been “feted by experts as one of the most beautiful spiders ever documented”, prompting the question: what are the other most beautiful spiders ever documented?

A sign in Round Valley asking for help finding 23-year-old Khadijah Britton. Photograph: Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times/Getty ImagesIn Covelo, an isolated town in northern California, back-to-back slayings are the most recent chapter of violence arising from colonisation by Robin Buller in Covelo, CaliforniaMarline Fulwider is no stranger to grief. As a young woman, she lost her 23-year-old brother; years later, her 25-year-old son-in-law, whom she had previously taken in as a foster child, was killed.