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Articles

Why Do We Cry When We’re Happy?

Your brain can’t handle the overflow of emotion

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New Video of Mei Xiang’s Squawking Baby Panda

The National Zoo’s newest addition is already keeping mom up at night

Twyla Hein, Earth Biscuit Farm, Tipton, Iowa

This Photographer Is Documenting the Forgotten Female Faces of Farming

The face of farming is almost always male, but women are the fastest growing farming demographic in the country. This photographer is telling their stories

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What’s Behind That Jellyfish Sting?

If you’re headed to the beach this weekend: with Jellyfish populations rising, what should you do if you are stung, and why do stings hurt so much?

Dung Beetles Offset Climate Change

Even the most determined dung beetles can’t offset all of those emissions, so don’t feel too relieved about that steak or burger

The Ramos gin fizz gets its frothy top from several minutes of vigorous shaking.

Slurred Lines: Great Cocktail Moments in Famous Literature

Fancy drinks like the Gimlet and the Brandy Alexander have high class histories

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Russian Authorities Are Deciding If It’s Illegal to Paint Putin in a Negligee

Russian police are flexing their newly appointed authority under the country’s anti-gay propaganda law

Greenland may eventually resemble the lush Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

Climate Change Will Green Greenland

Many species of trees and shrubs may take up residence in formerly frozen Greenland, transforming parts of the island into a lush landscape

Guilt Is Contagious

Shaking hands with a cheater made study participants feel guilty themselves

Astronomers traced 2011 QF99, circled in green, across the sky to find that it shared an orbit with Uranus.

Temporary Companion Leads Uranus in Its Race Around the Sun

A small asteroid that orbits ahead of the seventh planet offers a clearer picture of the ongoing celestial pinball game in the solar system’s outer reaches

Each crane is tagged with a radio transmitter (shown on the bird’s left leg) to monitor its location.

Nurture, Not Nature: Whooping Cranes Learn to Migrate From Their Elders

New research shows that the endangered cranes learn to navigate thousands of miles by taking cues from older birds

What Isaac Asimov Thought 2014 Would Look Like

Past predictions about the future oftentimes fail miserably, but many of Isaac Asimov’s futuristic visions were pretty accurate

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North Korea Reportedly Executed Pop Singers And Dancers

So far, only one South Korean outlet has reported on this latest possible atrocity, and unfortunately it will probably remain that way

This was most definitely not made by NASA.

NASA’s 3-D Printer Is Not Like the 3-D Printers You’ve Heard Too Much About

NASA’s 3-D printer is the 3-D printer your 3-D printer wishes it could be

Strikes began in July in New York, and have now spread to the South.

Why It’s a Big Deal That Fast Food Strikes Have Spread to the South

Fast food workers are asking for more money and to unionize, something that’s unusual to see in the South

A photo of the lunar surface captured by China’s Chang’e 2 probe.

Before This Year is Out, China’s Rover Should Be Cruising the Moon

China’s Chang’e 3 rover is slated to launch by the end of the year

Valley of the Reclining Woman

Carl Warner’s Mountains Are Made of Elbows and Knees

The British photographer creates convincing landscapes—deserts and rocky scenes—by piecing together photos of nude models

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What Digitization Will Do for the Future of Museums

The Secretary discusses his new e-book about how the Smithsonian will digitize its collections and crowdsource its research

Severed Octopus Arms Have a Mind of Their Own

Octopus tentacles still react up to an hour after being severed from their dead owner, and even try to pick up food and feed a phantom mouth

Could life on Earth have been born on Mars?

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

Did Life Come to Earth From Mars?

Mineralogical clues point to the idea that the early Earth, starved of oxygen and submerged by a vast ocean, needed molecules from Mars to kick start life

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