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Tarbosaurus the Tip of the Black Market Iceberg

Earlier this week, federal officials arrested a man charged with selling numerous illegal dinosaur specimens

NASA’s MErcurcy Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry and Ranging spacecraft completed a year-long orbit in March 2012.

MESSENGER Mission: Mysteries of Mercury Revealed

Dr. Michelle Selvans will present new findings from MESSENGER’s orbital imaging on October 20

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Teaching Physics with a Massive Game of Mouse Trap

Mark Perez and his troupe of performers tour the country, using a life-sized version of the popular game to explain simple machines

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1950s Game Show Guest Had a Secret: He Saw Lincoln’s Assassination

A 5-year old Samuel J. Seymour saw Lincoln’s assassination, lived to talk about it on a 1956 game show

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The Orionid Meteor Shower Will Light Up the Skies This Weekend

Debris shed by the legendary Halley’s comet could make for an impressive meteor show

The front and back of the Building Stories box

Designing Lives and Building Stories, Chris Ware’s Comic Book Epic

In Building Stories, cartoonist Chris Ware presents the banality of everyday life as a stunning comic epic

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Sex and Space Travel: Predictions from the 1950s

The cure for lonely space missions? One astronomer proposed hiring astronaut concubines

Scavenging crow

Brain-Eating Crows May Help Spread Prion Diseases

Prions - the infectious proteins that cause illnesses in humans and other animals such as mad cow disease - can pass through the digestive systems of crows

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Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning

Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight

A 24,700-year-old leaf found beneath a Japanese lake, along with other samples, will help scientists more precisely date a range of ancient objects.

A New Leap Forward for Radiocarbon Dating

Sediments and ancient leaves recovered from the bottom of a Japanese lake will help scientists around the world more precisely date ancient objects

Start celebrating Día de los Muertos early with activities at the Smithsonian.

Events October 19-21: Star Music, Hollywood’s Gettysburg and Día de los Muertos

Hear from an astrophysicist who danced her PhD thesis, watch a classic Civil War film and start celebrating Day of the Dead a little early

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One Step Closer to a Brain

It sounds funny, but when Google created a huge computer network that was able to identify cats from YouTube videos, it was a big leap forward for artificial intelligence.

‘Eye Cells’ Hone in on Eye Contact, Create Special Connections with Others

Researchers may have pinpointed neurons responsible for that “special connection” feeling associated with first making eye contact

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Dinosaur Stampede, the Musical

What caused Australia’s dinosaur stampede? A short musical performance suggests an answer

161 Years Ago Today Ahab First Battled the White Whale, and Critics Hated It

Today marks the 161st anniversary of Moby Dick, the epic seafaring tale by Herman Melville, and Google is celebrating with its own Doodle

Who hasn’t imagined the things she could do with a larger kitchen and more storage and then imagined taunting her friends about it?

Designer Kitchens and the People Who Don’t Cook in Them

From designer appliances to bigger floorplans, Americans love kitchens, just not cooking in them

From Pardeon Records, A Grain of Sand was considered the first Asian American album in the music industry.

Joann Stevens: Arts Righting History

Japanese singer-dancer Nobuko Miyamoto will speak about her role in making a place for Asian Americans in music October 19th

As prim and tidy as hedges at the Queen’s palace, a vineyard in England reminds us that rising temperatures are now allowing for wine production in the world’s higher latitudes.

More Wines from Unexpected Places

Good, locally made wines can now be found in such unlikely locales as equatorial Kenya, the Texas Hill Country, and temperate and rainy Japan

An artist’s conception of the massive collision that would have produced the moon roughly 4.5 billion years ago.

How the Moon Was Made

A new type of evidence found in lunar rocks indicates that an enormous collision between a young Earth and a Mars-sized object formed the moon

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The Last Row

But at least two of the last three puzzles in the grid (including today’s!) may be among the hair-pullingest yet.  I’m not a sadist, mind you.  I genuinely think you’ll have fun with them.

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