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Science

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Maria Zuber

On the surprise evidence of flowing water on Mars

Jokim Githuka, 3, displays a portrait of his dead father, Robert Njoya, in a Kenyan maize field. Other sons stand by his grave with Njoya's widow, Serah. The trial of his undisputed killer, Thomas Cholmondely, has electrified this former British colony.

Death in Happy Valley

A son of the colonial aristocracy goes on trial for killing a poacher in Kenya, where an exploding human population is heightening tensions

The ozone hole over Antarctica is recovering. Can the lessons be applied to today's climate crisis?

Ahead in the Clouds

Susan Solomon helped patch the ozone hole. Now, as a leader of a major United Nations report—out this month—she’s going after global warming

For hundreds of years the Parsi people of Mumbai have left their dead on the Towers of Silence, to be consumed by vultures. Now the sacred practice is in peril.

The Vanishing

Little noticed by the outside world, perhaps the most dramatic decline of a wild animal in history has been taking place in India and Pakistan

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Wild Things: Life as We Know It

Flying mammals, Galápagos iguanas and sidewalk songbirds

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Rivaling Nature

The war in Iraq has increased demand for limb and facial plastic surgeons

"No one ever found any dead vultures," says McGrath. "There were simply less and less of them."

Fantastically Repulsive

In this interview, Susan McGrath, author of “The Vanishing,” describes getting up close and personal with vultures

In the past decade or so, over 95 percent of India's vultures have died.

Soaring Hopes

The first two Asian vultures breed in captivity

The African American DNA Roots Project is a molecular anthropology study designed to match African American lineages with those in West Africa, a region from which many slaves were taken.

Family Ties

African Americans use scientific advances to trace their roots

A researcher tests a polygraph machine.

Detecting Lies

From chewing rice to scanning brains, the perfect lie detector remains elusive

Ancient meditation might have strengthened the mind's ability to connect symbols and meanings, eventually causing gene mutations that favored modern memory.

Meditate on It

Could ancient campfire rituals have separated us from Neanderthals?

An image of Augustine erupting on January 13, 2006, from about 50 miles away from the volcano.

Volcanic Lightning

As sparks flew during the eruption of Mount St. Augustine in Alaska, scientists made some new discoveries

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How Many Politicians Does It Take to Change a Lightbulb?

Black and white-furred gray wolves

In Danger of Endangerment

Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico with its 300 m (980 ft) dish, one of the world's largest filled-aperture (i.e. full dish) radio telescope, conducts some SETI searches.

Earth to Space

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Top 10 Polluted Cities

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Science’s 300-Year-Old Grand Unification Theory

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Warm Temperatures Get Zoo Animals Steamy

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Welcome to thegist

Small but cherished, the Grand Teton herd faces a growing number of man-made obstacles—including more than 100 fences (this one near Pinedale, WY) thrown up along the migration route that it has followed for millennia.

End of the Road?

Development threatens to block the migration of pronghorn antelopes. Without new protections, conservationists say, the animals are running out of time

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