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Biology

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What’s Killing Florida’s Manatees This Time?

What’s behind the mysterious deaths of more than a hundred of Florida’s manatees?

A Weddell Seal sunbathes near Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

Instead of Being Protected, Antarctica’s Oceans Will Be Open for Fishing

A plan to protect millions of acres of Antarctic ocean was temporarily killed in a meeting yesterday

“Waterloo” by C. M. Coolidge

Dogs Have Terrible Eyesight: See for Yourself

Red—green color blind and with awful, awful vision. Life for a dog is kind of a blurry mess

Zebra Finches are one of the birds that hold a trace of ancient hepatitis B in their genes.

Ancient Dinosaur Birds Were Infected With Hepatitis B

82 million years ago hepatitis B infected birds

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Thousands of Species Found in a Lake Cut Off From the World for Millions of Years

Cut off for maybe as much as 15 million years, Antarctica’s Lake Vostok seems to be full of life

Algae in the Yellow Sea near Qingdao in 2008

China’s Massive Algae Bloom Could Leave the Ocean’s Water Lifeless

The beaches of Qingdao, China, are covered in algae, but marine life may be faring worse than the swimmers

Museum to Preserve Lonesome George, in All His Lonesomeness, Forever

There are no other Pinta Island tortoises preserved anywhere else in the world, so George will be alone forever

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These Bright Webs Depict Flight Patterns Around Major Airports

Software engineer Alexey Papulovskiy has built Contrailz, a site that generates visuals of flight data over cities around the world

Fornaciari’s analysis of an anonymous 13th- to 15th-century female skeleton showed evidence of severe anemia.

CSI: Italian Renaissance

Inside a lab in Pisa, forensics pathologist Gino Fornaciari and his team investigate 500-year-old cold cases

Researchers don't have to turn back the clock with this new stem cell breakthrough.

Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

The Rise of the Multi-Talented Adult Stem Cell

A new type of cell could lead to dramatic cures—and avoid ethical controversy

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Summer Reads: Zombie Science, the American Revolution and Travels Across Italy

Looking for a good book? We’ve got some suggestions

Less conspicuous than the rugged Rocky, Cascade and Coast Mountain Ranges in this photograph are the markings of agriculture, in the bottom center.

It’s a Green, Green, Green, Green World

NASA and NOAA release satellite images of Earth and all its vegetation

Not the cloned mouse

Mouse Cloned From Its Parent’s Blood

White blood cells flowing in its parents blood provided the genetic material needed to clone

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Fin Whale Unsure Whether It Wubs Dubstep Remix of Its Conversation

Fin whale calls can be detected by seismic networks, and because this is the internet, there is obviously a remix

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Plants Do Math Every Single Day

Math, the researchers say, is a vital component of a plant’s ability to grow and thrive

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We Still Have No Idea Why Women Have Orgasms

Most researchers hypothesize that the orgasms must have something to do with facilitating the meeting of sperm and egg, but studies prove inconclusive

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The World’s Oldest Wild Bear Is Showing Her Age

She’s 39 and a half, and she’s the oldest wild bear in the world

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Sex Itself is Deadly for These Poor Little Male Spiders

For these male spiders, having sex starts an irreversible process that ends with their death

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Pesticides May Be Harmful to Animals Even at “Safe” Levels

Even when used at low concentrations, some pesticides can still cause unintended consequences

Can We Blame Men for Menopause?

It’s hard to see how a genetic predisposition to sterility would be helpful

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