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Biology

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All the Conditions Required for Life to Appear Are Here, in Antarctica’s Amazing Ice Stalactites

Brinicles, more than ice fingers of death, may have driven the formation of life

How Women May Have Shaped Men’s Penises

Whether women’s preference is indeed solely responsible for driving the way penises look today remains an open-ended question, however

Adélie penguins on Beaufort Island

Climate Change Means More Adélie Penguins

Climate change seems to be giving an unexpected boost to this penguin species

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There Is Now a Hypothetical Species Named Shrewdinger Because of You

Last week, the public voted, and named a hypothetical placental ancestor Shrewdinger

I see your log bungalow and raise you a fully-functioning ion channel.

Need to Build a Functioning Neuron?

In Minecraft, a player creates a functional neuron

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‘Altitude Sickness’ Might Actually Be Two Different Diseases

Something like 20% of people in the United States who travel to the mountains in the west report getting altitude sickness, but the symptoms might actually be from two different diseases

Celebrate Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month By Reporting These Horrifying Species

April 1st marks the beginning of Invasive Plant Pest and Disease Awareness Month, but how does somebody celebrate?

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One of Napoleon’s Generals Was More Interested in Gathering Beetles Than Fighting at Waterloo

When he died in 1845, Count Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean owned the largest personal beetle collection in the world

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This Giant New Tarantula Has an Eight-Inch Leg Span

Say hello to Peocilotheria rajaei, Sri Lanka’s most recently discovered giant spider.

How Your Brain Reassures You That You’re Better Than Other People

The “superiority illusion” may depend on how connected certain parts of your brain are and how many dopamine receptors you have

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There’s No Such Thing as a ‘Living Fossil’

Though Darwin coined the term ‘living fossil,’ if he were around today he’d probably agree that it’s time to retire it

iPods and sperm, America’s favorite exports.

America May Be the World’s Top Exporter of Sperm

The United States may be the world’s largest exporter of sperm

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Watch How Fast the Insane Snout of the Star-Nosed Mole Can Move

To many, the star nosed mole is alternatively horrifying and fascinating, but have you ever seen the little rodent’s face in action?

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What Is the BRAIN Initiative, Anyway?

The Obama administration hopes to do for brains what the Human Genome Project did for genetics

This Sea Lion Can Keep Time With the Backstreet Boys

Ronan the sea lion can keep a beat, something sea lions weren’t supposed to be able to do

Jupiter’s innermost large moon, Io, is extremely volcanic. “If you look closely on the upper left and upper right horizon, you can see eruptions in the process of happening,” says Benson. “We know that at least 400 volcanos are continuously blasting magma into space from Io.” Mosaic composite photograph. Galileo, July 3, 1999.

Michael Benson’s Awe-Inspiring Views of the Solar System

A photographer painstakingly pieces together raw data collected by spacecraft to produce color-perfect images of the Sun, planets and their many moons

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Stop Trying to Live Like a Caveman

Modern humans are doing it all wrong - they eat wrong, they run wrong, they work wrong, they get married wrong. But is the life of cave people really what we should be striving for?

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People Who Never Apologize Are Probably Happier Than You

That childhood distaste for saying you’re sorry hasn’t gone away as an adult - not apologizing still makes us feel much better than apologizing does

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This Microbe Isn’t Either Male or Female, It Has Seven Options to Choose Between

This little protozoa has seven different “mating types”

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Dinosaurs Have Feathers, Sure, But We May Have Got the Colors All Wrong

Dinosaurs had colorful plumage, but the palette may have been all wrong

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