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Law

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Nixon Prolonged Vietnam War for Political Gain—And Johnson Knew About It, Newly Unclassified Tapes Suggest

Nixon ran on a platform that opposed the Vietnam war, but to win the election, he needed the war to continue

Cannibals of the Past Had Plenty of Reasons to Eat People

For a long time cannibalism was a survival technique, a cultural practice, and a legitimate source of protein

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Touch a Manatee, Spend Six Months in Jail

After posting photos on Facebook of himself and his two young daughters playing with a baby manatee, a Florida man was arrested by the wildlife authorities

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Cracking the Code of the Human Genome

This Gun Shoots Criminals With DNA

This new gun shoots the bad guys with artificial DNA, that can then be traced back and identified

Mercury is a liquid in its pure form.

After Millennia of Heavy Use, Mercury Gets the Boot

From an Elixir of Life to the Philosopher’s Stone, mercury’s long legacy is coming close to an end

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Brits Are Allowed To Insult Each Other Once More

For the past 27 years, it’s been against the law for Brits to insult each other

Bryan Stevenson crusades for thousands of young people in America's prisons.

Why Mass Incarceration Defines Us As a Society

Bryan Stevenson, the winner of the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in social justice, has taken his fight all the way to the Supreme Court

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Twenty Seasons of Law And Order by the Numbers

There are 456 episodes of Law and Order, and for the past two years Overthinking It has been crowdsourcing a list of how each one ended.

Rubble from the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake.

Italian Scientists Sent to Jail Because They Downplayed the Risk of an Earthquake

Six scientists and one former government official will do time for failing to accurately convey the risk of an earthquake

This is not the lab in question.

Forensic Chemist Who Helped Put Hundreds in Jail Pleads the Fifth to Fraud Charges

What might have been be a standard academic fraud case is complicated by the fact that the scientist isn’t just any chemist, she’s a forensic chemist

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Tree Gangsters Are Killing the Rainforest

Organized criminal syndicates are responsible for most illegal logging, which accounts for up to 30 percent of timber traded globally

Clerics take part in a protest against innocence of Muslims, an anti-Islamic film

Cartoons of Mohammed, Anti-Jihad Subway Ads and Other Provocations, Past and Future

Whodunnit?

It Wasn’t Me – Could Identical Twins Get Away With Murder?

Identical twins can actually get away with crimes by blaming one another

In Vietnam, Rhino Horn is the Drug of Choice at both Parties and Hospitals

A report issued by TRAFFIC issues the latest depressing statistics surrounding the epidemic-proportion illegal rhino horn trade in South Africa and Asia

An endangered whooping crane

‘We the People’ Do a Better Job of Picking Endangered Species than the Government

A Vietnamese man lovingly gazes at his dog, Op-kun (front). Two days later, Op-kun was snatched up by a restaurant thief and never seen again.

Vietnam’s Dogs are Both Humans’ Best Friends and Snacks

In Vietnam, dog lovers had best keep their pooches behind high, locked fences if they don’t want their pets to wind up boiled in a pot

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Should Dolphins and Whales Have Human Rights?

Because of their complex brains and rich social lives, should dolphins and whales be considered non-human legal persons, with full legal rights?

The offending garden in Drummondville

City Officials Declare War on Lawn Gardens

$2 Million in Ivory Seized From Manhattan Jewelers

Two New York City jewelers, caught with $2 million worth of illegal ivory, plead guilty to charges of commercializing wildlife

For Coal Miners, Back to Black Lungs

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