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New Research

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

Ominous, right?

Germophobes Take Note: Your Pillowcase Is As Dirty As Your Toilet

Bacterial swabs from toilet seats and pillowcases are pretty much indistinguishable

‘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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Teenage Brains Are Like Soft, Impressionable Play-Doh

There’s a softer side to adolescent minds: they’re vulnerable, dynamic and highly responsive to positive feedback

The first shiny object found on Mars, thought to be plastic shed from Curiosity.

Either Curiosity Is Shedding Or Mars Is Covered in Weird Shiny Particles

After an unknown object turned out to be nothing but plastic, scientists were surprised to find more shiny things buried in the dirt

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What Makes Temple Grandin’s Brain Special?

Temple Grandin, perhaps the world’s most famous person with autism, allowed scientists to peak into her exceptional brain for the first time in order to better understand the minds of savants

City Birds Are Evolving To Be More Flexible and Assertive Than Their Country Cousins

Animals are adapting to life in the big city

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Turning Iron Into Platinum: Easier—And More Useful—Than Turning Lead Into Gold

Chemical trickery causes iron to act like platinum

An iceberg floats off the coast of Greenland.

Melting Greenland Ice Has Consequences

Melting Greenland ice could affect ocean circulation patterns, and further spur global warming

Downer News Bums Out Women But Not Men

Bad news delivered through the media increases women’s sensitivity to stressful situations, new research finds, but men are immune to such effects

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X-Ray Telescope Puts Glorious Nebulae in New Light

Composite images show stunning nebula in a new way

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Trial By Judgmental Jury—Attractive Women Seem More Guilty

A recent study suggested that women who are blonde and beautiful are less likely to get any sympathy from a jury

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The Science Behind Steak and a Bold Bordeaux

Researchers teasing out the way food feels and interacts in our mouths say they’ve found out why wine and steak pair so well

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Three Quarters of Americans Now Believe Climate Change Is Affecting the Weather

74 percent of surveyed Americans think that global warming is changing the weather

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Test Just How Good You Are at Remembering Faces

In this 10 minute test, you’ll see 56 faces and names and try to remember as many as you can

The Ness of Brodgar is on the largest of the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland.

Archaeologists Uncover Massive Stone Age Complex in Scotland

A 5,000-year old temple complex may have been the centre of Stone Age British culture

Like Salamanders, African Spiny Mice Can Grow New Tails

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When Did Human-Neanderthal Hook Ups End?

Upper Paleolithic humans coming out of Africa lost romantic interest in Neanderthals about 47,000 years ago

New Zealand’s kakapo

Fossilized Dung Hints That One Endangered Species Might Be the Savior of Another

A black mamba strikes

Black Mamba Venom Beats Morphine as a Painkiller

Black mambas’ toxicity turns out to have applications other than rodent-killing

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