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Marian Anderson as Ulrica in the Verdi opera Un ballo in maschera

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60 Years Ago, the First African-American Soloist Sang at the Met Opera

Marian Anderson performed as the fortuneteller Ulrica in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera

This portrait features Dr. Edward Jenner inoculating James Phipps, the first person to receive the smallpox vaccine.

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The Art of Vaccinations

The Art of Saving a Life is connected to a fundraising effort for an international group working to eradicate disease through vaccinations

An atomic clock at the Physical Technical Federal Institution in Braunschweig, Germany.

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2015 Will Be One Second Longer Than 2014

Because the Earth is rotating more slowly than the tick of our atomic clocks, says the International Earth Rotation Service

A newspaper was the first item found upon opening the capsule.

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What Was Found Inside the Oldest American Time Capsule

Historians in Boston have just cracked open a brass box originally buried in 1795 by Paul Revere and Samuel Adams

Tuna are a hot commodity in Japan at this time of year — so hot that a sushi chef paid $37,500 for a single fish. Here, dogtooth tuna swim in the Indian Ocean.

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The Same Guy Keeps Spending Insane Amounts of Money to Buy Japan’s First Tuna of the Season

This year, he bought it for $37,500—which he considered cheap

Sunrise in Yosemite National Park

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Two Climbers Are Free-Climbing One of Yosemite’s Hardest Routes

Two athletes are halfway through an impressive 32-pitch climb up El Capitan’s Dawn Wall

A monarch butterfly sits on a Buddleia Butterfly Bush.

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Monarchs May Soon Land on the Endangered Species List

Scientists fear that the butterfly’s population will continue to drop due to the loss of the its food source

This false-color composite image shows meteors streaking through the skies over NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., on the night of Jan. 3-4, 2012.

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Ring in 2015 With the Quadrantid Meteor Shower

The annual Quadrantid meteor shower peaks this weekend

This Hoppin’ John dish is all wrong

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Don’t Make Hoppin’ John for New Year’s Without Heirloom Beans

The original dish didn’t use black-eyed peas, plus the rice and bacon you have is probably wrong

Scientists crouch with mock-ups of three generations of Mars rovers. Curiosity is the big one. Opportunity and Spirit were based on the medium-sized one on the left. The small one is front was the Sojourner rover.

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NASA’s Opportunity Rover Has Developed Robot Dementia

A problem with Opportunity’s hardware means it only has short-term memory

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Big News Stories of 2014 That Aren’t Going Away

We just have so much to look forward to

Health workers wearing protective clothing prepare to carry an abandoned dead body presenting with Ebola symptoms at Duwala market in Monrovia August 17, 2014.

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More Than 3,000 People Have Died of Ebola in the Past Two Months

The viral outbreak doesn’t appear to be slowing

That's it. Next year, everyone's getting coal.

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Americans ‘Returned’ Around $3.6 Billion Worth of Stolen Goods This Holiday Season

Billions of dollars worth of “gift returns” are actually stolen goods

An Indonesian Air Force troops looks for AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Karimata Strait.

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2014 Was Actually One of the Safer Years to Fly

The year saw a few prominent disasters, but 2014 was, unfortunately, nothing out of the ordinary

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This New Year’s Eve, Don’t Drink and Walk

Staggering home is dangerous, too

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A Few Things You Can Do With Unneeded Presents

The first challenge is saying thank you for something you can’t use, but here’s some ideas about what to do next

Knott's Merry Farm Snoopy's Merriest Tree Lighting held at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA.

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CBS Executives Thought ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ Would Fail

There wasn’t much CBS executives liked about the Christmas special

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There’s More to Frankincense and Myrrh Than Meets the Eye

Frankincense and myrrh have interesting medicinal properties

Shrine to Uwais al-Qurani and Ammar Bin Yasser. After: October 6, 2014.

All three tombs on the outside of the shrine, their minarets and a section of the linking arcaded pricinct have been destroyed.

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Satellite Photos Show Hundreds of Syrian Heritage Sites Damaged In Ongoing Fighting

The new satellite photos show the extent of the damage

Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, December 8, 2010.

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Argentinian Orangutan Is “Non-Human Person,” Says Court

Being in the zoo impinges on her freedom

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