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  1. Microbes

    Dormant microbes from Ötzi the Iceman’s body can grow in the lab

    These cold-loving yeasts may be thousands of years old. They also suggest the mummy’s remains may not be completely frozen in time.

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  2. Climate

    A ‘super’ El Niño appears to be emerging. What’s the big deal?

    The climate pattern could bring “shockingly high” temps this winter, plus extreme weather. Some scientists are looking into an engineering “fix.”

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  3. Animals

    King cobras may be riding trains across India [COMIC]

    The snakes may be tempted onboard by tasty rodents — but train rides can carry cobras far from their forest habitats.

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  4. Earth

    Scientists Say: Subsidence

    This word describes land that sinks after water, minerals, oil or other materials are removed below ground.

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  5. Animals

    Chatty cats and talking dogs could one day ‘speak’ in our language 

    Scientists are making advances in decoding animal sounds. That might someday make animal translators a possibility.

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  6. Archaeology

    The mystery of the ‘Plain of Jars’ in Laos may now be solved

    The remains of at least 37 people sit in an ancient stone “jar.” They suggest thousands of such jars in Laos are burial vaults.

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  7. Oceans

    Big waves shape this surfer-scientist’s research and life

    Professor and pro surfer Cliff Kapono studies human-ocean interactions through the lens of a surfer, from molecular to macro scales.

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  8. Physics

    Physics explains why gold doesn’t ‘rust’

    Metals like copper tarnish when they react with oxygen in the air. Gold doesn’t, thanks to a quick rearrangement of atoms on its surface.

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  9. Space

    Scientists Say: Event horizon

    Past this boundary, nothing that enters a black hole can ever leave — not even light.

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  10. Microbes

    Fuzzy microbes may fuel cows’ methane burps

    Production of this potent greenhouse gas is triggered by a newfound feature of these microbes — one with a funny name: hydrogenobody.

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  11. Physics

    Trying to break a photon would create a quantum mess

    Attempting to cut a light particle in half would spawn up to infinite new photons, a new model shows.

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  12. Animals

    Here’s how ‘singing’ mice belt out their tiny tunes

    Balloon-like air sacs in the mice's throats create whistling songs. No other animal is known to make calls in this way.

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