Latest stories
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A Fluffy Cloud Can Hold a Million Pounds of Water. Seriously.
A representative cumulus cloud can contain roughly 1.1 million pounds of water. Here is the USGS math and why the droplets do not fall at once.
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Butterflies Taste With Their Feet. Apparently Shoes Would Ruin Everything.
Butterflies can taste leaves, sweat and other surfaces with sensors on their feet. Here is how contact chemoreceptors help them find food and choose egg-laying plants.
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Honey Can Last for Years. But ‘Never Spoils’ Needs an Asterisk.
Honey can last for years, but moisture and fermentation complicate the claim that it never spoils. Here’s what the food science says.
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Koalas Have Human-Like Fingerprints. Here’s What That Means.
Koalas have fingerprint-like ridges surprisingly similar to humans’. Researchers have studied the resemblance—and the popular crime-scene story needs a caveat.
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Scotland’s National Animal Is a Unicorn. And Yes, It Has a Royal Backstory.
Scotland’s national animal is a unicorn. Here’s how a mythical beast became a royal symbol, why it wears chains, and where Scotland still displays it.
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The Eiffel Tower Gets Taller in Heat. The Famous Six-Inch Claim Has a Catch.
The Eiffel Tower expands when it gets hot, but the famous 15-centimeter claim is complicated. Here’s what the Tower’s own engineers say about height and sway.
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Wood Frogs Can Freeze, Stop Their Hearts, and Wake Up in Spring
Wood frogs can survive winter frozen with no heartbeat or breathing. Here’s how sugars and controlled ice formation protect their cells until spring.
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Antarctic Icefish Have Nearly Colorless Blood Because They Lost Hemoglobin
Antarctic icefish are the only known vertebrates to completely lose hemoglobin, leaving them with pale blood and a radically reworked circulatory system.
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The ‘Immortal’ Jellyfish Can Reverse Its Life Cycle and Start Over
Turritopsis dohrnii can reverse from an adult jellyfish into an earlier polyp stage and begin its life cycle again.
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Some Sea Slugs Steal Chloroplasts and Become Solar-Powered
Some sea slugs steal chloroplasts from algae, keep them working inside their own cells, and use photosynthesis to help power their bodies.