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January 24, 2013 Mainers say the shrimp have a sweet and delicate flavor. But there won't be many of them to go around this year. The fishing season is short, the allowable catch is small and the number of shrimp in the Gulf of Maine has been dwindling for a while now.

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January 24, 2013 Most dogs will eat just about anything. But, that wasn't always the case. The domestic dog's ancestor, the gray wolf, only ate meat. And a new report suggests hanging out with humans — and our garbage — may have helped them evolve to digest a wide range of foods.

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January 24, 2013 Multitaskers tend to test high for traits like risk-taking, sensation-seeking and impulsivity. And those very traits interfere with people's ability to stay focused, researchers say.

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January 24, 2013 In New Zealand, where they do things differently, middle schoolers are taught statistics, probability and experimental science in an odd way. They explore frustrating supermarket lines, ungraspable tape, foot seeking thumbtacks and carpet soiling toast.

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January 24, 2013 The world is full of data — and that's a problem. We have to find a place to store all those digital photos, tax records and unfinished novels. British scientists have demonstrated a possible solution: They've stored all of Shakespeare's sonnets on several small stretches of DNA.

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January 23, 2013 After researchers created versions of the bird flu virus that could spread more easily, critics began to worry that the work could spawn a pandemic if a virus escaped from the lab. After halting their work for more than a year, scientists now say the benefits outweigh the risks, and they are set to restart their experiments.

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January 23, 2013 The genes of the root vegetable have a juicy story to tell of trans-oceanic adventure. A DNA analysis of sweet potatoes adds evidence to the theory that ancient Polynesians visited South America long before the Europeans arrived.

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January 23, 2013 An NIH working group recommends that most of the agency's 360 research chimpanzees be sent to a sanctuary — a non-laboratory setting where chimps can live more natural lives. But even if the NIH accepts the recommendations, putting them into effect won't be easy.

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January 22, 2013 President Obama pulled out a surprise in his inaugural address. After barely mentioning climate change in his campaign, he put it on his short list of priorities for his second term. Experts believe he'll use the EPA to ramp up efforts to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants.

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January 22, 2013 What if I told you that there's a mathematical formula buried deep in living things that tells us — all of us, dandelions, gorillas, sea grasses, elm trees, buttercups — when it's time to die. Scientists think there is such rule. It has to do with size.

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January 21, 2013 KUOWScientists are worried about the elusive members of the weasel family that live in parts of Olympic National Forest in Washington state. To see whether martens are endangered, volunteers are installing remote camera traps to take photos of the animals.

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January 20, 2013 For years, British environmental activist Mark Lynas vandalized genetically modified food crops. Then, he had a change of heart. He went in front of the world to reverse his position, telling the anti-GMO lobby to "get out of the way and let the rest of us get on with feeding the world sustainably."

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