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January 3, 2013 Humans have a long tradition of sharing food with strangers, and it turns out bonobos do it, too. In fact, the bonobos in a recent experiment were more likely to offer fruit and nuts to a stranger than to a familiar ape. But that doesn't necessarily mean they're altruistic.

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December 27, 2012 WAMUMistletoe figures prominently during the holidays, offering some holiday cheer and an excuse to steal a kiss or two. But researchers found that removing mistletoe from an Australian forest also caused large numbers of birds to leave.

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December 25, 2012 WAMUIt turns out Rudolph wasn't the only reindeer with a bright red nose. All reindeer have red noses, and a new study in the British Medical Journal explains why. Their noses are packed with lots of blood vessels to warm cold air on the way in and soak up heat from their breath as they breathe out.

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December 18, 2012 More than 100 federally owned primates have been the subject of controversy. In 2010, the National Institutes of Health made arrangements to move some retired chimpanzees back into the research, spurring protests. But the NIH eventually decided to accept an independent assessment that found there is almost no scientific need for chimps in biomedical research.

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December 17, 2012 Secretions from a brown frog's skin contain chemicals that might be useful in fighting bacteria. Russian researchers are cataloging compounds in the slimy goo. Although the odds against them are long, the researchers hope their work will aid the search for new drugs.

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December 14, 2012 Researchers wanted to take a census of all of the insects living in a small section of rainforest in Panama. To do this, they went up in a balloon, hung from a crane and walked atop the canopy in a huge tree raft. All told, they collected almost 130,000 specimens from more than 6,000 species.

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• Slideshow: Up In The Trees

December 12, 2012 The wolf known as 832F was taking a rare jaunt outside the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park when she was killed last week. Though her death is a blow to those who followed her story, some say hunting is a necessary part of the future of wolves in the West.

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December 11, 2012 There you are, hanging with the other pigeons. It's a sunny day. Tranquil. You are taking a bird bath along a river's edge, when suddenly, leaping out of the water onto the land, straight at you — is a fish! A pigeon-eating catfish. (We've got pictures.)

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December 10, 2012 The barbs on porcupine quills help them pierce the skin. If the bumpy needles work so well for the big rodents, couldn't they they also help doctors and nurses giving injections? Designers of medical devices are looking to try the porcupine approach.

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December 9, 2012 Even if you knew that, you may not know how the fictional dinosaur came to star in the prehistoric landscape of popular imagination for so long. The story starts 130 years ago, in a time known as the "Bone Wars."

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