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This week, the Food and Drug Administration met with outside advisers to talk about the next steps in formulating a COVID-19 vaccination plan. Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

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Dinendra Haria/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Encore: Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

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Pieter Van Ry, director of the South Platte Renew wastewater treatment facility in Englewood, Colo., stands surrounded by solid-waste separators. Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio hide caption

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Hart Van Denburg/Colorado Public Radio

Colorado is moving toward statewide coverage of wastewater surveillance

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To study emotions in animals, scientists need to look beneath feelings to the brain states that produce certain behaviors. Fran Laurendeau/RooM RF/Getty Images hide caption

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Fran Laurendeau/RooM RF/Getty Images

In jumpy flies and fiery mice, scientists see the roots of human emotions

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FTC Commissioner nominee Lina M. Khan testifies during a Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill on April 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Graeme Jennings/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

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Graeme Jennings/Pool/Getty Images

The Indicator: Destroying Personal Digital Data

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US President Joe Biden receives a second booster shot of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine a day after the US authorized a fourth dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for people 50 and older NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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NICHOLAS KAMM / AFP via Getty Images

A photo of the the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moab, Utah. A construction project at the site recently damaged some of the tracks and trace fossils. Wayne Hsieh/Flickr hide caption

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Wayne Hsieh/Flickr

This image of the United States at night is a composite assembled from data acquired by satellite in April and October 2012. NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center)./NASA Earth Observatory hide caption

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NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using Suomi NPP VIIRS data provided courtesy of Chris Elvidge (NOAA National Geophysical Data Center)./NASA Earth Observatory

What We Gain From Dark Night Skies

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Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

Sleeping with even a little bit of light isn't good for your health, study shows

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An octopus named Lizbeth is helping scientists study distributed intelligence in a lab in the San Juan Islands. Stephani Gordon/OPB hide caption

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Stephani Gordon/OPB

What Octopus Minds May Tell Us About Aliens

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The business model of luxury ski areas is again under scrutiny as the perils of climate change take hold in the Rocky Mountains. Kirk Siegler/NPR hide caption

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Kirk Siegler/NPR

Will skiing survive? Resorts struggle through a winter of climate and housing woes

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Wiffle ball sets are seen during an event to showcase American-made products at the White House July 23, 2018 in Washington, DC. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

The Peculiar Physics Of The Wiffle Ball

Shall we play a game - of Wiffle ball? Invented in 1953, this lightweight alternative to a baseball is perfectly suited for back yard romping. Today we explain why the design of the Wiffle ball guarantees that you don't need a strong arm to throw a variety of pitches.

The Peculiar Physics Of The Wiffle Ball

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The Norwegian Gateway cruise ship is moored at PortMiami on Jan. 7 in Miami. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped its advisory warning Wednesday for cruise travel after more than two years of warning Americans. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption

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Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Expedition 66 crew members (left to right) Mark Vande Hei of NASA and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are seen inside their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after it landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan on Wednesday in Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan. Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images hide caption

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Bill Ingalls/NASA/Getty Images

The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star ever seen. The magnified galaxy looks like a stretched out red line with three dots. The single star is the middle one. NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI) hide caption

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NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI)

The light from this star that astronomers just spotted is 12.9 billion years old

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The FDA has authorized second booster shots for people over 50 and for some people who are immunocompromised. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Do I really need another booster? The answer depends on age, risk and timing

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An illustration depicting a Jupiter-like exoplanet called TOI-2180 b. It was spotted by community scientists in data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt hide caption

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NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt