A Moment of Science

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More Wolves, Taller Willows Feb 25, 2021

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The willows in Yellowstone National Park used to commonly grow up to 157 inches tall. But in the 1990s, most willows in the northern part of the park only grew to be 39 inches.

Earth's Climate History Feb 24, 2021

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If we understood how Earth's climate has changed over its long geological history, we could better understand modern climate change. In 2020, geoscientists took a major step towards that goal when they published the most complete reconstruction of the last 66 million years of Earth's climate history.

The Germ-Killing Power Of Copper Feb 23, 2021

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The ancient Egytians used copper to sterilize wounds and clean their drinking water. They even wrote about it in one of the oldest known medical texts, the Smith Papyrus, which is over four thousand years old.

How Does Crop Rotation Work? Feb 22, 2021

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Crop rotation involves a lot of questions, like a puzzle. There are so many different crops that farmers can choose to plant, and so many different combinations; the possiblities are endless.

Mollusks Reveal The Length Of A Day Feb 19, 2021

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Rudist clams were around in the late Cretaceous and are extinct today. Their fossils can tell us a lot of surprising things, such as the length of a day 70 million years ago.

The New Tree In Town Feb 18, 2021

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When a gardener digs up a tree or shrub in one place and transplants it to another, the plant will endure all sorts of stress. It’s common for transplants to show signs of shock. Most often these plants are unable to recover.

Shrinking Eyespots On Butterflies Feb 17, 2021

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The eyes on the wings of a butterfly can look kind of strange, but they're not looking at you, they're just a deflecting mechanism. Like a lot of butterfly species, the African satyrid butterfly's eyespots make predators more likely to attack its wings rather than the more vital parts of its body.

Phosphine: A Sign Of Life On Venus Feb 16, 2021

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In 2020 an international team of astonomers made a surprising discovery using the James Clerk Maxwell telescope in Hawai'i. They found evidence that the atmosphere of the planet Venus contains tiny amounts of phsophine gas.

A Drop In Temperature Feb 15, 2021

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When you take your temperature, we hope to find that we have a normal temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This might not be as normal as we think, though.

The Discovery Of A New Organ Feb 12, 2021

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A team of Swedish biomedical researchers have just discovered a new organ in the bodies of mice, and they expect that humans have it, too. They missed this organ until now because it's not a complicated organ like a heart or a liver.

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