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Obama's plans for NASA changes met with harsh criticism

10. March 2010 - 6:00
Harrison Schmitt's credentials as a space policy analyst include several days of walking on the moon. The Apollo 17 astronaut, who is also a former U.S. senator, is aghast at what President Obama is doing to the space program.

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Seismic Science: Is number of earthquakes on the rise?

9. March 2010 - 16:00
Are the recent earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and Turkey a coincidence or a sign of increases seismic activity? Dr. Michael Blanpied, associate program coordinator for the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, takes your questions about the causes of the recent quakes, earthquake forecasting and more.

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Wooly mammoth carcass from Siberia reveals information about ice-age creatures

9. March 2010 - 6:00
For 42,000 years, Lyuba, a baby woolly mammoth, was preserved almost perfectly intact, right down to her baby fat, in frigid Siberian river muck. Now released from her icy grave, she is being preserved in much the same manner as another famous Russian relic: the body of revolutionary Vladimir Lenin....

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Dry cleaning usually uses a toxic chemical, but the safety picture is unclear

9. March 2010 - 6:00
I live around the corner from a dry cleaner, but there's also a "green" dry cleaner on the other side of town. Am I total jerk if I keep going to my regular spot?

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Dinosaur extinction followed asteroid impact 65 million years ago, panel says

9. March 2010 - 6:00
It's official: The extinction of the dinosaurs and a host of other species 65.5 million years ago was caused by a massive asteroid that crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, creating worldwide havoc, according to an international team of researchers.

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9. March 2010 - 6:00
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Zabul province seeks U.S. troops, but is caught in Afghan numbers game

9. March 2010 - 6:00
QALAT, AFGHANISTAN -- To work in Zabul province these days is to feel forsaken.

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Federal faces: David Fahey, research physicist at NOAA

9. March 2010 - 6:00
Research physicist Earth System Research Laboratory, Chemical Sciences Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration


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Mosquito season approaches

9. March 2010 - 6:00
First it was just swatting. Then poison. Then sterilizing males. Is there anything people won't try in the war against mosquitoes? The latest idea: Genetic engineering that results in flightless females.

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Math and blogging

9. March 2010 - 6:00
Wired magazine, March issue It's the hottest topic in applied math today: compressed sensing (as opposed to all those other topics that we've been so, ahem, diligently tracking). CS is an algorithm that takes low-resolution files and transforms them into sharp images. For instance, a blurry digit...


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For scientists, Chile becomes the ideal lab for studying seismic activity

8. March 2010 - 6:00
TALCA, CHILE -- When an aftershock nearly as big as Haiti's earthquake jolted this city on Friday, those already reeling from last month's huge quake shuddered in fear. But Jeff Genrich, a 53-year-old earthquake scientist from California, lolled in bed.

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Scientists learn red grouper operate as underwater architects

8. March 2010 - 6:00
Red grouper are known for a few key characteristics -- their hue, which can range from pink to bright orange; their tastiness, whether they're grilled or sautéed; and their predation method, in which they ambush fellow sea creatures and swallow them whole.


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Japan says it won't comply with bluefin tuna ban

6. March 2010 - 0:52
TOKYO -- Japan and the United States keep rubbing each other the wrong way.

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U.S. backs international trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna

4. March 2010 - 6:00
The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it supports prohibiting international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a move that could lead to the most sweeping trade restrictions ever imposed on the highly prized fish.

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Debating the environmental impact of feeding pets

2. March 2010 - 6:00
You're always going on about the environmental impact of the food we eat. What about the food our pets eat? Cats and dogs consume a lot of meat, after all.

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With tax breaks, geothermal system promises deep cuts in heating, cooling costs

2. March 2010 - 6:00
Just before Thanksgiving, my family swore off fossil fuels to heat and cool our 4,400-square-foot suburban home. Instead, we're relying on the Earth itself: We've converted to geothermal energy, which taps the constant temperature of the ground below our house. ¶ The project took us into complete...

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Sensing devices are becoming more adept at detecting toxins and pollutants

2. March 2010 - 6:00
Local boozers were breathing a bit easier yesterday following news reports that an audit by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department found some 80 percent of its "breathalyzer" alcohol monitors may have been giving faulty readings.

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Study: Weedkiller in waterways can change frogs' sex traits

2. March 2010 - 6:00
A new study has found that male frogs exposed to the herbicide atrazine -- one of the most common man-made chemicals found in U.S. waters -- can make a startling developmental U-turn, becoming so completely female that they can mate and lay viable eggs.


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Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason

2. March 2010 - 6:00
Rahm Emanuel is officially a Washington caricature. He's the town's resident leviathan, a bullying, bruising White House chief of staff who is a prime target for the failings of the Obama administration.


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Mars rover makes most of opportunity

2. March 2010 - 6:00
Spirit has always been the unluckier of NASA's twin Mars rovers.


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