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14 Great Names for Bugs

Scientists have a sense of humor just like the rest of us. The difference is that a scientist's jokes are sometimes enshrined in the body of knowledge for eternity, or close to it. One of the ways they do this is naming things that previously had no name, like insect species. A little leeway in Latin goes a long way when classifying insects, because there are way more insect species than there are existing words in lost languages. That's when things can get interesting. Meet some bugs with names that make... READ ON

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The 2012 Olympic Torch Relay

Less than a month to go before the opening of the London Olympics, and we are halfway through the 70-day Olympic Torch Relay that takes the Olympic Flame through all four countries of the United Kingdom. The route covers 8,000 miles and involves 8,000 relay... READ ON

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10 Envy-inducing Video Game Bathrooms

The stereotype of the serious video gamer living in his parent's basement, sitting in the dark covered in Cheeto dust only covers a small portion of gamers. Many have grown up with video games and eventually bought their own homes. Owning a home means you can surround yourself with decor that reminds you of your favorite things. However, there are also spouses who will veto your wildest ideas. But many will compromise and the bathroom is a good, mostly private place to let your imagination run wild.... READ ON

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A Day Trip to Chicago

What do you do with only one day in Chicago? My family recently went there for a biannual reunion that I explained in a similar post a few years ago. Since then, the families have grown by one husband (mine) and five stepchildren (although only the youngest goes to the reunions). With only one full day that all six families would be in town, we decided to start with a trip to the Field Museum. Our party of 21 people hiked about a mile to the train station and rode an hour into the city. The Field... READ ON

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14 of Your Dog's Wild Relatives

All the domestic breeds of dogs that we are familiar with, from chihuahuas to pit bulls, are the same species: Canis lupus familiaris. In fact, our dogs are a subspecies of Canis lupus, or wolf. Your dog could interbreed with most wolves -if you weren't a responsible pet owner who spayed or neutered your dog. Photograph by Flickr user Fatemeh. Dogs belong to the taxonomic family Canidae (canines) which is divided into two tribes: those related to wolves (Canini) and those related to foxes (Vulpini). A... READ ON

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14 Classic Distractions for the Internet Newcomer

Every once in a while, I run across an old article, video, or link of some kind and think, "Oh yeah, that was awesome! Too bad it's so old," because my job is to post the newest and hottest links every day. If I post something more than a couple of months old, I'll get complaints. However, it's not really old to someone who hasn't seen it. After all, there are young folks who only use the internet for Facebook and Wikipedia, and more older folks are going online for the first time every day. I put some of... READ ON

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10 Robots with Very Specific Tasks

What do we want robots to do for us? The field of robotics is making great leaps in robot abilities, but these abilities come one at a time. We won't have Rosie from The Jetsons until the various specific tasks are combined into one machine. When that happens, they will take over. But until then, you'll have to choose the purpose of your robot, and hope it can do that specific task well. Here are some of the most recently-unveiled robots and what they can do. 1. Salon Robot Shampoos... READ ON

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18 Fabulous Photos of Famous Flappers

This post was planned long ago as a followup to The Rise of the Flapper, which looked at some of the reasons for the iconic lifestyle many young women adopted in the 1920s. Some famous flappers were role models, either in real life or in the movies or other entertainment venues, and others only became famous later, but all looked wonderful in photographs of the... READ ON

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7 Stories of People Who Refused to be Limited (in 2012)

Is it just me, or are there more and more global news stories about disabled people accomplishing feats that would be quite newsworthy for able-bodied people? I believe it is happening more and more, as modern attitudes about those who've had physical setbacks change to reflect reality. People termed "disabled" have always had the will to accomplish what others thought impossible, but now the people around them are seeing the possibilities more and more. And we can't discount the effects of instant news... READ ON

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9 Delightful Library Cats

Libraries are quiet places visited by children and literary-minded people and sometimes the occasional mouse. That makes them wonderful places for cats to hang out. Many libraries have resident cats that become quite the local characters -and sometimes even famous! We posted about some of them before; now here are nine more library cats. 1.... READ ON