Science

Can you guess which eyes belong to what animal? Top row, from left: cuttlefish, lion, goat. Bottom row, from left: domestic cat, horse, gecko.

Eye Shapes Of The Animal World Hint At Differences In Our Lifestyles

1:52pm August 12, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Tigers have round pupils, but domestic cats have vertical slits in the center of their eyes. What gives? A census of the shapes of animals' pupils suggests size and way of life each play a big role.

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Whistleblower Says Medicare Advantage Plans Padded Charges In Home Visits

1:15pm August 12, 2015

by Fred Schulte

Medicare Advantage health plans are privately run, but reimbursed by Medicare. A Texas lawsuit claims that, to inflate charges, 30 Advantage plans in 15 states exaggerated how sick patients were.

Coloradans Raise Environmental Concerns Of Proposed Reservoir Projects

12:04pm August 12, 2015

by Grace Hood

Colorado will need more water to supply the state's fast-increasing population. So two large reservoir projects have been proposed, but some Coloradans worry about the dams' possible ecological harm.

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Colorado Businesses Struggle As Toxic Waste Flows Through Animas River

12:04pm August 12, 2015

NPR's Melissa Block speaks to Roger Zalneraitis, executive director of the La Plata County Economic Development Alliance, on plans to aid small business owners after the toxic waste spill.

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Science

Archeologist Believes He's Found Egyptian Queen Nefertiti's Tomb

8:02am August 12, 2015

Nicholas Reeves, a residential scholar at the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona, tells Renee Montagne his hypothesis is based on studying laser scans of King Tutankhamun's tomb.

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A clampdown on contamination in growing fields has pushed out wildlife and destroyed habitats.

Don't Fear The Wild Animals, Researchers Tell Salad-Makers

7:57am August 12, 2015

by Dan Charles

According to new research, vegetable farmers who clear away trees and wild vegetation from their fields aren't making their produce any safer to eat. But they are destroying animal habitats.

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Science

Before Humans Showed Up, Huge Animals Were The Norm

7:57am August 12, 2015

by Adam Cole

In Earth's history, there have been some incredibly large animals that look sort of like animals we have today, just a lot bigger. In North America, there was a sloth that was the size of an elephant.

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Josephoartigasia was a cow-size rodent that lived 3 million years ago.

Science

12 Ancient Giants: An Ode To The Enormous And Extinct

5:03am August 12, 2015

by Adam Cole

A dragonfly with a 2-foot wingspan? A sloth the size of an elephant? Skunk Bear's latest video introduces the enormous, ancient relatives of modern animals — all in rhyming verse. Of course.

EPA Evaluates Impact Of Wastewater Spill In Colorado

2:28pm August 11, 2015

by Grace Hood

An estimated 3 million gallons of orange fluid that spilled from the Gold King Mine in Colorado has traveled from the Animas River in Colorado to the San Juan River in New Mexico.

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As it monitored the wastewater blowout that began Wednesday, the EPA took this photo of a sampling point near the source outside Silverton, Colo., on Sunday.

Rivers Shut Down Over EPA's Spill Of 3 Million Gallons Of Toxic Water

2:14pm August 11, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Water samples taken after the spill showed lead concentrations that were 3,500 times the levels normally seen in Durango, Colo.