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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Paleontology

    New fossils threaten an extinction theory

    Recent discoveries of long-dead marine invertebrates call into question the occurrence of a catastrophic global extinction during the Late Devonian period, between 385 and 375 million years ago.

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  2. Animals

    She-male garter snakes: Some like it hot

    Male garter snakes that emerge from hibernation and attract a mob of deluded male suitors may just be looking for safety in numbers and body heat.

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  3. Animals

    Finches figure out solo how to use tools

    The woodpecker finches of the Galápagos, textbook examples of birds that use tools, pick up their considerable skills without copying each other.

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  4. Animals

    Magnetic field tells nightingales to binge

    Young birds that have never migrated before may take a cue from the magnetic field to fatten up before trying to fly over the Sahara.

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  5. Paleontology

    Fossils Indicate. . .Wow, What a Croc!

    Newly discovered fossils of an ancient cousin of modern crocodiles suggest that adults of the species may have been dinosaur-munching behemoths that grew to the length of a school bus and weighed as much as 8 metric tons.

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  6. Plants

    Torn to Ribbons in the Desert

    Botanists puzzle over one of Earth's oddest plants: the remarkably scraggly Welwitschia of southwestern Africa.

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  7. Paleontology

    Even flossing wouldn’t have helped

    Small particles trapped in minuscule cracks or pits in the teeth of plant-eating dinosaurs could give scientists a way to identify the types of greenery the ancient herbivores were munching.

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  8. Paleontology

    CT scan unscrambles rare, ancient egg

    A tangled heap of bones and bone fragments in the bottom of an unhatched elephant bird egg may soon be reassembled into a model of the long-dead embryo, thanks to high technology—and scientists won't even have to crack open the egg to do it.

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  9. Paleontology

    How did Triceratops grow its horns?

    Newly discovered fossil skulls of juvenile Triceratops may help reveal how the dinosaurs grew their three trademark horns.

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  10. Paleontology

    Fossils found under tons of Kitty Litter

    Excavations at North America's largest Kitter Litter mine have yielded fossils of ancient aquatic reptiles, as well as evidence of a tsunami generated by the extraterrestrial impact that killed off the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

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  11. Paleontology

    Lemurs reveal clues to ancient Asian roots

    A diminutive lemur species inhabited what is now central Pakistan about 30 million years ago, a new fossil find suggests.

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  12. Ecosystems

    Another World Hides inside Coral Reefs

    The first systematic survey of crevices inside Red Sea reefs reveals abundant filter feeders that may capture significant nutrients for the reef.

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