Fetal Cells Can Persist in Mothers for Decades After Pregnancy
Fetal microchimerism is the long-term presence of a small number of fetal cells or fetal DNA in a mother after…
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Short-beaked Echidnas Use a Four-headed Penis as a Two-at-a-time Sperm Delivery System
The short-beaked echidna penis has four rosette-like heads, but only two appear to function at once during mating, acting less…
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Fish Usually Can’t Breathe Out of Water Because Their Gills Collapse in Air
Fish usually can’t breathe out of water because their gills are built to extract dissolved oxygen from water, and in…
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Direct Collapse Forms Massive Black Hole Seeds From Pristine Gas
Direct collapse to a black hole is a formation pathway in which a pristine gas cloud avoids breaking into normal…
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Earth Would Start Freezing Within Days If the Sun Vanished, but the Oceans Would Take Far Longer
Earth would go dark after about 8 minutes 20 seconds, and the surface would fall below freezing within days, not…
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Batesian Mimicry Hawk Moth Caterpillar Works Best When Large
Hawk moth caterpillars use Batesian mimicry by briefly turning themselves into a fake snake display: they inflate the front of…
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White Orcas Are Real, but Not All Are Albino
White orcas are real, but most white killer whales are not confirmed albinos. The key distinction is that albinism means…
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Times Beach Was Abandoned After Dioxin Contamination Made the Town Unsafe
Times Beach, Missouri, is a former town about 17 miles southwest of St. Louis that was abandoned after its roads…
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Galactic Plane Measurements Put the Milky Way Disk at 1,000 Light-Years Thick
The Milky Way’s thin disk is about 700 to 1,000 light-years thick, while its thick disk is about 3,000 light-years…
