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Not just for Christmas: Study sheds new light on ancient human-turkey relationship

For the first time, research has uncovered the origins of the earliest domestic turkeys in ancient Mexico.

The study also suggests turkeys weren't only prized for their meat -- with demand for the birds soaring with the Mayans and Aztecs because of their cultural significance in rituals and sacrifices.

In an international collaboration, researchers from the University...

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Why don't turtles still have tail spikes?

We're all familiar with those awesome armored giants of the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods -- Stegosaurus and Ankylosaurus -- and their amazing, weaponized tails. But why aren't similar weaponized tails found in animals living today? In a study covering 300 million years of evolutionary history, researchers from North Carolina State University and the North Carolina...

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New light on the mysterious origin of Bornean elephants

How did Borneo get its elephant? This could be just another of Rudyard Kipling's just so stories. The Bornean elephant is a subspecies of Asian Elephants that only exist in a small region of Borneo. Their presence on this southeastern Asian island has been a mystery. Now, in a study published in Scientific Reports, a...

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Are amoebae safe harbors for plague?

Amoebae, single-celled organisms common in soil, water and grade-school science classrooms, may play a key role in the survival and spread of deadly plague bacteria.

New Colorado State University research shows that plague bacteria, Yersinia pestis, not only survive, but thrive and replicate once ingested by an amoeba. The discovery could help scientists understand why plague...

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