Hagfish-slime clothes could be new fashion statement

Hagfish? More like "hagfashion!"(Credit:University of Guelph)Welcome to the library. Would you rather read the book "50 Shades of Grey" or the article "The production of fibers and films from solubilized hagfish slime thread proteins?" Good choice! Here's your hagfish reading.For defensive purposes, hagfish produce a slime full of protein threads. Draw it out into a thread, and you have the potential...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Royal Hoax: DJs 'Shattered' After Nurse's Suicide

The two Australian radio DJs who prank-called the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated last week said they were "shattered" and "gutted" after the nurse who answered their call apparently killed herself.Shock jocks Mel Greig, 30, and Michael Christian, 25, cried as they spoke to Australia's Channel 9 overnight in their first public interview since Jacintha...

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Female lemurs avoid the wrong love in the dark

IT IS the ultimate voice-recognition system. Without ever meeting him, a female lemur still knows the call of her father. The ability to identify family members is important to avoid inbreeding. For large-brained mammals like apes that engage in complex...

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Nobel-winners vow Europe will emerge stronger from crisis

OSLO: The three European Union leaders in Norway to collect the Nobel peace prize moved Sunday to defuse criticism of the 2012 award, vowing the crisis-hit bloc would emerge strong and remain on a course of peace."Europe is going through a difficult period," EU president Herman Van Rompuy told a packed news conference on the eve of the awards ceremony."We are working hard, jointly as a...

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John McAfee feeling better, fights to stay in Guatemala

John McAfee(Credit:Personal photo)Antivirus-software pioneer John McAfee, who is facing deportation from Guatemala to Belize in connection with a murder, is feeling better after suffering chest pains earlier this week and has filed three appeals in an effort to stay in the country.McAfee, whose request for political asylum has already been rejected by the Guatemalan government, filed an appeal of...

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Plants Grow Fine Without Gravity

When researchers sent plants to the International Space Station in 2010, the flora wasn't meant to be decorative. Instead, the seeds of these small, white flowers—called Arabidopsis thaliana—were the subject of an experiment to study how plant roots developed in a weightless environment.Gravity is an important influence on root growth, but the scientists found that their space plants didn't...

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Cowboys Players Were Like 'Brothers'

Dallas Cowboys players Joshua Price-Brent and Jerry Brown Jr., had a brotherly bond that began when they were teammates at the University of Illinois and carried on when they were both signed, in different years, to the NFL franchise.But in an instant, the lives of the young, successful men who were living out their NFL dreams were altered.Irving police suspect Price-Brent,...

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Kenyan elephant numbers plummet by 1000 in four years

IT'S a case of up then down for Kenya's second largest population of elephants. After a promising growth spurt, the elephants are now dying faster than they are being born. The decline is being blamed on illegal poaching, driven by Asia's demand for ivory. ...

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Football: Comfortable Bayern cruise as Dortmund slip

BERLIN: Bayern Munich moved a step closer to the Bundesliga title on Saturday as they beat Augsburg 2-0 and extended their lead over two-time reigning champions Borussia Dortmund to 14 points.Thomas Mueller and Mario Gomez scored in Bayern's victory while 10-man Dortmund lost 3-2 at home against Wolfsburg. Munich jumped onto 41 points while Dortmund remained on 27 points one game day before...

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