The $9 billion, 1,000-ft. (305 m) Amazonian Tall Tower Observatory—now the tallest structure in South America—recently entered the final stages of construction. It will be inaugurated in August and fully operational by 2017. Here’s what Brazil and Germany, which co-funded the project, are hoping it will accomplish: Gather data The tower’s height and state-of-the- art instruments will enable scientists to […]
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25%: Share of the world’s population that the U.S. is legally bound to defend thanks to pacts and treaties signed with over 60 countries, according to a report from the Harvard Belfer Center.
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A Florida man has been arrested and convicted of running a prostitution ring, thanks to the honesty of his 7-year-old son. Robert Burton, 34, was pulled over during a traffic stop while driving with his son and two unnamed women. When police asked who the women were, the boy replied, “Those are my daddy’s hos.” Burton last week was sentenced […]
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Estimated number of people held in forced labor worldwide: 21,000,000 Portion who are 18 or younger: 1/4
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Heat and acidity are also bad for coral reefs, which have declined by 40% in some areas since the 1970s. Coral organisms reproduce just once a year, making it hard for reefs to bounce back.
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The world’s most pierced man has been refused entry to Dubai over fears that he might be an evil sorcerer. Rolf Buchholz, who has 453 piercings on his face and body as well as fake horns implanted in his forehead, had just arrived in the conservative Islamic country to perform in a show when airport authorities detained him, saying they […]
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Boston police found a scribbled checklist on suspected burglar Evan Dorsey that included such goals as “find crystal meth,” “sell drugs,” “rob a dealer,” and “do one altruistic thing for a stranger.”
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A high school football team of deaf players in Fremont, Calif., has won a league title for the first time. The Eagles of the California School for the Deaf, already national champions among schools for the deaf, won the regular North Central ll/Bay League title with a 10-2 season. Despite fielding a squad without a single player over 200 pounds, […]
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Save the Children ranked 72 developing countries by the strength of their health systems and found that many fell below the nations worst hit by Ebola. Here are the five most vulnerable: 1 – Somalia 2 – Chad 3 – Nigeria 4 – Afghanistan 5 – Haiti
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California firefighters spent two hours extracting a naked woman from a chimney after she tried to sneak into her ex-boyfriend’s home at 5 a.m. The 35-year-old took off her clothes in the hope it would help her fit down the 1-foot-wide chimney. But halfway down, she became wedged and called the ex on her cellphone. “I said, ‘Where are you […]
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