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At last, the field of genomics has something to offer Cheech and Chong. DNA sequencing hit a new high last night with the midnight release of the Cannabis sativa genome.

Robots often serve as first responders during mine collapses. A robot can fit into tight spaces, it’s not slowed by noxious fumes and it's expendable if there's another cave-in

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fast-melting Arctic sea ice appears to be pushing walruses to haul themselves out onto land, and many are moving around the area where oil leases have been sold, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. [More]

At their most fundamental level, brains are made up of neurons. [More]

Most of the people who moved to London, New York City, Chicago, Berlin and other big cities during the 19th century traded away their health to make better wages. Crowding, unsafe drinking water, bad sanitation, harsh working conditions and industrial pollution made them sicker than their cousins back home in the countryside and shortened their life spans. But starting in the middle decades of the 1800s, government reforms and urban leaders began turning the health of these cities around by investing in water, sanitation, waste removal, education and more.

On a civic scale, health brings wealth. And no society can be healthy without the proper disposal of human waste

In the media this week were reports (see here and here and here) that the brain-eating amoeba Naeglaria fowleri has killed three people this summer, as it does in a typical year. [More]

When a healthy rat smells a cat, it flees. But rats infected with the Toxoplasma brain parasite actually follow cat odors, often presumably to their doom, red in tooth and claw.

At their extremes, both autism and schizophrenia are debilitating disorders. [More]

By Jo Marchant of Nature magazine Hyenas can count up to three. [More]

Many species have developed deceptive appearances to fool would-be predators by taking on the look of other unpalatable species. [More]

When we were discussing the `cities' theme that's running across all the blogs I didn't want to take the easy route. [More]

The city is a solution to the problems of our age, and this week, we present it in the true urban spirit: best ideas forward [More]

Fittest Cities [More]

* Britain warns famine might kill 400,000 children * Britain is expected to pledge extra cash to fight drought [More]