Guest Thinkers — November 5, 2009

Bald Bears

Female bears at a zoo in Leipzig have baffled vets by getting collective alopecia.

A bear which wears spectacles has baffled vets by going bald. The normally hirsute Dolores, who lives in a zoo in Leipzig, has been left with just a few tufts of fur around her head and now resembles an oversized rat. “And Dolores isn’t the only one. The sudden hair loss has affected all female bears at the zoo. Some experts believe it could be due to a genetic defect though the animals do not seem to be suffering from any other affliction. The bears, which originate from South America, normally have fluffy dark brown fur and would now be growing a thicker fur coat to keep warm during the winter. But instead they have developed nasty rashes and inflammations on their skin. Unfortunately for the bears, their lack of hair has been pulling in the crowds who want to see want to see the wrinkly animals,” reports The Daily Mail.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

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The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

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If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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