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The United States is seeing snow this month. Winter Storm Benjamin even brought rare snow to Florida and southern Texas. But Mount Baker, a ski resort in Washington’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, holds the record for most snow ever in one season: 1140 inches! That’s 95 feet of snow! I need a bigger shovel.
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Ancient dog bones from an archaeological dig in Germany provided new clues about how dogs evolved from wolves. The 5000 to 7000 year-old bones held DNA that suggested dogs were domesticated 30,000 years ago and then migrated around the world. Dogs from India, Ireland and Germany all have common ancestors. Your dog’s great-great times 4000 grandpa was a wolf!
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Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’Apai is Earth’s youngest island, formed by an erupting volcano in the Pacific Ocean in 2014. Scientists thought waves would erode it away in a few months, but now think it may last 30 years. NASA is studying its life cycle to understand volcanic eruptions and oceans of the past on Mars!
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Today is National Cocoa Day! The ancient Mayans first created chocolate drinks 2000 years ago. By the 15th century, cocoa was an important part of Aztec culture in Mexico. Hot chocolate used to be a treatment for stomach ailments. Now hot cocoa is popular all over the world. Drink some today to celebrate!
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Who is smarter, cats or dogs? A small study of animal brains found that dog brains have twice as many neurons as cat brains. Neurons are cells that process information. Brain size did not matter, since a big bear brain still had less neurons. But raccoons had the most neurons! They win!
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Three schools in California have a special after-school activity for special needs students. The Warrior Goat Program teaches the students how to raise goats and show them at fairs. Student Keira Van Patten and six classmates started the program to give special needs kids something fun to do after school besides sports.
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SETI, which stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence, will use its Breakthrough Listen program to study an unusual asteroid. They will use the 100-meter Green Bank Telescope to listen for alien signals from ‘Oumuamua, the cigar-shaped interstellar object spotted crossing our solar system last month. What would you say to an alien?
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Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, begins this evening. The Jewish holiday commemorates an ancient miracle in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. A one-day supply of oil lit a menorah, which is a type of candelabra, for 8 days. Hanukkah is celebrated for 8 days by lighting the menorah to prayers, songs, food, gifts and games.
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Holy guacamole! A giant 5 pound avocado is the biggest on record. Paula Wang was on her morning walk in Hawaii when she found the massive avocado, which is bigger than her head! I hope she is having a party because that will make a LOT of guacamole. I’ll bring the chips!
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A staggering 40% of food in the United States is thrown out! Most states only allow chain restaurants and grocery stores to donate unsold food to a few agencies that fight hunger. The Detroit Food Policy Council is working to change Michigan laws so that all food goes directly to hungry people.
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