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At approximately 808AM CST on Saturday, February 1, the space shuttle Columbia apparently broke up in flight while descending toward a landing in Florida. The orbiter was over Texas at the time, engaging in the terminal phases of shuttle mission STS-107. Video of the sky area where the shuttle was descending shows multiple smoke trails, indicating that the orbiter had disintegrated. NASA has said that there was no indication of trouble from the astronauts.

Columbia was the oldest space shuttle, and also the heaviest. It was considered the best glider, for this reason. It first flew in 1981. It was carrying seven astronauts, including an Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon. Colonel Ramon was conducting experiments with a new camera.
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February 2 is Groundhog Day, when everyone who’s been suffering through an especially cold winter this year hopes he won’t see his shadow and pop down into his hole again, delaying spring weather. We now know that first groundhog will be a male?and we know why he’s sneaking out early, too.
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In the movie “Free Willy,” the whale is played by a 5-ton orca named Keiko. In the film, he escapes captivity and returns to the wild. When millions of children learned that the real Willy was confined to a shallow pool in Mexico, they started a campaign to free him. However, not everyone thinks this is a good idea?including Keiko. “This animal most probably will not be able to survive on its own if it’s not being taken care of by humans,” says whale expert Leif Nottestad.

In 1979, when Keiko was 2 years old, he was trapped off the coast of Iceland and sold to a marine amusement park in Mexico City for $350,000. The studio that made the film hired animal activist Dave Phillips to return Keiko to the wild.
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About a year ago, we received the depressing news that high levels of a chemical found in the foods we love to eat, like potato chips, french fries and bread, raises the risk of getting cancer. Acrylamide is a cancer-causing chemical that forms as a result of a reaction at high temperatures between specific sugars and other chemicals found in food. But now scientists have reversed themselves and say the amount in fried and baked foods is not enough to cause cancer.
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