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Four Researchers Exposed to Radiation at Japanese Lab

Four researchers were exposed to radiation in an accident at a Japanese nuclear physics laboratory this week, officials said Saturday.

The accident occurred on Thursday at a laboratory in Tokaimura, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) said.

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Bad Weather in Western Europe Likely to Continue into June

France's meteorological center said Friday that the winter-like weather that has gripped much of Western Europe was likely to continue into June.

With snow in the plains of Switzerland, record cold in the Netherlands and a distinct lack of sunshine in France and Germany, meteorologists say Western Europe is suffering from "exceptional" weather for this time of year.

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Google Team Captures Galapagos Island Beauty for Maps

Google has followed in the footsteps of Charles Darwin to gather images of the beauty and biological diversity of the Galapagos Islands for the Internet titan's online maps.

A Google Maps team toting 360-degree cameras sticking from backpacks hiked trails, hills, and even into a live volcano to take Street View pictures of the precious environment where Darwin gleaned insights for his theory of evolution.

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U.S. Atlantic Braces for Active Hurricane Season

The United States is gearing up for more Atlantic hurricanes than usual this year, triggered by warmer water temperatures than average, U.S. forecasters said Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center predicted that the six-month Atlantic hurricane season that begins June 1 will see 13 to 20 named storms, seven to 11 hurricanes and three to six major hurricanes, with winds of at least 111 miles (178 kilometers) per hour.

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Slovenian Flyer Lands in France on Return Trip from Arctic

Slovenian adventurer Matevz Lenarcic landed on Thursday in Western France after having overflown the North Pole in an ultra-light plane equipped to measure air pollution.

"Only yesterday (Wednesday) I flew almost 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), no other similar (ultra-light) plane could do this," Lenarcic told Agence France Presse shortly after landing in Saint-Nazaire's airport, western France.

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Ecuador Satellite Hits Soviet-Era Space Junk

A tiny Ecuadoran satellite that collided in space with the remains of a Soviet rocket survived the crash, but was damaged and is not transmitting, Quito's space agency said Thursday.

Ecuador's space agency EXA had warned on Wednesday that a space fender-bender was likely between its "Pegaso" (Pegasus) nanosatellite and the remains of an S14 rocket launched by the Soviet Union into space in 1985, in the midst of the Cold War.

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Cockroaches Can Sense Danger in sugar

Cockroaches will eat anything. Except sugar, that is.

Some of the common pests have evolved to learn how to detect and avoid a certain kind of glucose often used in bait traps, according to research published in the U.S. journal Science on Thursday.

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Russia to Urgently Evacuate Arctic Post as Ice Melts

Russia has ordered the urgent evacuation of the 16-strong crew of a drifting Arctic research station after the ice floe that hosts the floating laboratory began to disintegrate, officials said Thursday.

Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Sergei Donskoi set a three-day deadline to draft a plan to evacuate the North Pole-40 floating research station.

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Science Sinks Teeth into Neanderthal Weaning Habits

Neanderthals may have started weaning their young from seven months of age and transferred them to solid food by just over a year, a fossil tooth study said Wednesday.

This is within the range for modern humans and chimpanzees, a research team wrote in the journal Nature, but may have been later compared to Stone Age Homo sapiens.

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Swiss Take a Step to Unlocking Mystery of Ageing

Swiss researchers said Wednesday that they had taken a step closer to unlocking the mystery of ageing after discovering the impact of a longevity gene in mice and then managing to extend the life-span of worms by 60 percent thanks to a basic antibiotic treatment.

"They were not only living longer, but were also more fit," said Johan Auwerx ion a video released by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), a cutting-edge Swiss research institute.

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