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    Study Suggests Link Between Air Pollution, Alzheimer's

    Air pollution has been linked to strokes, heart attacks, autism, and raised blood pressure. Now, scientists say it might also be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease. While scientists reported seeing small, crystal-shaped magnetite particles, which appear naturally in human brains, there were 100 times more magnetite particles “from combustion sources, such as car exhausts, industrial processes and power stations,” study author Barbara Maher tells the Guardian.

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    College Dig Could Crack 20-Year-Old Cold Case

    The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI have renewed a search for the remains of Kristin Smart at sites on the Cal Poly campus. Police in San Luis Obispo, Calif., are following the “most promising lead we’ve had in years” in the hopes of finding some trace of a California Polytechnic State University freshman who vanished 20 years ago. Without elaborating, police say evidence “strongly suggests” Kristin Smart may be buried at one of the sites, per the San Luis Obispo Tribun

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    Teen's Plan to Die Runs Into Opposition

    Jerika Bolen made it very clear earlier this year that she was going to attend her prom, spend a final summer with her mom, and then end her life. “A child doesn’t have the capacity to make those types of decisions, and under the eyes of the law, this is a child,” says Carrie Ann Lucas, director of one of the four advocacy groups asking county and state child protection officials to intervene in Jerika’s case.

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    Bitter, Sour, Sweet, Salty, Umami, and ... Starchy? Scientists Discover 6th Taste

    Is “starchy” a taste? (Image via AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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    First Scientists Made Rats Hit the Bottle. Then They Flipped a Switch

    “We can completely reverse alcohol dependence by targeting a network of neurons,” says lead scientist Olivier George in a statement on the study, published in the Journal of Neuroscience. The research built upon previous studies indicating a specific set of brain cells in the amygdala become activated when a person drinks to excess. For the study, scientists at the Scripps Research Institute deactivated those brain cells—and the rats ceased their heavy drinking for the entire length of the stu

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    Couple Waits 9 Years to Open Wedding Gift

    Kathy and Brandon Gunn’s best wedding gift was a box with a note that read, ‘Do Not Open Until Your 1st Disagreement.’ (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

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    Cops: 70-Year-Old Robs Bank to Get Out of Living With Wife

    Lawrence Ripple is seen in an undated photo provided by the Wyandotte County Detention Center. Police say Lawrence John Ripple walked into Kansas City’s Bank of Labor and gave the teller a note reading, “I have a gun, give me money.” But after getting almost $3,000 from the teller, police say, Ripple sat down in the bank lobby and told a bank security guard, “I’m the guy you’re looking for.” The guard took the money and held Ripple there until police arrived. Ripple was charged with bank robbe