MIGUEL LLANOS

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Baby gorilla on black market for $40,000 is saved

The black market for baby gorillas is growing, officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo said Tuesday, after a fourth incident this year led to the arrest of alleged poachers trying to sell one infant for $40,000.

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Google own the sun? No, just the solar panels

Coming soon to a home near you: Solar panels owned by Google. That's right, the software giant announced Tuesday that it's investing $75 million to get more homeowners hooked up to the sun for their electricity.

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Crime in decline, but why? Low inflation cited

With high unemployment and police departments hit by budget cuts you'd expect more crime, right?

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Bigger jellyfish inheriting the ocean, study finds

Will jellyfish inherit the Earth, or at least the oceans?

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'Big Brother' on roads? Nope, just 'weather boxes'

If you're rolling down the highway and see a big rig with a camera-like device attached to the cab, fear no evil: it's not Big Brother, but a mobile weather station.

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700 water main breaks in Houston — a day

It's not just hot and dry in Houston, the city's also losing water at an alarming rate due to water main breaks — 700 a day, the mayor said Tuesday.

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Tool forecasts heat waves 40 days out

OK, so you might not want to know 40 days in advance if a heat wave, or cold snap, is coming — especially if you're going to be stuck in it. But knowing there's a good chance of that happening is worth lots to energy companies, governments and even investors.

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2011 already costliest year for natural disasters

Natural disasters across the globe have made 2011 the costliest on record in terms of property damage, and that's just six months in, according to a report released Tuesday by a leading insurer that tracks disasters.

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Disasters lead to search for 'Safest City, USA'

During a spring of disasters — tornadoes, flooding, wildfires and drought across the U.S. (not to mention Japan's quake/tsunami) — you might have asked yourself: Is there any place that's safe?

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Active alligators make for unease in Florida

It's moving and mating season for Florida's estimated 1.3 million alligators, and experts are warning locals as well as tourists to stay out of the way.

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Cajuns to blame for flood misery? Not so fast

They deserve this for living in a floodplain. That's the easy response to the evacuations of thousands as Louisiana's Cajun country becomes an outlet for Mississippi River waters that would otherwise swamp New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

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Why twister outbreak? La Nina eyed as key factor

The experts are still assessing just how many twisters tore across the South on Wednesday, but already the outbreak is being described as "historic" and possibly greater than the biggest one on record.

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'Tase-and-release' of wildlife banned in Alaska

You never know what fool will pick up a stun gun and decide to "Tase-and-release" a wild animal with it. That's why Alaska decided to act before the scenario unfolded: Starting July 1 it will be illegal to do just that.

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New fate for old aircraft carriers — not as reefs

It's a heave-ho, U.S. Navy style. After several years during which turning old warships into artificial reefs was fashionable, four decommissioned aircraft carriers will instead be dismantled, and recycled, at shipyards.

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Arctic 'pool' could alter Atlantic, weather

A swirling pool of icy Arctic meltwater has the potential to flush quickly into the Atlantic Ocean and alter weather in Northern Europe, climate scientists reported Tuesday.

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'Squishy' ice alters climate models, study says

Knowing how the massive ice sheets atop Antarctica and Greenland work is key to predicting how global warming could raise sea levels and flood coastal cities. But a new study upends what scientists thought they knew. It turns out it’s not just ancient snow that makes up the ice sheets, but water deep under the sheets also thaws and refreezes over time.

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Permafrost in name only — thaw adds to warming

The permafrost capping the top of the world is irreversibly thawing and within two decades will release more carbon than it now absorbs, scientists calculate in a new study that makes this dire prediction: Up to 60 percent of Earth's permafrost will have thawed out by 2200.

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Illegal 'zoo' in 3 suitcases gets man arrested

The attempt to smuggle more than 200 live animals — snakes, tortoises, squirrels, spiders, lizards and even a parrot — inside three suitcases was bold, but also dumb.

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EPA under fire — if only 'E' stood for jobs

In the new political order of Washington, D.C. — with Republicans running the House — the Environmental Protection Agency has become a punching bag.

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Cow guts and energy: Seeking biofuel's holy grail

It may not be glamorous, but the holy grail for efficient biofuels — the kind that don't compete with our food supply — could end up being found inside the guts of cows.

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Arctic refuge oil is back as battleground

Politicians, environmentalists and oil executives: Man your battle stations! The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), the pre-eminent environment-energy issue during the George W. Bush administration, is back.

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Move over, feds, as locals try stimulus too

ELKHART, Ind. - In hard-hit Elkhart, Ind., there are glimmers of economic hope as some recreational vehicle makers and other companies have begun hiring again after a long downturn.

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Ice addict aims for poles, Everest in one year

So here's the challenge: be the first person to ever trek to the South Pole, North Pole and top of Mount Everest in one year. It's not so much the "first-ever" label that Eric Larsen is after, but attention for his favorite cause: saving the ice.

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Willing to give up blue skies for climate fix?

We can probably engineer Earth's climate to cool the planet, scientists say, but are we willing to live with the downsides? Those could include creating more droughts, more ozone holes and, oh yeah, a thin cloud layer that obscures blue skies and gives astronomers fits.

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Hope vs. hype: Chasing after ‘green’ jobs

ELKHART, Ind. - In the empty factories and laid-off workers in this struggling section of the Rust Belt, entrepreneur Wil Cashen sees "unimaginable potential.”

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