People don't generally picture ducks as having lived alongside dinosaurs. After all, it is widely assumed that birds evolved from dinosaurs over a period of millions of years. But fossils discovered two decades ago reveal clear evidence that they lived at the same time.

Canadian scientists have found a massive dinosaur fossil graveyard in Alberta containing so many bones that it calls into question the standard stories of slow and gradual dinosaur fossil formation. No mere river flood could account for so many casualties. So, the researchers proposed that the cause was something much more violent.

Genes are portions of DNA that contain just the right codes to specify proteins, which make everything in cells work. But how does the cell know which protein should be manufactured, how often, how much, or how fast? If it doesn't get these right, then cellular disaster results.

Science is often portrayed as a pure pursuit of knowledge, with well-trained individuals who are dedicated to the highest standards of intellectual and professional achievement.

In the summer of 2002, record rainfall in the Texas Hill Country overfilled Canyon Lake. Water coursed over the top of its dam and carved huge, steep-walled canyons through the limestone bedrock downstream. The scoured riverbed, now called Canyon Lake Gorge, is over a mile long and has been cordoned off for scientific study.