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Detroit Auto Show: The excitement's back

The North American International Auto Show is re-energized, and here are some of the high-voltage highlights.




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The Detroit Car Show's fashionable side

The ensembles for auto show employees are designed to work with car companies' brand image, sometimes with hilarious results.



  • Arts & Culture

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Detroit Auto Show: BMW's hybrids combine muscle and mileage

BMW is fielding an all-new 3-Series, and with it an ActiveHybrid 3 that offers both zero to 60 in 5.6 seconds and about 37 mpg. Up a notch, there's the ActiveHy




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AT&T deploys 5,000th alternative fuel vehicle

AT&T is now one-third of the way through its 15,000 alternative fuel vehicle goal.




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Want a smart grid? Maybe you can win one on 'The Price Is Right'

As California's new Advanced Clean Cars rules push electric vehicles one step closer to the mass market, could the smart grid be the sequel to 'California emiss



  • Research & Innovations

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65% of hybrid owners don't buy another hybrid

New data from R.L. Polk reveals that only 35% of hybrid owners bought another hybrid last year.




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Driving Ford's snazzy new C-Max Hybrid

A bit of a chameleon, this new $25,995 car offers good looks, stellar utility and 47 mpg in the city or on the highway. If you try it, you'll like it.




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The next NSX: Honda's top-secret braintrust in Ohio

The high-performance NSX from Acura will be a platform for hybrid technology and lightweighting.




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For Europe's new plug-in hybrids, price matters (a lot)

Audi and Volvo will roll out luxury electric cars in the U.S. market early next year.




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Meet Audi's 'no-compromises' plug-in hybrid

It's the company's first foray into electrics — a sporty hatchback A3 — and it's coming to the U.S. early next year.




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Why Honda's hybrid strategy is all wrong

How about bringing the Concept B, a very cool 5-door hybrid, to the U.S.? Sorry, only for China. That aggravating truth plays out again and again.




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Toyota's 2016 Prius puts on a show in Vegas

55 mpg would be great, but an Eco model would be even better.




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6 DIY cat trees to enrich your kitty's life

Commercially made cat trees can cost hundreds of dollars, but you can save money and make your kitty happy with DIY feline furniture.




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Organic meets digital in 'Bit Flowers'

For Japanese artist Baku Maeda, honoring the natural world means whipping out some scissors and cutting plants up into pixel-like square bits.



  • Arts & Culture

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7 'purrfect' DIY solutions to hide the litter box

If you have an indoor cat, you have a litter box. Finding a good place to keep the box is tricky, especially if you live in a small place. Here are some ideas.




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'The Coffin Club' faces death with a song

New Zealand filmmaker showcases free-spirited seniors embracing death by building and decorating their own coffins.



  • Arts & Culture

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Instant Pot wine creator dubbed a 'god amongst mortals'

A toast to the guy who turned supermarket grape juice into wine and won the Internet.




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Don't let the name Unicorn Spit fool you

The name Unicorn Spit isn't classy, but in the right hands the gel paint can turn furniture and cabinets into sophisticated works of art.




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Homemade sunscreen won't protect your skin

With DIY sunscreen recipes, you have no idea if you'll be protected from the sun's harmful rays.



  • Fitness & Well-Being

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Why we can't run from 'forever chemicals'

Toxic compounds called PFAS have been linked to cancer and immune problems, and they may also make it tougher to keep off weight.



  • Fitness & Well-Being

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NASA's 'Mars Helicopter' aces tests ahead of historic flight

The autonomous aircraft Mars Helicopter heralds the beginning of a new era in our exploration of the red planet.




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NASA spacecraft to map and sample asteroid that's heading our way

As part of its mission to analyze Bennu, OSIRIS-REx has set a new record for closest orbit of a planetary body by a spacecraft.




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What is a 'black moon'?

Gather your friends, look up into the sky, and get ready to witness absolutely nothing.




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Starman's Tesla completes orbit around the sun

Elon Musk's cherry red Tesla Roadster, which was shot into space aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket, is currently on cruise control at a leisurely 34,000 mph.




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How to watch this year's Taurid meteor shower

Annual celestial event often produces large bright fireballs that scorch the night sky.




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Japan's historic asteroid space probe is heading back to Earth

After landing rovers and its spacecraft on the surface of asteroid Ryugu, JAXA is returning with a sample.




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The McFarthest spot from McDonald's

One scientist found the farthest spot from a McDonald's restaurant in the U.S. -- and went there, eating McDonald's fare all the way.



  • Arts & Culture

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Will Christo's art installation harm wildlife or help Colorado?

'Over the River' would suspend silver fabric over miles of Arkansas River.



  • Arts & Culture

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The power of an image: The story behind 'HOPE?'

At the Cancun climate talks, one art installation dominated the headlines at a turning point in history.



  • Research & Innovations

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Researchers may have found world's oldest optical illusion

Experts of Paleolithic art in France say some cave drawings have a reoccurring theme.



  • Arts & Culture

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18 of the world's most stunning treehouses

Here’s a look at 18 of the world’s most stunning treehouses and the unique stories behind them.



  • Remodeling & Design

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Fantasy island: Lake Superior's eco artist residency

A young New Yorker buys, via Craigslist, an uninhabited 91-acre island in Lake Superior with plans to create a small, sustainable artist residency while keeping



  • Arts & Culture

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MNN week in review: Foraged cocktails, Bear Grylls' eating habits and more

A compilation of the best original stories from Mother Nature Network for the week, including Bear Grylls' eating habits, a webcam of Mount Everest and much mor




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Keri Rosebraugh's eco-art tackles themes of destruction, reuse

This talented illustrator used recycled materials to draw attention to what is thrown away.



  • Arts & Culture

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Christo's $50 million 'Over the River' art project approved

The controversial installation will cover sections of the Arkansas River with miles of silver fabric.



  • Arts & Culture

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Environmental artist Kristin Jones' newest project is Manhattan's elms

Some of NYC's oldest trees will get the appreciation they deserve with some creative lighting, poetry and more.



  • Arts & Culture

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Lawsuit takes aim at Christo's 'Over the River' project

Twenty years after artist Christo and his late wife announced plans to drape the Arkansas River in Colorado with 5.9 miles of fabric, the project has hit one mo



  • Arts & Culture

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9 nests that aren't for the birds

These human nests are biomimicry at its best, built the way birds do with cozy comfort in mind.



  • Remodeling & Design

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Kulning: The haunting, beautiful Swedish herding call that's also a song

It sounds totally familiar, yet completely new.



  • Arts & Culture

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Seattle's hidden street art is only revealed after a good soaking rain

Rainworks latest rain-activated installation makes waiting for the bus a touch less tedious.



  • Arts & Culture

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Harvard vault protects the world's rarest colors

Custom colors haven't always been as easy to come by as they are today. In the past they came from insects, mummies and heavy metals around the world.



  • Arts & Culture

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See animals and the environment through a surrealist's eyes

Artist Amy Guidry uses dreamlike and unusual images to make a statement about the relationship between humans and the world.



  • Arts & Culture

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This 'Secret Garden' is made entirely from denim

Artist Ian Berry's creation is made from the most familiar of materials.



  • Arts & Culture

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How early humans created the paintings found in France's Chauvet cave

The Chauvet paintings in France are a study in humanity's connection to animals, the earth, and each other over time.



  • Arts & Culture

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How one man's mission to save an island created an inspiring retreat for artists

Rabbit Island residency programs encourage artists to incorporate conservation, ecology and sustainability into their work.



  • Arts & Culture

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Why won't GM innovate?

Well, after months of hard work with the best advisors money can buy, Ford & GM announced a bold strategy to revive their ailing industry — more government lo



  • Research & Innovations

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Why physicists hate calling Higgs boson the 'God particle'

Physicists love the Higgs boson, but they hate the God particle. The elusive Higgs particle, which scientists at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accele



  • Research & Innovations

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Higgs boson: 5 implications of the elusive particle's possible discovery

Physicists at the world's largest atom smasher announced on July 4 that they are more than 99 percent sure they've found a new, and heavy, boson particle, that



  • Research & Innovations

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What's your sleep IQ?

Are you a mastermind when it comes to slumber? Test your sleep smarts here.



  • Fitness & Well-Being

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10 things you didn't know about Nelson Mandela

He may be one of the most famous men who ever lived, but there's plenty to learn about Nelson Mandela.