The rock found in Morocco was even weirder than it looked. The olive green chunk, speckled with white and brown, has chemical and physical properties similar to the planet Mercury. But some experts doubt that the 4.56-billion-year-old meteorite is from the planet closest to our sun.

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An obscure tax provision crafted for drug dealers is giving state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries a headache. Federal income tax rates for dispensaries in Colorado can soar to 70 percent because businesses can’t claim certain deductions. It’s a policy the industry is trying to change.

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Building huge turbine farms too close together might significantly reduce their power, some atmospheric scientists say. The problem is “wind shadow” — the turbulence created by one big cluster of turbines that steals wind from another cluster down the road.

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Pentagon officials say they’re opening ground combat jobs to women as a matter of equality. But the military also needs them because the number of military-age men who qualify for service is declining.

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Some Colorado doctors who’ve treated victims of recent mass shootings and everyday gun violence say they’re deeply disturbed by and opposed to guns. But other doctors don’t support the new gun restrictions lawmakers are talking about in Denver and Washington, D.C.

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Wyoming has the highest suicide rate in the U.S., and two thirds of the state’s suicides are by firearm. Like much of the West, Wyoming’s gun ownership rates are high, and gun culture is strong. The state’s relationship with guns has made suicide prevention efforts tough, but that may be changing.

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What if a gun could only be fired by its rightful owner? What if it recognized a grip or fingerprint, or communicated with a special ring? It’s been a fantasy for years, and in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, so-called smart gun technology is back in the spotlight.

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But it’s likely that the Higgs Boson, a subatomic particle thought to give everything its mass, will be known by the moniker for a long time, Dick Teresi explained.

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U.S. and other NATO troops are spending less time fighting the Taliban and more time making local Afghan governments self-sufficient. It’s a slow process.

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The Department of Veterans Affairs doesn’t track how many free gun locks it gives out or whether they’re even effective. Rather, the devices are viewed as a stalling technique in the event a veteran picks up a gun in a moment of crisis.

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Early March is when Yosemite National Park officials would normally be gearing up for the busy tourist season. Instead, they’re figuring out how to cut $1.5 million from their budget because of the recent sequestration that forced across-the-board cuts. The National Park Service must now cut $134 million from sites around the country.

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Marijuana proponents in Washington state have talked of a “gold rush” as the state transitions to a legal, licensed marijuana industry. But uncertainty about state rules and potential federal intervention have made pursuing opportunities in the industry a high-risk business proposition.

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Federal health officials warned that a dangerous group of superbugs has become increasingly common in hospitals throughout the past decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the bacteria are resistant to virtually all antibiotics, including the ones doctors use as a last-ditch option.

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More than 2 feet of snow hit the high plains this week, snarling travel and all but shutting down some cities. Despite those hassles, for farmers and ranchers, the snow brings some urgently needed moisture to their drought-stricken fields and pastures.

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U.S. Army Spc. Tyler Jeffries lost both legs in a roadside bombing last October in Afghanistan, and he has been learning to walk on prosthetic legs. But Jeffries was determined to meet his buddies when they returned from duty in January.

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North Korea’s latest nuclear weapons test is much more powerful than the previous two, according to estimates made by instruments that measure seismic waves from the blast. But it’s hard to verify North Korea’s claim that the test was of a miniaturized nuclear weapon.

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News

NPR
May 24, 2013 | NPR · A Stanford MBA who used to work for Google returned to Myanmar to be an Internet entrepreneur. But it’s tough to start an Internet company in a country where the power goes out every day.
 

StoryCorps
May 24, 2013 | NPR · Two mothers whose sons were killed during the first Gulf War talk about how they became friends after their sons’ death. The last 22 years would have been tough without the friendship, because, as one tells the other, “what’s in our hearts we share.”
 

iStockphoto.com
May 24, 2013 | NPR · Itch can be a useful warning sign, or a maddening symptom with no cure. But the origins of itch have long been a mystery.Scientists think they’ve come closer to understanding the origins of itch in a molecule that makes mice scratch like mad.
 

Arts & Life

Universal Pictures
May 23, 2013 | NPR · Fast 6 pits Dominic’s crew against a wily terrorist in a high-tech battle royale — but it has a devil of a time explaining why everyone should hop into their cars.
 

Laemmle Zeller Films
May 23, 2013 | NPR · An affectionate documentary portrays the Paris Review founder as a man devoted to illuminating how talent and creativity work — both for himself, and for the rest of us.
 

Sony Pictures Classics
May 23, 2013 | NPR · Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke return for the third in Richard Linklater’s loosely peerless Before series, and they’ve never been more persuasive — nor has the storytelling. (Recommended)
 

Music

Getty Images
May 24, 2013 | NPR · Not long after his shocking ballet, the composer branched out into a broad range of styles, ushering in new musical trends far from the violent tone of his iconic Rite of Spring.
 

Courtesy of the artist
May 23, 2013 | NPR · Josh Homme presides over a dense, textured, unpredictable sound that’s equal parts mystery, intensity, beauty and bluster. QOTSA performed …Like Clockwork in its entirety, plus an assortment of older material, in a sold-out show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.
 

Getty Images
May 23, 2013 | WFIU · The great composer and bandleader was distraught over the 1967 death of Billy Strayhorn, his songwriting and arranging partner of 28 years. But Ellington took Strayhorn’s passing as an impetus, born of necessity, to increase his own productivity. Here are five examples.
 

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