Newsbreaks for Thursday

Audio version is here.

Scientists in San Francisco said they have discovered a new, potentially deadly strain of bacteria previously unknown to medicine. In microbiology, this is called “looking for trouble.”

The strain was contracted by a woman who was traveling in Peru. Scientists don’t know how it’s spread, but they think it might be that creepy music.

DNA samples from the extinct wooly mammoth reveals that the demise of that species was not caused suddenly by a comet, disease, or overhunting. Instead, it happened slowly, through a gradual loss of genetic diversity. In other words, the red states will go away, but it may take a little time.

After months of tension over a proposed American missile defense shield, today Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled his own counterproposal. Instead of basing the missiles in the Czech Republic, Putin suggests “…how ‘bout not and say we did?”