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The Two-Way
3:57 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Agreed, Baby Pandas Are Cute. But Why?

Credit Avie Schneider / NPR
Tai Shan and his mother, Mei Xiang, enjoy frozen fruit treats at the National Zoo in 2006.
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By editor

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 1:05 pm

Xiao Liwu made his public debut Thursday at the San Diego Zoo. Fans crowded around the exhibit, their camera lenses extended, hoping to catch a glimpse of the 5-month-old giant panda cub. If they're lucky and actually do see the 16-pound panda (his Chinese name means "Little Gift"), there'll be much oooing and aaahing.

You'd have to be heartless not to agree that pandas, especially the youngest of them, are as cute as all get-out. Right? But why?

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The Two-Way
3:25 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Baseball Will Test For Human Growth Hormone During Season

Credit M. Spencer Green / AP
Major League baseball will begin random regular-season blood tests for human growth hormone, seen here in an injector pen holding about one week's worth of HGH doses at the clinic of Dr. Mark Molitch of Northwestern University.
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Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 6:47 am

Major League Baseball will expand its effort to fight performance enhancing drugs to include random blood tests for human growth hormone and other substances during the regular season, under the terms of an agreement with the players union that was first reported by

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The Two-Way
3:06 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

What Does $1 Trillion Worth Of Platinum Look Like?

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Credit Shannon Stapleton / Reuters /Landov
You'd need a lot of these — think in terms of railroad cars to haul them — to have $1 trillion.
Credit Irwin Fedriansyiah / AP
This port worker in Indonesia is moving tin ingots around a dock. But he probably wishes these big bars were made of platinum instead. Then, they'd be worth about $26,000 per pound.
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OK, OK. We know that you don't actually need $1 trillion worth of platinum to make this debt-defying coin.

But just for the sake of some financial fun, how much platinum would you actually need to mint a coin that contains a trillion dollars worth of platinum?

Turns out, it's probably more than mankind has available on the market right now.

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The Two-Way
2:29 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Study Of Junior Seau's Brain Finds Signs Of Neurodegenerative Disease

Credit Otto Greule Jr. / Getty Images
Junior Seau, seen here playing for the New England Patriots toward the end of his career, suffered from a degenerative brain disease, scientists say.
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Originally published on Thu January 10, 2013 3:19 pm

Junior Seau, the former NFL linebacker whose suicide last May at age 43 shocked fans and former teammates, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease associated with repetitive head injuries, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health.

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The Two-Way
2:14 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Obama Taps Top Aide Lew For Treasury

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Credit Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
Jack Lew has been nominated to be the next Treasury secretary.
Credit WhiteHouse.gov
Jacob "Jack" Lew's signature, on the 2012 "Mid-Session Review" of the federal budget. He was director of the Office of Management and Budget at the time.
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Originally published on Thu January 10, 2013 2:57 pm

  • President Obama announces nomination of Jack Lew for Treasury

Saying he "cannot think of a better person" to take the job, President Obama this afternoon formally announced he is nominating Jacob "Jack" Lew, his chief of staff, to be the next Treasury secretary.

Word of Obama's decision to tap Lew, who previously served as budget director in the Obama and Clinton administration, broke Wednesday.

"Jack has my complete trust," Obama said.

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