These Whales Still Use Their Vocal Cords. But How?

People have told stories of strange underwater sounds for thousands of years, but it took until the mid-20th century for scientists to pinpoint one of the causes: whales, singing and whistling and squeaking in the blue. The means by which some whales make these sounds has remained a mystery. A study published Wednesday in the…

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Why Some Seniors Are Giving Up on Romance

Joy Lorton, 80, has been married and divorced four times. “I grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, when everybody was supposed to get married and have kids, so I did that,” said Ms. Lorton, who lives in Olympia, Wash., and has three daughters, seven grandchildren and a gaggle of great-grandchildren. But each of her…

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A State Court Ruling on I.V.F. Echoes Far Beyond Alabama

An Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos in test tubes should be considered children has sent shock waves through the world of reproductive medicine, casting doubt over fertility care for would-be parents in the state and raising complex legal questions with implications extending far beyond Alabama. On Tuesday, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press…

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Old and Young, Talking Again

On Fridays at 10 a.m., Richard Bement and Zach Ahmed sign on to their weekly video chat. The program that brought them together provides online discussion prompts and suggests arts-related activities, but the two largely ignore all that. “We just started talking about things that were important to us,” said Mr. Ahmed, 19, a pre-med…

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