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A Florida woman’s serious pneumonia that landed her in the hospital turned out to have a very strange culprit: deer meat tainted by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Though it took some time for the woman’s doctors to discover the true cause of her worsening illness, they were able to treat her in time once they did.
A new study might point to the first signs of a frightening public health scenario: Researchers found two recent cases of prion disease—universally fatal ailments caused by rogue proteins—that could have been caused by the victims eating contaminated deer meat. This connection is still far from confirmed, but doctors…
Ever since dogs were first domesticated about 18,000 years ago, they’ve often had jobs to earn their keep. Today, some dogs are used to herd sheep while others help hunters track and flush out game. And, believe it or not, dogs were sometimes used historically to power machines in private homes and factories.
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iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
Cedar the goat was sold at auction, destined for the dinner table. But his owner, a 9-year-old girl, loved him too much for that. She decided, instead, to save him.
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This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.