The Smithsonian's Jon Blundell scans the fossilized foot bone — the metatarsal — of the Wankel T. rex to help create a digital 3-D image of the long-dead dinosaur. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post hide caption

itoggle caption Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post

In 49 U.S. states, spotting the squished disc in this spinal MRI is still much easier than learning the price of the MRI in advance. AWelshLad/iStockphoto hide caption

itoggle caption AWelshLad/iStockphoto

Students taking part in Columbia University's Ebola design challenge demonstrated for judges how to use a special chamber for decontaminating small items. Courtesy of Columbia Engineering hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Columbia Engineering

A young boy suspected of having Ebola lies in a back alley of the West Point slum in Liberia. Research suggests that the story of one needy individual motivates charitable donors more than statistics about millions of sufferers. John Moore/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption John Moore/Getty Images

Pumpjacks at the Inglewood oil fields in California in March. Some of the most controversial methods of oil extraction, like fracking, oil sands production and Arctic drilling, are also expensive. That's made them less profitable as the price of oil continues to fall. Richard Vogel/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Richard Vogel/AP

Edgar Meadows has been growing Bloody Butcher corn, an heirloom variety, for generations. The name Bloody Butcher refers to the flecks of red mixed onto the white kernels, like a butcher's apron, Meadows says. Roxy Todd/West Viginia Public Broadcasting hide caption

itoggle caption Roxy Todd/West Viginia Public Broadcasting

Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory say their new genetic toolkit to improve tomato yield without compromising flavor can be used in all varieties, from plum to cherry. Courtesy of Zach Lippman/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Zach Lippman/Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Strontium atoms floating in the center of this photo are the heart of the world's most precise clock. The clock is so exact that it can detect tiny shifts in the flow of time itself. Courtesy of the Ye group and Brad Baxley/JILA hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of the Ye group and Brad Baxley/JILA

Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Peru's Minister of Environment, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chairman Rajendra Pachauri and Renate Christ, Secretary of the IPCC present the Synthesis Report during a news conference in Copenhagen on Sunday. Scanpix Denmark/Reuters/Landov hide caption

itoggle caption Scanpix Denmark/Reuters/Landov

In a photo released by Scaled Composites, Michael Alsbury, who was killed while co-piloting the test flight of Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo on Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, is shown. Scaled Composites/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Scaled Composites/AP

To turn acorns into something edible, you've got to crack the shells, pick out the nut meats, weed out the bad ones, dry them and grind them into meal. Leah Nash for NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Leah Nash for NPR