Now that Lent is over the spotted hyenas of northern Ethiopia can resume their normal diet. Scavengers that like eating scraps thrown out by humans have to adapt to changing dietary practices of the local human population. Ethiopian Orthodox Christians spend the 55 days of Lent as vegans, forcing the hyenas to increase their hunting, doubling the amount of ass they eat. Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking about donkeys. Of course they know this by examining shit, uh, I mean feces. (Scientific American)

Early studies into the correlation between rising CO2 levels and the end of the last ice age all suggested a non-causal relationship, but those were solely antarctic studies. A new examination using data from 80 locations around the globe show a much different picture, with rising temperatures just about everywhere but Antarctica rising just a little after the increase in CO2 levels. (BBC)

Polar bears appear to be the latest victims of the yet unidentified disease that is killing seals and walruses in Alaska, Canada, and Russia. Symptoms include hair loss, oozing sores, and lethargy. (Scientific American)

The US Navy is developing the Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker which combines high definition cameras and LIDAR to create 3D images that can be compared against known pirate vessel profiles by computers to minimize the number of images that human intelligence annalists have to go over. What’s really cool is that these are going to be deployed on Fire Scout helicopter drones. (Slash Gear)