Our weird lack of hair may be the key to our success.

Compared to other apes and indeed all other mammals, humans are practically bald, and this may have allowed our species to thrive.

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Judge puts Taj Mahal’s bug poo problem on state officials’ shoulders

A judge in India’s environmental court this week upbraided state officials for “making millions” from tourists visiting its iconic Taj Mahal while dumping solid waste into an adjacent river that has become a breeding ground for insects that are turning the soaring marble structure green.

“You cannot protect the Taj Mahal from which you are making millions. You are dumping municipal solid waste in Yamuna [Jumna River] just behind the Taj Mahal. Can there be a greater insult to a monument which is a wonder of the world. It is shocking,” a National Green Tribunal judge said at a hearing Friday, according to a report in the Hindu.

The panel was hearing a plea by an environmentalist D.K. Joshi alleging that dumping of municipal waste in the river, which abuts the Taj Mahal, has fostered a mosquito-like insect whose slimy excretions are causing green patches on the structure.

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