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In a great irony, Venezuelans are cooking their meals over wood fires because of a shortage of propane. This is in a nation with among the largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world.

A growing market for foods and other consumer products colored with "natural" red dye has sparked a booming industry in Peru. NPR's Martin Kaste reports that thousands of families make a living harvesting the source of the dye -- tiny insect called cochineals. See photos of the insects being harvested, and discover the true source of the red dye. (Please note this correction which aired in 'All Things Considered' on June 19, 2003: ..."my description yesterday of the Cochineal insect as a Peruvian beetle. While we could claim that this is a vague layman's usage of 'beetle' that would include even certain Volkswagens, that would not wash with Dr. Paul Johnson, professor of entomology at South Dakota State University in Brookings. He calls it, 'a serious entomological faux pas.' In a further unkind cut, Professor Johnson writes: 'I would expect such cavalier biology from your colleagues at Fox, but factual inaccuracies on NPR?! ... Beetles are exceedingly distinctive insects that are well-known and well characterized in any novitiate-level biology book, as well as advanced entomology references... Cochineal insects are not beetles and not even closely related, let alone not even similar in appearance (but rather) a species of scale insect. Shame on NPR for allowing Western entomo-phobic disregard for insects to influence the misrepresentation of biological facts.")

The migratory birds of the East Coast are about to get back a piece of habitat they lost to Hurricane Sandy — a freshwater pond in Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City.

These interactive charts, says a World Bank data scientist, paint a "pretty good" picture of the world.

The increasing cost and destructiveness of natural disasters pose a growing risk to FEMA as budgets and staffing are stretched thin.

While many birds have flown South for the winter, a new photography exhibit at Normal Public Library gives Twin City residents a chance to enjoy nature — out of the bitter cold.

The Egyptian economy has taken some big hits since the revolution that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak. But the energy sector is flourishing as the government continues to sign production agreements with international oil and gas firms. But in the new Egypt, more and more questions are being raised about the nature of those agreements.

Russia's war in Ukraine is causing a profound and permanent shift in the world's oil markets, creating new geopolitical alliances. Analysts say it's comparable to the 1970s Arab oil embargo.

It might sound like a topic for dusty academic journals, but taxidermy — at least the way Carl Akeley practiced it — was full of exotic safaris, brutal killing and bloody encounters with the very creatures he was trying to preserve. Akeley is the subject of Jay Kirk's new book, Kingdom Under Glass.

A new Texas law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination has inspired one woman to try to give back to Black and minority communities across the country.