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In the early 1980s, epidemiologists were racing to understand a mysterious disease that was killing young men in California. As we now know, that disease was AIDS. And it soon grew into one of the biggest global pandemics in human history. But back in 1984, no one knew what it ...

A mysterious case of the topsy turvies and a return to the question of what felines feel when they fall.

Three stories that upend our pre-conceived notions about falling:

3. Falling Cats: David Quammen ponders the terminal velocity of a plummeting cat, teaches Jad a new word, and helps clear up some fallacies of feline physics.

4. Constantly Falling: Brian Greene explains why he can't answer the most basic question you can ask a physicist: "why do we fall?"

5. Falling Fortunes: Garrett Soden and Joan Murray introduce us to the 20th Century's greatest "gravity hero"--who, despite being the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, ultimately landed in a poorhouse.

Could some cancers be contagious? New evidence suggests certain types of cancer can spread from one person to another. Journalist David Quammen’s article for the April issue of Harper’s magazine is "Contagious Cancer: The Evolution of a Disease."