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SPAIN

Summer's powerful drought revealed a more than 4,000-year-old oval of at least 100 standing stones called the Dolmen of Guadalperal, which had been submerged since 1963 in an engineered reservoir.

GERMANY

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An underwater environmental-monitoring station 48 feet below the surface of Eckernförde Bay disappeared in August. Researchers found only a frayed cable at the site of the more than 1,750-pound observatory, and the search continued with additional dives and ship-based sonar.

RUSSIA

Scientists identified a small group of Nordmann's greenshanks, among the most endangered shorebirds, in a bog in Russia's far eastern region. They helmed the first in-depth study of the bird since 1976 and are the first ever to capture a photograph of an adult on a nest.

NEW ZEALAND

Researchers found that humpback whales traveling near Raoul Island, 700 miles off New Zealand's coast, learn songs from members of other breeding grounds.

INDONESIA

Climate models have more firmly connected a record-setting cold European summer in 1816 to the previous year's eruption of Indonesia's Mount Tambora, which injected sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere and caused widespread surface cooling.

BRAZIL

A newfound species of electric eel in Brazil, Electrophorus voltai, produces the strongest shock scientists have ever measured from a living animal. It can let loose 860 volts; a Taser delivers about 1,200.

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