Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night at around -30 degrees Celsius, casting aside skis, food, boots and most of their clothes. Soon they would be dead, many of them with unexplained physical injuries more suited to car crash victims, and dosed with radiation. Their deaths are still unexplained, 49 years later. The Dyatlov Pass Mystery. more inside

Pee+Vegetable Oil = Self-healing rubber, that maintains chemical attraction after being cut, it reconnects and re-adheres. Cool! What would you use it for? via der boingo von boingsingvich

St. Patrick's Day falls during Holy Week this year. Some St. Paddy's Days have been moved to March 14th, others not. Check your local listings. more inside

Actual free credit report. As a consumer, I get tons of offers to view my FREE CREDIT REPORT every year, particularly around tax time, suggesting that my FREE CREDIT REPORT is a special offer for, say, $39.95, plus a swimming pool and years of usurious rates. But consumers actually do get this free. See FREE above. Or call US 877-322-8228. more inside

Email Apnea: Describes the way people hold their breaths, or breathe shallowly, while answering email. more inside

Lost in translation - Stewart Lee (who he? - Ed) on the German sense of humour. A rather good old article from the Grauniad.

CuriousGeorge: Student loan bothers I have, for the past 4 months, been making monthly payments to Company X, which is a collection agency, for an old student loan with the NY State Higher Ed folks. I have not missed a payment. Today, I get a call from Company Y asking me to set up payments for my student loan. When I say that I'm already making payment with Company X, they say "well, NY State transferred it to us, and we need to set up a new payment plan." Can they do this?

Can Scientists Dance? After watching Simone Recchi's "Dynamical and chemical evolution of blue compact dwarf galaxies", I tend towards NO.

Millions of starlings flock together in Scotland. (embedded video) It's amazing how they move together and the motion of the flock is like water. Seriously.

Beautiful plumage? A Stackwatcher's guide to plume types and smoke density grades (as applied to the Hammer).

Five-Minute Films. The new movie Be Kind, Rewind inspires amateur filmmakers. more inside

The Metamorphosis of the Cecropia Silkmoth Larva - pics. This is Hyalophora cecropia, one of the largest moths of North America, member of the Saturniidae family.

Fidel Castro to retire. Castro declined another term as President, ending 49 years in power. more inside

Another Ancient city discovered in India - Indian archaeologists say they have found remains which point to the existence of a city about 7,000 years old at Sisupalgarh, inland in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. more inside

A Lone Wolf Is You! If you were a sheltered, ostracized child in the 1980s, your misspent youth undoubtedly included far too many hours Choosing Your Own Adventures. If your sheltered ostracized childhood then turned into a sheltered, ostracized adolescence, shunned even by D&D players, you may have "graduated" to the wholly nerdish realm of the Solo Adeventure! Instead of talking to members of the opposite sex, perhaps you found yourself embroiled in Fighting Fantasy, GrailQuest, or, arguably at the top of the sweaty, pimply pyramid, Lone Wolf. more inside

Gecko 'begs' insect for honeydew ~~ Symbiosis. List of symbiotic relationships (incomplete). Previously on MoFi:Moray eel & Grouper hunting cooperatively

Sewage Workers Stalked by 'Zombie' in Underground Tunnels - shurely shome mishtake? Jobbie not Zombie

Who doesn't want to be this inventor? Steve Hollinger was recently profiled in the New Yorker about his umbrella. more inside

Beat Boxing Basset Hound Warning: Contains Swedish beats, long ears and floppy jowls. Oh, and it's a flash thingy with sound. via.

Up With Hillary- HP Marketing Expert Gives Flagging Clinton Campaign the Dancingest Endorsement of Them All: Up With People! more inside