Arsenic finds its way into the body through the most common means.

A sinister-sounding partnership between "horse-breeding and marketing firm" Encore Genetics and ViaGen has just produced the first commercially cloned horse in the United States, according to National Geographic. Royal Blue Boon Too is apparently priced-to-go at $150,000, compared with the original (um, mother?) Royal Blue Boon, who at 26 years old is now past the traditional breeding age. Italian scientists made the first horse clone in 2003, and several more have been cloned since then.

ViaGen says it expects to produce seven cloned foals this year. It has also collected and frozen tissue samples from more than 75 champion horses for future cloning.... To encourage sales, the company even gives horse owners a $60,000 discount on the price of a second clone of the same animal.

Somewhere between cruelty and cuddling is an acceptable compromise for animal welfare on pig farms.

Waste disposal in pig farming is an environmental problem. One scientist believes that a transgenic animal, the Enviropig, is the answer.

On March 31, Maine Governor John Baldacci signed a bill allowing animals to be included in protection orders in domestic violence cases. The measure comes out of a growing realization of the link between animal cruelty and domestic violence, and the way an abuser can use beloved pets to torment or manipulate a partner. An incredibly sad article in the New York Times sketches out some of these stories, including that of a woman whose partner started mailing her pieces of her cat after she left him the first time.

Last week, National Geographic News did a little article on that mysterious, wonderful creature who appeared in Tyco's back yard in North Carolina.

The slender creature has a kangaroo-shaped head, big upright ears, and a long ratlike tail.

I think it sounded prettier when I described it a couple of weeks ago, but never mind. National Geographic probably knows more about what animals look like than I do.

Introducing Omega 3 fatty acids to pigs is the latest in “pharming,” a process using transgenic animals (often food) as the vehicle for delivering supplements and medicine.

The next minor miracle of genetic engineering may appear at the breakfast table in the form of heart-healthy bacon. Popularizing consequence-free bacon may, in the long term, promote ill health by reinforcing the taste for fatty meat in the American diet.

There was a neat article in the New York Times last week about a growing fear accompanying the spring bird migrations in the Republic of Georgia.

In the early morning hours, the cobblestone alleys that wander this city's slopes are normally crowded with schoolchildren, walking in groups with their backpacks and books. But such sights have lately become rare.

According to the article, school attendance has dipped to half of its normal levels. It’s an interesting way of looking at the avian flu virus, and the way natural processes like a March thaw and the migration of birds can take on a doomsday aspect when everybody's waiting for the big leap of an animal-to-human pandemic.

There is another good reason to stay away from soda: Benzene

Per capita consumption of soda is down. Sales per case slipped for the first time in 20 years, reported Beverage Digest, indicating trouble for the carbonated soft drink industry.

Is it just more cryptozoology, or has the ivory-billed woodpecker really come back to us?

A Santa Gertrudis cow tested positive for BSE in Alabama this month. This calls for a better process by which we determine the age and movement of 95 million heads of U.S. cattle.

Trader Joe’s is coming to Union Square this Friday March 17, competing with Whole Foods Market and the flagship Greenmarket. The prospect of reasonably-priced high-quality produce and prepared foods/snacks has some New Yorkers aflutter with anticipation.

I thought it was a hoax when I first saw the picture, but the “Yeti Crab” seems to be for real.