Forget Mars: Why Mercury's ice-covered poles may be more important

MYSTERIES OF SPACE Forget Mars: Why Mercury's ice-covered poles may be more important The hot little planet's north pole is covered in enough ice to bury Washington, D.C. under two-and-a-half miles of frozen water ARTS+LIFE The week's best photojournalism In some of the week's most eye-catching images, Mick Jagger belts, Chinese rams collide, and a volcano quietly erupts THE ROMNEY CAMPAIGN The embarrassing internal GOP polling that showed Mitt Romney winning the election The former governor could be forgiven for assuming the presidency was in his grasp — his own polling was way off the mark VISUALIZE THIS Infographic: America's pet obsession Americans spent $53 billion on their pets this year — $310 million of it on Halloween costumes alone. Here, an infographic guide LIFESTYLE 19 outstanding words you should be working into conversation Some are foreign words. Others come from medical dictionaries. And there's a surprising amount of hobo slang. Have fun working these into your conversations ANIMAL KINGDOM How to calculate a lobster's age Scientists learn that you can count the crustacean's rings to determine how old it is, just like you would a tree FROM OUR PARTNERS AT SLATE 12 ways Obama can fight climate change without Congress Forget the gridlock-stricken legislative branch. The president can bring down America's contribution to greenhouse gases on his own SEE ALL CARTOONS SLATE The 10 best books of the year NEWSER 'Secret Santa' gives $100 bills to Sandy-hit residents NEW YORK MAGAZINE Watch a trailer for the new season of Girls DISCOVERY NEWS Artificial brain mimics human abilities and flaws SALON What’s next for the anti-abortion movement?         Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences | privacy policy  Copyright © 2012 The Week, All rights reserved.