Science & Technology
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Battlefields around the world are finding new purpose as parks and refuges
The horrors of war are all too familiar: lives lost, homes destroyed, entire communities forced to flee. Yet as time passes, places that once were sites of death and destruction can become peaceful natural refuges.
One of the deadliest battles fought on U.S. soil, for example, was the Battle of Gettysburg. Tens of thousands of men ...Read more
Are famous people more likely to die at 27, or does dying at 27 make them more famous?
LOS ANGELES — Their deaths have fueled the notion that 27 is a lethal age for musicians and other notable artists.
Amy Winehouse, the iconoclastic singer-songwriter, was that age when she died of alcohol poisoning in 2011. So was grunge rocker Kurt Cobain when he died of suicide in 1994 and rock 'n' roll queen Janis Joplin when she succumbed ...Read more
Rutgers has received $47.5 million to apply scientific discoveries to patient care
Rutgers University's Institute for Translational Medicine and Science has received a $47.5 million federal grant to develop practical applications for scientific discoveries, the university announced last week.
The funding will support the institute's work to bring the latest medical practices and research advancements to patients in the region...Read more
SpaceX launches space station resupply mission with sonic boom warning from booster return
ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX sent up 6,000 pounds of cargo on a resupply mission to the International Space Station on Monday night with the rocket booster’s return trip bringing a sonic boom to parts of Central Florida.
A Falcon 9 on the CRS-31 mission lifted off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A at 9:29 p.m. EST.
The first-stage ...Read more
Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds
Two-thirds of the world’s food comes today from just nine plants: sugar cane, maize (corn), rice, wheat, potatoes, soybeans, oil-palm fruit, sugar beet and cassava. In the past, farmers grew tens of thousands of crop varieties around the world. This biodiversity protected agriculture from crop losses caused by plant diseases and climate ...Read more
The world promised to tame methane. Emissions are still rising
Sitting in his cramped office in Paris, Manfredi Caltagirone admits that one of the world’s highest-profile efforts to cut methane emissions so far isn’t stopping the gas from escaping and warming the atmosphere.
Caltagirone heads the International Methane Emissions Observatory, or IMEO, an informal police force that's the tip of the spear ...Read more
With another Colorado River deadline missed, how much does the election matter?
LAS VEGAS — How the country manages a shrinking river that provides water to 40 million people is a decision that is sure to be made under the next president’s administration.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages water in the West, is wrapped up in a yearslong process to update the Colorado River’s 2007 ...Read more
Climate activism is no longer a young person's game
When Cathy Fulkerson walked into her bank in Reno, Nevada, she was ready to cancel her credit card. Carrying a letter stating her concerns, Fulkerson explained to the manager why she wanted to cut ties: its investments in fossil fuels.
“The manager was very nervous and very confrontational, and I was a customer. I was shocked,” Fulkerson ...Read more
Invasive mussel found in North America for first time, poses immediate threat in California's delta
A particularly-worrisome mussel species has snuck into North America for the first time through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta — sparking what many are calling an immediate threat to California's most significant watersheds.
Golden mussels, an invasive freshwater bivalve that has devastated ecosystems and critical water infrastructure...Read more
Berkeley startup wins government award to develop radiation and lead poisoning treatment
LOS ANGELES — Whether its lead from old buildings, arsenic from contaminated food or strontium fallout from a nuclear explosion, heavy metals that enter the body pose a serious health threat.
With chemical properties exceedingly similar to typical nutrients like iron and calcium, toxic metals look virtually the same to thef body. So, it ...Read more
The world's largest wildlife crossing is finally standing. Here is what's coming next
LOS ANGELES — It doesn't take a hawk eye to recognize that the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing over the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills is not your normal Caltrans project.
For one thing, there's the color. Most Caltrans structures are the light gray of natural concrete. But to reduce reflectivity and help the crossing blend in more with the ...Read more
Invasive species posing 'immediate threat' found in California, a first in North America
An invasive mussel that poses a significant threat to other bivalves and the health of statewide water conveyances has been detected for the first time in North America in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Golden mussels were recently discovered in the Port of Stockton by wildlife ...Read more
Lawsuit alleges Bureau of Land Management violated Endangered Species Act in approving lithium mine
LAS VEGAS — A week after the Bureau of Land Management approved Nevada’s third lithium mine, environmentalists and a Western Shoshone group filed a lawsuit alleging that the agency rushed the environmental review process and violated federal laws.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, is the latest in a long line of ...Read more
Lawsuit alleges Bureau of Land Management violated Endangered Species Act in approving lithium mine
LAS VEGAS — A week after the Bureau of Land Management approved Nevada’s third lithium mine, environmentalists and a Western Shoshone group filed a lawsuit alleging that the agency rushed the environmental review process and violated federal laws.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court on Thursday, is the latest in a long line of ...Read more
NASA's Starliner astronauts to achieve feat … technically … during SpaceX Dragon relocation
ORLANDO, Fla. — A parking spot shuffle coming up this weekend more than 250 miles above Earth will mark a unique feat for a pair of NASA astronauts who will become the first to fly in both Boeing’s Starliner and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.
NASA’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams who flew up to the International Space Station in ...Read more
Looking for new activities? Google wants you to turn to its navigation app
Search giant Google wants people to use its navigation app for more than just finding directions and avoiding traffic.
The tech giant is adding generative AI features to Google Maps so people can easily get recommendations for places to go and activities to do.
With 2 billion people using Google Maps every month, the company envisions people ...Read more
Blue Origin hauls massive New Glenn 1st stage to launch site with hot fire up next
ORLANDO, Fla. — Blue Origin hauled the immense first stage booster for its upcoming debut launch of its New Glenn rocket to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp posted images to social media showing the 188-foot-long first stage with its seven BE-4 engines wrapped up in coverings with not-so-little Blue ...Read more
Urban legends or urban wildlife? Creepy creature sightings might just be thriving Chicago animals
CHICAGO — Over the last decade, hundreds of reports have cropped up across the Chicago area of people’s horrifying encounters with a large, winged creature with glowing red eyes. Last month, Park Ridge residents looked out their windows to the creepy sight of a hairless, dog-sized creature crawling around the suburb. Earlier in the summer, ...Read more
These 5 North Carolina state parks are reopening after Hurricane Helene. But many are still closed
Five NC State parks damaged by Hurricane Helene will reopen, at least partially, on Friday.
The soon-to-open parks are: Grandfather Mountain, Gorges, Crowders Mountain, Lake Norman and Rendezvous Mountain.
The state closed all North Carolina parks west of I-77 after Helene struck Sept. 26, noting that each would reopen after the damage could ...Read more
Robots can make your fries, salads and guacamole. Is this the future of fast food?
Miso Robotics' lab in downtown Pasadena, California, is filled with robots of the past and present.
There's Sippy, Chippy and Drippy. The star of the lab: an updated robot named Flippy that can fry French fries and chicken nuggets much faster than humans.
Miso Robotics has a lot riding on its ability to convince fast-food chains to incorporate...Read more
Popular Stories
- Urban legends or urban wildlife? Creepy creature sightings might just be thriving Chicago animals
- Battlefields around the world are finding new purpose as parks and refuges
- Rutgers has received $47.5 million to apply scientific discoveries to patient care
- Svalbard Global Seed Vault evokes epic imagery and controversy because of the symbolic value of seeds
- Are famous people more likely to die at 27, or does dying at 27 make them more famous?
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