Science & Technology
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Returning the ‘three sisters’ – corn, beans and squash – to Native American farms nourishes people, land and cultures
Historians know that turkey and corn were part of the first Thanksgiving, when Wampanoag peoples shared a harvest meal with the pilgrims of Plymouth plantation in Massachusetts. And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash and beans likely were part of that 1621 dinner too.
For centuries before Europeans ...Read more
Can you recycle your campaign yard signs? Some Tampa Bay residents are getting creative.
Campaign signs for the 2024 general election adorned front yards across Tampa Bay. “Vote No on Amendment 4″ next to a “Trump 2024″ sign. “Don’t make it weird” next to a “Harris Walz” one.
But now that the election is over, what can — and should — residents do with their metal posts and plastic?
Are yard signs recyclable? ...Read more
Florida couple become 2-time space tourists with New Shepard flight
ORLANDO, Fla. — Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle returned to space on a short suborbital flight aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on Friday.
The duo first flew to space on New Shepard back in 2022, the fourth-ever flight of the space tourism rocket. For flight No. 2, they joined four new crewmates on the NS-28 mission ...Read more
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket goes vertical on the launch pad
ORLANDO, Fla. — Blue Origin continued to prep for the maiden flight of its massive New Glenn rocket as it went vertical on the launch pad Thursday ahead of an upcoming hot fire test needed before a launch attempt that is targeting before the end of the year.
“Up we go! The steel launch table that New Glenn sits on weighs 1.7 million pounds ...Read more
Editorial: Let's not let political chaos distract us from the unfolding climate catastrophe
With so much chaos in the world, from the United States’ slide toward authoritarianism to the wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine, you could be forgiven for not being focused on what’s going on this week in Baku, Azerbaijan.
World leaders are gathered there for the annual United Nations climate talks. Their task at the summit, known as COP29,...Read more
'Doomsday fish' washed ashore in California, but what does that mean?
LOS ANGELES — If one oarfish landing on a beach is a sign of a disaster to come, how bad will it be if three wash up in quick succession?
A silvery 10-foot-long creature, the oarfish has fueled fisherman's tales of sea serpents — and in some cultures has been a portent of natural disasters.
It's rare to see an oarfish up close in ...Read more
DOJ indicts Phillips 66 for Southern California refinery allegedly dumping industrial wastewater into sewer
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A federal grand jury in Los Angeles voted to indict Texas-based oil refiner Phillips 66 for allegedly dumped hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater from its Carson refinery into the Los Angeles County sewer system and then failing to report it, according to a Thursday statement from the U.S. Department ...Read more
New maps show high-risk zones for whale-ship collisions − vessel speed limits and rerouting can reduce the toll
Imagine you are a blue whale swimming up the California coast, as you do every spring. You are searching for krill in the Santa Barbara Channel, a zone that teems with fish, kelp forests, seagrass beds and other undersea life, but also vibrates with noise from ship traffic. Suddenly, the noise gets louder.
You start to make a slow, ...Read more
SpaceX chalks up 82nd Space Coast launch of the year
ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX sent up another rocket Thursday to mark the 82nd launch of the year on the Space Coast.
A Falcon 9 lifted off at 11:07 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on the Starlink 6-66 mission carrying 24 of the internet satellites to low-Earth orbit.
To date, SpaceX has flown up more than 7...Read more
Feds release options for future of Colorado River as negotiations between states stall
DENVER — Federal officials released a range of scenarios Wednesday that could be used to manage the overallocated and shrinking Colorado River as time for the seven basin states to reach an agreement grows short.
The Bureau of Reclamation’s four proposed plans are not set in stone, but for the first time offer insight into how federal ...Read more
Piedmont power line plan: Environmental groups worry of 'unintended consequences'
BALTIMORE — Wednesday, some Maryland environmental groups formally entered the fray over the Piedmont power line proposal, issuing a letter that calls for the project to receive a stringent environmental review through a federal law.
Because of its breadth, the groups believe that the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project — which will ...Read more
Fast fashion may seem cheap, but it’s taking a costly toll on the planet − and on millions of young customers
Fast fashion is everywhere – in just about every mall, in the feeds of influencers on social media promoting overconsumption, and in ads constantly popping up online.
Its focus on the continual production of new clothing is marked by speedy fashion cycles that give it its name. Fast fashion is intended to quickly copy high-end ...Read more
Madagascar’s huge ocean algae bloom was caused by dust from drought-stricken southern Africa
Scientists have found new evidence that desertification, potentially linked to global warming, leads to large amounts of nutrient-rich dust landing in the sea, causing ocean algae to grow rapidly. Biological oceanographer John A. Gittings and an international group of researchers have found an example of this phenomenon in the Indian Ocean ...Read more
A clever wolf repeatedly snuck into a Minnesota ranch. Biologists figured out its MO.
ORR, Minn. — Nothing seemed to stop Wolf 04D.
The wildlife biologists thought they had ended a decades-long struggle between rancher and wolf when they built a 7.5-mile fence in the heart of Minnesota’s wolf territory. Even the rancher, Wes Johnson, had high hopes when he came across a wounded deer on his land and saw that the wolves ...Read more
A Missouri deer hunter just killed a mountain lion. How common are these big cats?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri deer hunter reportedly killed a mountain lion Monday, Nov. 18, according to a social media post from the Missouri Department of Conservation.
“We are aware of an incident that occurred this past weekend in Iron County where a deer hunter killed a mountain lion,” the department wrote on Facebook on Monday. “...Read more
What's the latest on the Colorado River negotiations?
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released a breakdown Wednesday of five potential paths forward for the fragile state-to-state negotiations surrounding Colorado River operating guidelines that must be updated by 2026.
The Colorado River, which is Southern Nevada’s primary source of water, holds a precarious future as the basin experiences ...Read more
Parmy Olson: Google Chrome's divorce is the DOJ's antitrust warm-up act
News broke this week that the U.S. Department of Justice wants to force Alphabet Inc.’s Google to sell Chrome, its dominant web browser. That has led to much head scratching in the tech industry. Sure, Chrome is an important moat for Google’s business, but is it really the source of the company’s power? And if a company buys Chrome for an ...Read more
Atmospheric river meets bomb cyclone: The result is like a fire hose flailing out of control
The West Coast’s rainy season has arrived in force, as an atmospheric river carrying moisture from the tropics joins a bomb cyclone off the Pacific Northwest coast. Heavy, wet snow began falling in the mountains on Nov. 19, 2024, and bursts of rain have been blasting the Oregon and Northern California coasts. These storms are forecast to ...Read more
Companies are still committing to net-zero emissions, even if it’s a bumpy road – here’s what the data show
Companies around the world are increasingly committed to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions to slow and ultimately reverse climate change.
One indicator is the number of companies that have set emissions targets as part of the Science Based Targets initiative, or SBTi, a global nonprofit organization. That number grew from 164 ...Read more
How to transfer data from an old console to the Playstation 5 Pro
While some gamers will pick up a PlayStation 5 Pro for the first time, many others will be adding Sony’s newest system to an existing family of consoles. That means transferring all the data from the previous system to a new one.
It’s one of the most trying experiencing with getting a midgeneration refresh. I went through the experience ...Read more
Popular Stories
- Returning the ‘three sisters’ – corn, beans and squash – to Native American farms nourishes people, land and cultures
- 'Doomsday fish' washed ashore in California, but what does that mean?
- Can you recycle your campaign yard signs? Some Tampa Bay residents are getting creative.
- Florida couple become 2-time space tourists with New Shepard flight
- Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket goes vertical on the launch pad