It was a year in which the Tijuana River — the polluted corridor that carries sewage, trash and toxins across the U.S.-Mexico border — was labeled one of America’s most endangered rivers.

A year researchers and local government officials disagreed on whether the stinky sewer gas rising from the water and drifting through southern San ...Read more

SpaceX knocked out a midnight launch from Cape Canaveral on Sunday, but has a midnight Monday launch on tap from Kennedy Space Center to cap off a record year for the Space Coast.

The Sunday launch saw a Falcon 9 lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 carrying communication satellites for Astranis Space ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The past two mating seasons ended in heartbreak for Jackie and Shadow, Big Bear's beloved bald eagle couple.

Thousands of fans who eagerly follow the bird's antics via webcam were devastated when the lovebirds' eggs were eaten by ravens in 2023. Earlier this year, fans were crushed when all three of their eggs failed to hatch �...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Coast could be seeing another new rocket fly soon as the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday issued a launch license for Blue Origin’s New Glenn.

An FAA statement said Jeff Bezos’ rocket company had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements” for its heavy-lift rocket, which is set ...Read more

Piping plovers are continuing their comeback story.

Massachusetts beaches for the second straight year saw more nesting piping plovers than at any time in the last four decades, according to Mass Audubon and preliminary data from MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program.

There were 1,196 nesting pairs counted — a 1.5% ...Read more

Two highly endangered Florida panthers were found dead from vehicle strikes only two days apart, closing out a particularly deadly year for the species.

The first panther, a 2½-year-old male, was found dead Dec. 21 in rural Highlands County, according to the Panther Pulse database maintained by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation ...Read more

For the last decade, California’s offshore seafloors have been missing a massive, colorful predator that keeps kelp-munching sea urchins in check.

The sunflower sea star is a big starfish — more than 3 feet across — that roams the ocean floor in orange, yellow and purple. These invertebrates can grow as many as 24 arms, and they’re ...Read more

MIAMI — Each March, sea turtle nesting season begins with the females’ slow yet determined scooch onto Florida’s shores, shoveling away sand with her speckled fins, digging a hole to lay eggs.

The season peaks around late spring to summer before tapering off in October, meaning Florida’s thousand-mile stretch of coastlines becomes home ...Read more

I received a text from my mom before 8 a.m. today.

“Jim, is this a scam?”

She attached a screenshot of an email she’d received earlier. The email looked like it was from Apple. The subject was: Apple Pay Suspension: Invalid Address Detected.

It read, “Verify Your Apple ID Information,” followed by “We’ve Temporary Restrict your ...Read more

It takes some research when shopping for a Bluetooth speaker. Whatever you think is the best available now can change by the day as this is one of the most crowded electronic gadget categories. They come in small, medium and large. With a big sound in each, some features are the same, and some are different.

Sound and size are critical ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The final week of the year will bring low tides to San Diego’s coastline, giving tide poolers one more chance this month to participate in a statewide quest to find sea stars — otherwise known as starfish.

The Solstice Sea Star Search along the California coast is an initiative from the California Academy of Sciences to track ...Read more

A snowy owl was rescued Monday evening by a woman who was surprised to find it trapped in the grille of a car in a Duluth, Minnesota, parking lot.

Annabell Whelan, a good Samaritan who had also rescued another owl earlier in the day, said she was near the Bentleyville “Tour of Lights” display at Bayfront Festival Park when she found the ...Read more

Last December, a farmer was burning dry grapevines in his vineyard in Deir Mar Moussa, a hill town a dozen miles east of Beirut known for its 18th century monastery and stands of pine forest. Usually this would be dangerous, given that Lebanon’s hot and dry climate can quickly turn a spark into a conflagration.

But on this day the worst was ...Read more

Remember the story about the elephant seen from different perspectives? Here’s a twist.

A biologist with a telescope peered at the animal and said, I see a hairy grayness horizon to horizon.

A toenail fungus specialist examined its feet, and prescribed antibiotics.

A climate change specialist didn’t see the elephant because he was fixated...Read more

Forest researchers in north-central Minnesota are bringing the little-analyzed world of an elusive night creature into the light.

There is a dearth of state research about flying squirrels, a diminutive, rarely seen critter with outsized skills. Minnesota has two species of the little aerialists, a southern and a northern, and where they meet ...Read more

Southern right whales can live to be more than 130 years old — which is decades longer than previously thought, according to new research.

The marine animals, a type of baleen whale found in the southern hemisphere, have the gift of “extreme longevity,” according to a study published on Dec. 20 in the journal Science Advances and an ...Read more

Three years ago, on Dec. 30, 2021, a wind-driven wildfire raced through two communities just outside Boulder, Colorado. In the span of about eight hours, more than 1,000 homes and businesses burned.

The fire left entire blocks in ash, but among them, pockets of houses survived, seemingly untouched. The owners of these homes may have ...Read more

Landfills in Colorado release millions of metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year as organic waste including food, paper and yard trimmings decomposes into the soil, contributing to global warming and harming human health.

Colorado, as part of its multipronged approach to eliminate 90% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, is ...Read more