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Alex Brown/Stateline/The Pew Charitable Trusts/TNS

Washington forest parcel saved by a unique effort

SEATTLE — Advocates with the Elwha Legacy Forests Coalition have raised $32,000 to prevent the logging of 2 acres west of Port Angeles.

The deal, which took place without input from the Department of Natural Resources, which owns the land, appears to be the first of its kind. Public donations have effectively saved trees, that had already ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

US to provide plutonium from atomic bombs to fuel nuclear plants

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is planning to distribute plutonium left over from Cold War-era weapons to commercial nuclear developers as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to accelerate the rollout of new reactors.

The Department of Energy has selected Oklo Inc. and four other firms for advanced negotiations to participate in the Surplus ...Read more

NASA/NASA/TNS

NASA announces lunar rover, other moon base mission providers

NASA announced which two companies would be tasked to build lunar rovers for its future moon base — as well as the company that will fly them there — among other plans during an event from its Washington headquarters Tuesday.

Blue Origin’s uncrewed Blue Moon MK1 lander, which will launch from Cape Canaveral atop a New Glenn rocket, was ...Read more

Handout/Amazon MGM Studios/TNS

New James Bond video game '007 First Light' launching this week

The end of May isn’t just for movie studios to release their blockbusters. A video game publisher is also releasing a huge franchise on Wednesday, May 27. IO Interactive and Amazon MGM Studios are launching “007 First Light,” a new James Bond game on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S and PC.

To mark the occasion, the team released the ...Read more

Lezlie Sterling/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

OpenAI skeptics ask Calif. AG Bonta to investigate execs' ties to semiconductor company

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Advocacy coalition EyesOnOpenAI is asking Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate a recent contract between OpenAI and semiconductor company Cerebras Systems that the group says bolsters its earlier arguments that OpenAI has abandoned its philanthropic mission.

EyesOnOpenAI, a coalition of AI-skeptical groups, previously...Read more

Natural selection can efficiently explore a range of options, some obvious and some less so. Justin Paget, DigitalVision via Getty Images

How natural selection helps design antennas, cancer treatments and adhesives

NASA had a big – and little – problem. For a small satellite, the agency needed a tiny antenna, with very specific communication capabilities and very strict limits on size and weight. The agency gave the problem to a design team adept at simulating the way natural selection engineers solutions.

Design using natural selection is ...Read more

In heavy downpours, it can be harder for water to sink into the ground. John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images

The US is seeing stronger storms, so why are droughts getting worse?

About two-thirds of the U.S. is in some stage of drought in late spring 2026, yet at the same time the country has been seeing more intense downpours. It might seem contradictory, but both are symptoms of rising global temperatures.

The reason has to do with the water cycle.

Water influences every aspect of our lives through a...Read more

Chinook salmon try to jump a closed gate at a fish hatchery.  Supercaliphotolistic/iStock Images Plus via Getty Images

California’s salmon fishery is reopening after a population crash and 3-year closure, but that doesn’t mean all is well

Along the California coast, from Bodega Bay to Morro Bay, commercial fishing boats have started pulling in salmon for the first time in three years, and local salmon are once again appearing on restaurant menus and in seafood markets across the state.

California’s commercial ocean salmon fishery began reopening in May 2026 for the ...Read more

Theo Wargo/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: Why we can't cut earth science to fund the next mission

We love space, but not as an abstraction. For my twin sons, it is a tradition. Their birthday themes have evolved from “Two the Moon” for their second birthday, featured on NASA.gov, to “From Space to the Farm,” with the boys in those iconic orange astronaut suits, standing in a cornfield. In the year of Inspiration4, we went all in with...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Southern California could get 85% of its water locally and avoid Delta tunnel, groups say

LOS ANGELES — A coalition of conservation groups wants Southern California to get 85% of its water locally, up from the 50% it gets now, by 2045, and says a new plan shows how.

It’s urging state leaders to scrap plans for a 45-mile tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and consider asking voters to approve a bond measure to ...Read more

Turtle Island Restoration Network/Turtle Island Restoration Network/TNS

Plastic pellets are small in size, but a much bigger headache for the environment

In 10 minutes, volunteers collected nearly 700 nurdles at Rotary Park in Carlsbad earlier this month. Nurdles are tiny, pre-production plastic pellets about the size of a lentil or a fish egg, and they’re a problem.

“They are the raw material used to manufacture virtually every plastic product in existence. We’re talking water bottles, ...Read more

Anthony Souffle/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

Minnesota scientists are unraveling the mystery behind the state's walleye strains

Working in a darkened laboratory, Laurel Sacco dips a cup into a large tank of water and scoops up dozens of young walleye. She pours one into a petri dish and examines it under a microscope.

The fry has been harvested from Pine River near the headwaters of the Mississippi River, where the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has ...Read more

Key West Police Department/TNS/TNS

200-pound sea creature found dead on NC beach was likely hit by boat, team says

An increasingly rare loggerhead sea turtle was found dead on the eastern end of North Carolina’s Emerald Isle over the Memorial Day weekend, according to the Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol.

The discovery was reported Saturday and comes as sea turtle nesting is nearing a seasonal peak along the Southeastern U.S.

“Sadly the huge turtle had ...Read more

Daniel Mears/The Detroit News/TNS

Avoid foam on Michigan's waters this summer, health experts warn

Michigan's numerous waterways offer plenty of opportunities for outdoor recreation, but as summer draws near, state health experts warned that even touching the foam that sometimes accumulates on those waterways could lead to health problems.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that anyone who comes in ...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

FAA closes Blue Origin investigation that had grounded New Glenn

It took just over one month for the Federal Aviation Administration to close the book on an investigation that had grounded Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.

The company announced Friday on X that the FAA had approved its report about what went wrong with an April 19 launch when the rocket’s upper stage had an engine issue and ultimately lost...Read more

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

NASA reorganization shuffle combines programs, lands KSC new director

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman outlined a major overhaul of the agency’s structure that included a new director for Kennedy Space Center.

Following the retirement of Janet Petro earlier this month, KSC had been in the hands of interim director Kelvin Manning. It will now be run by Brian Hughes, Isaacman announced Friday. Hughes will add ...Read more

Samuel Alaniz waters his garden at his home on May 7, 2026, in Robstown, Texas, which gets its drinking water from Corpus Christi.
              Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Why Corpus Christi faces a looming water shortage, and what might help

Corpus Christi, Texas, home to the nation’s largest oil export hub, and its surrounding Coastal Bend area are in a water shortage that has residents, businesses, and industry carefully monitoring their water use and worried about a growing crisis.

Since August 2024, the city’s 318,000 residents have been unable to water their ...Read more

Saja Tawalbeh/Dreamstime/TNS

Caltech could lose control of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for first time in decades

LOS ANGELES — The contract for management and operation of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be opened up to a competitive bidding process for the first time in its history, the space agency announced Friday.

The action forces the California Institute of Technology to compete for control of the La Cañada Flintridge institution it has ...Read more

SpaceX/SpaceX/TNS

SpaceX launches next-gen Starship, but suffers some engine issues

SpaceX’s debut of its next-generation version of Starship managed to take flight Friday after an issue on the launch tower forced a scrub on Thursday night, but did face some engine headaches after liftoff.

The first flight of Version 3 of Starship and Super Heavy lifted off near the opening of a 90-minute launch window just after 5:30 p.m. ...Read more

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/TNS

Trump administration releases critical federal money for major Colorado River water rights purchase

DENVER — Tens of millions of federal dollars will finally flow to an effort by a coalition of Western Slope governments to purchase some of the largest and most senior water rights on the Colorado River.

For more than a year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has withheld $40 million awarded to the Colorado River District for the purchase of the...Read more