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Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/TNS

What COVID is teaching doctors about the relationship between viruses and cancer

LOS ANGELES — In early 2022, around the time the Omicron variant started driving a new surge in COVID-19 cases, researchers at James DeGregori's University of Colorado Anschutz lab noticed something unusual: When lab mice with dormant breast cancer cells were infected with either influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the animals were significantly more ...Read more

Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Editorial: Trump is losing his war on offshore wind power

New York Attorney General Tish James, along with AG counterparts in 17 other states, have prevailed over Donald Trump’s capricious attempts to derail offshore wind energy projects all around the country by imposing a moratorium on approvals and even the issuance permits or leases for already-approved projects.

Having lost before a federal ...Read more

Here come the black bears to the Pittsburgh area

A black bear swimming at North Park and other bears visiting Stanton Heights and Franklin Park are among more than 40 reports of bear sightings in Allegheny County since May 1.

This is not unusual.

“I don’t think there are any more bears passing through Allegheny County than usual,” said Lt. Andy Harvey, a game warden and information and...Read more

Noelle Harff/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Qualcomm's latest chip promises to take smart glasses to a new level

Qualcomm made the case that the next computer you own won’t sit in your pocket. It’ll sit on your face.

The San Diego chipmaker took the stage at the Augmented World Expo in Long Beach on Tuesday to unveil the Snapdragon Reality Elite, a chip that will power augmented reality and mixed reality devices.

Though augmented reality glasses have...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump administration pays $765 million to kill more offshore wind projects, including one off California

LOS ANGELES — In yet another blow to the beleaguered offshore wind industry, the Trump administration said Wednesday it will pay developer Invenergy $765 million to walk away from four U.S. wind leases, including one off the coast of California, and invest instead in geothermal and fossil fuel projects.

Under the agreement, Chicago-based ...Read more

Over a third of Hawaii's power comes from renewable energy, which cuts its need for fossil fuel imports. John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images

Why states are walking back their own climate and energy laws, and what they could do instead

During the first Trump administration, states and cities, tired of waiting for the federal government to deal with energy and climate challenges, started writing their own laws.

New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, setting mandatory renewable energy and emissions reduction targets. Virginia ...Read more

A record-tying heat wave helped spread a wildfire in Northern California's Shasta and Trinity counties in July 2018. Terray Sylvester/Getty Images

Heat waves increase wildfire risk – a new study explains how much, and it’s not a small number

When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that’s only part of the cause – heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.

In a new study, our team of fire and climate scientists looked at two decades of wildfire activity in the West, ...Read more

Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Las Vegas startup bets AI can transform heart disease detection

Stephen Randall didn’t plan on becoming a case study for Medaica, his Las Vegas-based company that has created artificial intelligence-assisted at-home heart exams.

But that’s what happened last year after the serial entrepreneur with a family history of heart disease — and two stents to show for it — returned home from a routine six-...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye @bizutesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Nevada didn't have a startup ecosystem. So Jeff Saling built one

Jeff Saling was part of three successful startups before co-founding StartUpNV, a nonprofit business accelerator and incubator based in Las Vegas.

After the serial entrepreneur’s first company, a Silicon Valley startup, went public, he moved to Nevada, where he was frustrated to learn the state did not have a startup ecosystem.

Saling then ...Read more

Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Can AI help us age better? Bay Area scientists are trying to find out

A growing number of researchers are turning to artificial intelligence to understand why some people remain healthy into their 90s while others develop chronic diseases decades earlier.

At labs throughout the Bay Area, the technology is fueling a wave of longevity research aimed at measuring how long people live — and how well they age.

...Read more

SpaceX/TNS

After loss on Blue Origin flight, SpaceX sends company's satellites to orbit

A Texas-based satellite company had a much better day with SpaceX early Wednesday than it did the last time it tried to get a payload to space with Blue Origin.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched at 2:39 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 carrying three satellites for AST SpaceMobile, which were all deployed ...Read more

Jim Rossman/TNS/TNS

Jim Rossman: Some resources to help keep up your tech skills

This week’s question is one a lot of us have: “I am 72 and have been retired for only three years, but find that, without daily use of the business requirements to 'keep up' and add new skills and knowledge, I’m falling far behind. I also had to switch from Microsoft at work to Apple at home and am even further behind with that. My ...Read more

Ohsnap/TNS/TNS

Gadgets: Go stargazing with this smart telescope

The DWARFLab’s new Dwarf mini smart telescope is, according to the company, the world’s smallest smart telescope. But don’t let the size fool you; the small and portable telescope does amazing things to make the world of astrophotography accessible.

I’ve never dabbled in the world of astronomy, so I thought I’d play around with this...Read more

Lego/Lego/TNS

Five new Pokemon Lego sets worth picking up on Aug. 1

Lego and The Pokemon Company have launched their long-awaited collaboration just in time for the franchise’s 30th anniversary. The initial sets were aimed at older fans with some price tags to match. They’re complex builds that were meant to be display pieces.

Now, Lego is releasing 12 new sets, but these are meant for play. They also ...Read more

Jon Cherry/Getty Images North America/TNS

Report warns world is falling behind in race to remove carbon from the air

Taking carbon out of the atmosphere was never going to be easier than keeping it out of the skies, but the cleanup strategy is already hitting a wall, according to a new report on the state of carbon dioxide removal published in early June.

Removing carbon dioxide, in addition to rapid and deep emission cuts, will now both be necessary to limit...Read more

Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

New fossils suggest human evolution was more crowded than scientists thought

New fossil discoveries are reshaping scientists’ understanding of a pivotal chapter in human evolution, revealing that several human ancestor lineages lived side by side nearly 3 million years ago.

The findings, published in separate studies in the journal Nature, come from the Afar region of northeastern Ethiopia, one of the world’s ...Read more

Phillip Faraone/Snap/Getty Images North America/TNS

Snap unveils its $2,195 augmented reality glasses as rivalry with Meta heats up

Social media company Snap showcased a pair of its $2,195 augmented reality glasses Tuesday, staking a claim in a race to reshape how people interact with computers.

The Santa Monica, California tech company faces fierce competition as it takes on bigger rivals such as Meta that are dominating the sale of smart glasses and needs to convince more...Read more

Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Lake Mead's slow demise just sped up in latest federal study

LAS VEGAS — The reservoir that serves as Southern Nevada’s main water supply is headed for an even more painful decline than thought due to historic drought and recent water management decisions, according to federal forecasters.

Lake Mead could plummet to 1,015.77 feet above sea level in July 2027, far below any level seen since the ...Read more

GOOGLE/TNS

Google rolls out Android 17; major AI features to follow this summer

Alphabet Inc.’s Google has begun rolling out Android 17, the latest major update to its popular mobile operating system, though some of its marquee artificial intelligence features will not arrive for another few months.

The initial wave of enhancements will roll out first to Google’s Pixel devices, with other hardware brands to follow over...Read more

What's driving electric utility companies to merge? jayk7/Moment via Getty Images

How Wall Street is shifting electric utilities toward consolidation and profit

A corporate merger that would form the largest electric utility in the United States is underway. It’s just one of many recent utility mergers and acquisitions as electric utilities enter a period of rapid growth.

On May 18, 2026, NextEra Energy announced it would buy Dominion Energy for US$66.8 billion.

What’s driving ...Read more