ORLANDO, Fla. — The Space Coast saw its 72nd launch of the year on Wednesday evening, equaling the total number of orbital missions flown in 2023 and with 10 weeks still to go.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 had been aiming for a Tuesday liftoff, but weather in the recovery area for the booster forced a scrub.

Teams turned around and got the rocket off ...Read more

Brazil’s efforts to slow deforestation are encouraging, but political swings have made it tough to get the investment needed to protect the Amazon, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said.

Satellite systems now do a very good job at measuring forest destruction, Gates said during a virtual interview at the Bloomberg New Economy at B20 in ...Read more

The 2024 U.S. presidential campaign has featured some notable deepfakes — AI-powered impersonations of candidates that sought to mislead voters or demean the candidates being targeted. Thanks to Elon Musk's retweet, one of those deepfakes has been viewed more than 143 million times.

The prospect of unscrupulous campaigns or foreign ...Read more

One of the quirks about “The Legend of Zelda” franchise is that the protagonist’s name isn’t in the title. Princess Zelda is the damsel in distress, the person who has to be rescued, but over several iterations, Nintendo has fleshed out her character and she has undergone several transformations through the years.

Meanwhile, Link has ...Read more

The KeyBudz Covert Mount for AirTag is a heavy-duty mount for Apple AirTag accessories. If you're not familiar with an AirTag, it's a small, inexpensive tracking device made by Apple. The Apple Find My app can tell you the location of the AirTag.

With the KeyBudz, the AirTag sits inside, adding a layer of durability. It is perfect for active ...Read more

"Until Dawn" is an all-time favorite of mine. The mix of cheesy teen horror, intense life-or-death sequences and generally impressive graphics, all bound by a bloody will-they-or-won’t-they-survive branching story in which your choices actually matter, just delights my inner scream king. The 2015 PlayStation 4 exclusive was a prime example ...Read more

I had to help a friend with his computer over the weekend. It seems his PC forgot he had Adobe Acrobat installed and instead it was opening PDF files in Google Chrome.

I wasn’t quite sure how his default app for opening PDF files changed to Chrome, but I did know how to switch things back so they open in Acrobat.

In Windows, if you right ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — For more than a week straight, photographers, scientists and adventure seekers alike have captured dazzling images of an electric blue light emitting from Southern California's waves at night.

The display of bioluminescence, created when a type of algae is agitated, is difficult to forecast, but over the last nine days, ...Read more

The weeks around Halloween in California usually bring cooler weather, Christmas decorations appearing in stores, leaves to rake and umbrellas opening for the first time since spring.

So far this year it’s still dry. No major rain is forecast through the end of October. But that doesn’t mean the state is heading for water shortages. Because...Read more

Scientists announced a rare bit of good news Tuesday for North Atlantic right whales, the most critically endangered large whale species on the planet.

An annual population estimate found the whales numbers increased slightly last year to 372, up from 358 in 2020, according to the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

The consortium, a ...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — Richard Branson already saw the blackness of space traveling at nearly Mach 3 with his company Virgin Galactic. Now he’s going to take a slower approach.

The billionaire is investing in Space Perspective, the Space Coast-based space balloon venture, and will join its founders on the space tourism operation’s first human ...Read more

Long before colonialism brought slavery to the Caribbean, the native islanders saw hurricanes and storms as part of the normal cycle of life.

The Taino of the Greater Antilles and the Kalinago, or Caribs, of the Lesser Antilles developed systems that enabled them to live with storms and limit their exposure to damage.

On the ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — Riley Rackliffe follows the stinky green blobs as they travel across Lake Mohave.

The aquatic biologist leads a two-man team for the National Park Service, dipping a long stick into the reservoir’s problem areas and sending off samples to the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s water testing plant in Henderson.

Algae can be ...Read more

Endangered Atlantic right whales are venturing to new areas, researchers have found in a recently released report, and many of those areas do not have speed limits on vessels.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare completed its survey in November to fill gaps in data about where whales were gathering, their habitats and what areas may need ...Read more

In a legal dispute between Elon Musk and the California Coastal Commission over the number of rockets the billionaire’s company can launch from the coast, Gov. Gavin Newsom has sided with Musk, saying over the weekend, “I’m with Elon.”

The comment by the governor is surprising because Musk, a staunch supporter of former President Donald...Read more

Georgia leaders are attempting to recruit a battery manufacturer to open an innovation center in Atlanta, a deal that could involve a Fulton County agency granting the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax incentives.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development is trying to woo a “state-of-the-art global innovation center” with...Read more

As public sentiment toward Big Tech sours in Silicon Valley and across the country, the industry nevertheless had a banner year dodging regulation in the California legislature.

Of some 60 bills to rein in the industry, fewer than 20 passed, many watered down, said David Harris, a Chancellor’s Public Scholar at University of California, ...Read more