Science & Technology
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SpaceX launch Wednesday marks record 24th flight of booster
SpaceX set a new standard for its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday using a first-stage booster for a record 24th time.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:13 a.m. Eastern time carrying another 24 Starlink satellites headed for low-Earth orbit.
The booster became the first in the ...Read more
How many bears live in Missouri? This giant species is making a comeback
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s bear population is growing. With it brings added challenges of living in bear country.
Whether you think these animals are cute teddy bears or are afraid of the 900-pound creatures, you might come across a bear in Missouri.
But hopefully it won’t be in front of your car. In late November, a driver struck and...Read more
Supreme Court could narrow the scope of federal environmental reviews, with less consideration of how projects would contribute to climate change
In the 1993 movie “Jurassic Park,” Dr. Ian Malcolm, a fictional math genius specializing in chaos theory, explains the “butterfly effect,” which holds that tiny actions can lead to big outcomes. “A butterfly flaps its wings in Peking,” Malcolm posits, “and you get rain in Central Park instead of sunshine.”
What about ...Read more
Tech review: Gift options for the cord cutter
Cord cutting used to refer to abandoning pay TV and putting up an antenna to watch free over-the-air TV. Then cord cutting expanded to include streaming services like Netflix and Hulu and individual streaming sources.
Now we also include streaming bundles, like YouTube TV or Hulu Live or DirecTV Stream. These bundled services mimic cable and ...Read more
‘Monster Hunter Now’ season 4 introduces Tigrex and Switch Axe
One of the best parts about “Monster Hunter Now” is that Niantic continues to improve the game massively, and Season 4 is no exception. Titled Roars from the Winterwind, the latest chapter in the geolocation-based mobile game introduces the tundra habitat, four new monsters and a fan-favorite weapon, beginning at 4 p.m. Dec. 11.
The ...Read more
'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' review: A welcome shot in the narrative arm
The single-player story campaigns in the long-running Call of Duty franchise are, to put it kindly, not the main draw. When a new release in Activision’s first-person-shooter series is announced, most of the buzz centers on the competitive and cooperative multiplayer elements, and for good reason: That’s where the time and care are ...Read more
Gadgets: Tech gift ideas
It's that time of year again—shop, shop, and more shopping. Instead of buying a random gift for someone, here are some solid ideas.
True wireless earbuds and portable Bluetooth speakers are categories with endless choices. Call them reliable gifts where you can't go wrong.
Sennheiser's ergonomically designed Accentum true wireless earbuds ...Read more
Jim Rossman: I hope you don’t see your passwords on this list
Passwords – we all use them, and I think we can agree they are a pain in the neck.
VPN company NordPass, in conjunction with NordStellar, has published its sixth annual list of the Top 200 Most Common Passwords.
Trust me when I say, you don’t want to find any of your passwords on this list.
Here are the top 10 personal passwords from ...Read more
Wildland firefighters face up to $20,000 pay cut if Congress doesn’t act − that’s taking a toll on a workforce already under stress
As cool weather arrives and the number of U.S. wildfires declines, wildland firefighters who have spent months working in the heat and smoke are able to take a much-needed break. But for many of them, the stress of the job isn’t going away.
Continued uncertainty regarding federal pay and benefits, coupled with mental health risks ...Read more
Activists and residents push Illinois to impose diesel pollution limits exceeding national standards
Pilsen resident Lili Scales lives near the Stevenson Expressway, in a neighborhood she describes as “blighted” by diesel pollution from heavy-duty trucks.
When she walks to her local coffee shop, she smells the exhaust.
When she takes her son to the park, they breathe the acrid fumes.
“We’re exposed to chemicals that contribute to ...Read more
US tightens curbs on China's access to AI memory, chip tools
The U.S. unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and AI, escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions but stopping short of earlier proposals that would have sanctioned more key Chinese firms.
The Department of Commerce slapped fresh curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory chips ...Read more
Stranded sea turtles in critical condition wash along Cape Cod beaches, met by New England Aquarium rescue efforts
BOSTON — After a rash of stranded turtles on Massachusetts shores in the last week, the New England Aquarium is now treating over 200 cold-stunned sea turtles in critical condition.
“With winds increasing and temperatures dropping, we have started to see more sea turtles enter the hospital in the last week,” said Adam Kennedy, aquarium ...Read more
US tightens curbs on china's access to AI memory, chip tools
The U.S. unveiled new restrictions on China’s access to vital components for chips and AI, escalating a campaign to contain Beijing’s technological ambitions but stopping short of earlier proposals that would have sanctioned more key Chinese firms.
The Department of Commerce slapped fresh curbs on the sale of high-bandwidth memory chips ...Read more
Private donations pour in for cash-strapped national parks
WASHINGTON — The National Park Service is seeing a surge in private support bigger than anytime in its 108-year history, as it also faces a maintenance backlog of more than $23 billion, made worse this fall by hurricane damage to its most popular location.
Three years after setting a goal of raising $1 billion, the Park Service’s ...Read more
New Trump administration could bring shift in approach to Snake River dam breaching
The change from the Biden to the Trump administration is primed to alter the trajectory of salmon recovery in the Snake and Columbia river basins.
The effort to save the threatened and endangered fish through breaching one or more of the four dams on the lower Snake River was elevated to unprecedented levels during Joe Biden’s time in the ...Read more
Fruit trees and 'generational learning' turn El Cajon into a parrot paradise as temperatures drop
The squawking usually begins just past 4:30 p.m. this time of year, when the sun begins to hang low in the sky.
Just a few at first, announcing themselves with loud calls from above. Another flock soon appears from the south, then a larger one from the east, and even more soon fly in from the north and west.
Like clockwork, hundreds of parrot ...Read more
NASA Langley researchers studying contrails' impact on climate
In the skies over Virginia it is common to see contrails, cloud-like strips of condensed water left behind by aircrafts at high altitude.
Some dissipate within minutes, but depending on the weather or time of day, some can remain for hours or develop into wispy cirrus clouds. Because of that, there is uncertainty about how exactly contrails ...Read more
We don't know what's at the bottom of the Great Lakes. Climate change demands we find out
We know less about the bottom of the Great Lakes than we do about the surface of Mars, according to Jennifer Boehme.
The oceanographer is executive director of the Great Lakes Observing System, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based nonprofit leading a concerted effort to fully map the world’s largest freshwater body from coast to coast, surface to ...Read more
2 new wolf packs confirmed in California amid population boom
LOS ANGELES — Wolves are continuing to make a California comeback.
State wildlife officials have confirmed the presence of two new gray wolf packs in Northern California, and estimate there are now at least 70 of the endangered apex predators roaming the state — up from 44 documented last year.
The freshly minted Diamond pack is roaming ...Read more
How DNA could help save California's historic pheasants
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Startled, large flocks of pheasants burst into flight, exploding with colorful fuss and flutter from thickets of wild grass and fallen leaves.
But this was decades ago, when California’s autumnal landscape was a mosaic of fallowed fields, diverse crops and weedy stubble – and the handsome birds were abundant, including ...Read more
Popular Stories
- ‘Monster Hunter Now’ season 4 introduces Tigrex and Switch Axe
- Jim Rossman: I hope you don’t see your passwords on this list
- Gadgets: Tech gift ideas
- 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' review: A welcome shot in the narrative arm
- Ancient footprints show two different human ancestors coexisted at the same spot 1.5M years ago