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Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Dad duty: Same-sex flamingo couple hatches egg, cares for chick

SAN DIEGO — A pair of flamingos have become first-time parents at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park after hatching an egg together. And they’re both dads.

The male foster parents — both in their 40s — are raising one of six chicks born this year at the North County park, which cares for nearly 100 lesser flamingos with their distinctive ...Read more

Courtesy SpaceX/TNS/TNS

With FAA OK, SpaceX back to normal Falcon 9 launches

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday with a full OK from the Federal Aviation Administration, its first since a second stage failure on the Crew-8 launch grounded the rocket.

A Falcon 9 carrying 23 Starlink satellites launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 2:10 a.m. marking ...Read more

Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Perdue faces class action lawsuit over PFAS contamination in Maryland

BALTIMORE — Salisbury residents have filed a class action lawsuit against a Perdue Farms subsidiary over PFAS contamination found in groundwater on its site.

The federal lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, alleges that Perdue AgriBusiness was reckless in its disposal of PFAS-containing wastewater, causing the ...Read more

Xavier Mascareñas/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

'Biggest and brightest' supermoon to shine over California soon -- along with comet, meteors

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Less than a week after the northern lights dazzled observers across California, stargazers are in for another treat.

The harvest supermoon will shine in the sky above the Golden State on Thursday, Oct. 17.

It will be “the biggest and brightest supermoon” to shine in 2024, the Old Farmer’s Almanac said, “so that ...Read more

People displaced by hurricanes face anxiety and a long road to recovery, US census surveys show − smarter, targeted policies could help

The trauma of natural disasters doesn’t end when the storm or wildfire is gone, or even when communities are being put back together and homes have been rebuilt.

For many people, being displaced by a disaster has long-term consequences that often aren’t obvious or considered in disaster aid decisions.

We study public ...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

NASA launches Europa Clipper to see if Jupiter's icy moon has ingredients for life

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday morning carrying a NASA probe designed to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa and search for the building blocks of life.

With the Europa Clipper now on its 1.8-billion mile, 5 1/2-year journey to the solar system’s largest planet, NASA has officially retired a �...Read more

Harris Shiffman/Dreamstime.com/TNS

State backs environmentalists after water shutoff kills thousands of fish in Kern River

LOS ANGELES — California officials have joined a legal effort to restore water to the Kern River after an abrupt shutoff of water dried up the river and killed thousands of fish in Bakersfield.

The decision by state officials and Attorney General Rob Bonta to intervene in the court case gives new impetus to environmental groups as they try to...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Rare SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch sends NASA probe to explore Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s ocean moon is not looking for life, but will see if life could be possible there. It’s a step that could help the bigger hunt beyond our solar system.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying the largest satellite ever built for NASA’s planetary science missions lifted off ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Goofy' owls that nest underground become candidate for endangered status

California wildlife policymakers have opted to protect the diminutive Western burrowing owl as they consider listing the rapidly declining species as endangered or threatened.

The state Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted last week to make the unique avian a candidate for permanent safeguards under state law while acknowledging the ...Read more

Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Adobe launches AI video generator in race with OpenAI, Meta

Adobe Inc. unveiled artificial intelligence tools that can create and modify videos, joining Big Tech companies and startups in trying to capitalize on demand for the emerging technology.

One feature, integrated into Adobe’s video-editing software, Premiere, will let users extend video clips using generative AI, the company announced Monday ...Read more

Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Editorial: After storms, climate change takes center stage in presidential race

The United States isn’t prepared for a future shaped by the climate crisis. That includes Hampton Roads, where rising seas and sinking land conspire to deliver more frequent and more destructive flooding with each passing year.

There are other important issues shaping political campaigns this year, from the economy to immigration, but few ...Read more

Joseph O'Sullivan/Seattle Times/TNS

Washington state's older forests capture carbon better than nearly any other

SEATTLE — They tower and drip, their curtains of moss damp in windblown fog: rainforests of the Pacific Northwest, unique in all the world.

These are the old-growth forests of the temperate zone, in the U.S. mostly protected in parks or on federal lands west of the Cascades. Hoh, Queets, Quinault. They include some of the tallest and biggest ...Read more

Godzilla at 70: The monster’s warning to humanity is still urgent

The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-bomb Sufferers Organizations. Many of these witnesses have spent their lives warning of the dangers of nuclear war – but initially, much of the world didn’t want to hear it.

“The fates of those who survived the infernos of ...Read more

SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch today to send NASA probe to explore Jupiter's ocean moon Europa

ORLANDO Fla. — NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter’s ocean moon is not looking for life, but will see if life could be possible there. It’s a step that could help the bigger hunt beyond our solar system.

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy carrying the largest satellite ever built for NASA’s planetary science missions is set to lift off from ...Read more

SpaceX makes 'absolutely insane' catch of Starship's massive Super Heavy booster

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX made history Sunday on its latest test flight of Starship managing to both successfully catch the massive rocket’s Super Heavy booster back at the launch site, and return Starship to Earth for a controlled ocean landing, although one that ended with an explosion.

The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

SpaceX wins earlier-than-expected approval to fly fifth Starship

SpaceX received approval from U.S. air safety regulators to launch the fifth major test flight of its massive Starship rocket — a pivotal mission that will see the booster portion return from space and attempt to land upright.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses launches and reentries of rockets, granted the approval in an ...Read more

Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Editorial: Carbon capture has a place in Illinois' climate-change toolkit, Archer Daniels Midland snafus notwithstanding

Approaching downstate Decatur by car, it’s not unusual to smell the huge Archer Daniels Midland industrial complex before seeing it. The sweet aroma of fermenting grain wafts through vehicle windows and air vents, a sign that ethanol fuel is being brewed. That process, in turn, produces carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that ...Read more

Mariana Suarez/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

A comet with potential to be brighter than Halley's will be visible beginning Saturday

Skygazers who have marveled at multiple displays of the northern lights in recent days have another reason to geek out over the next two weeks with the appearance of a comet in the western sky after sunset.

The comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS should come into view for skygazers beginning Saturday evening around twilight. Astronomy experts say...Read more

Mariana Suarez/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

Rare comet will be visible to the naked eye Saturday in California

Stargazers will have the opportunity of a lifetime Saturday: the chance to view a newly discovered comet with the naked eye.

The visitor — an ancient dirty snowball from the Oort Cloud — was discovered last year by astronomers in China and South Africa as it approached the inner solar system, NASA said in a news release. And this truly is ...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

California officials reject more SpaceX rocket launches, with some citing Musk's X posts

LOS ANGELES — SpaceX's plans to launch more rockets from the California coast was rejected by a state commission this week, with some officials citing Elon Musk's political posts on X and raised concerns about the billionaire's labor record at his companies.

The plan to increase the number of rocket blasts into space up to 50 a year was ...Read more