ORLANDO, Fla. -- A bout with flesh-eating bacteria can start out with a day at the beach, a hardly worrisome cut and then, in less than 24 hours, a raging infection fought with heavy antibiotics and gruesome scalpel work.

It would be reassuring to know where and when Florida’s coastal waters are ripe with “one of the fastest growing ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Moments after being taken off life support, an anonymous Bay Area woman gave the most abundant of gifts: 17 different tissues and organs.

Some were transplanted into strangers in need, but many others were rushed off on a unique mission. They were donated for research — contributing to a first-ever detailed “cell atlas,...Read more

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX sent up another set of Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday.

The launch came one day after a successful Falcon 9 Starlink liftoff from across the country from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the company’s record pace of launches in 2022.

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This week, the world got its first-ever look at Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy. The image of a hazy golden ring of superheated gas and bending light was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope, a network of eight radio observatories scattered across the globe.

Feryal Özel, a University of Arizona ...Read more

Elon Musk may not be delivering on the Twitter acquisition he promised after all.

It’s not the first time he’s fallen short, backed out or abruptly changed course after making a big, showy promise of innovation. In fact, it’s not even the first time he’s done that in the last six weeks, during this specific set of negotiations with ...Read more

Elon Musk sowed new chaos into the market over his takeover bid for Twitter Inc. on Friday, first claiming his offer was “temporarily on hold” and then maintaining he is “still committed” to the deal, sending the social media giant into a tailspin.

The billionaire initially sent an early tweet saying the $44 billion deal is pending ...Read more

Even by the white-knuckle standards of the cryptocurrency universe, it was a standout week.

An algorithmic stablecoin called TerraUSD crashed from its dollar peg when the complex mechanism designed to ensure the link suddenly turned against it, sucking even the biggest digital assets into a vortex of panicked selling. Terms like “death ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Clouds and showers are poised to spoil not only another weekend in the Eastern United States, they are likely to ruin one of the year’s most anticipated astronomical events — a total lunar eclipse Sunday night into early Monday.

During the 3½ hours in which Earth’s shadow will cross the moon, starting around 10:30 p.m. ...Read more

VIENNA — Europe and parts of the U.S. are set for a sweltering and dry summer this year, posing risks for crops and boosting demand for energy for cooling at a time when prices of commodities are already running high.

Scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, who published their seasonal outlook on Friday, said hotter and drier ...Read more

Elon Musk sowed new chaos into the market over his takeover bid for Twitter Inc. on Friday, first claiming his offer was “temporarily on hold” and then maintaining he is “still committed” to the deal, sending the social media giant into a tailspin.

The billionaire initially sent an early tweet saying the $44 billion deal is pending ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The weather conditions were unremarkable for coastal Orange County, and even a bit pleasant: Mild temperatures, relatively moist air and a seasonal onshore breeze.

But when firefighters struggled to contain a 50-by-50-foot brush fire on a sere hillside in Laguna Niguel on Wednesday afternoon, officials grew concerned. Within a ...Read more

In 2020, Florida became just the third state — and the first in decades — to take over management of a key federal Clean Water Act program. Now, state rather than federal officials decide whether companies can dredge and fill wetlands and waterways for projects ranging from mining to housing developments to roads and bridges.

Several other ...Read more

Taking a new approach to bringing attention to how Amazon uses individuals' data, a shareholder is suing Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy and 17 other Amazon leaders he claims knowingly allowed the company to violate state laws.

Amazon has already come under fire for how its uses biometric data, things like fingerprints and facial images. It's been ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — After hearing hours of heated debate, the California Coastal Commission voted against a controversial plan by the company Poseidon Water to build a huge desalination plant in Huntington Beach.

Despite worsening drought and repeated calls from Gov. Gavin Newsom to tap the Pacific Ocean as a source of drinking water, commissioners...Read more

At the center of the Milky Way galaxy is a massive, mysterious presence exerting a powerful influence on the stars around it — and on the imaginations of astronomers.

Now scientists have the first-ever photograph of the formidable force at the center of our galaxy: Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole with the mass of 4 million suns.

...Read more

Elon Musk is in talks to raise enough equity and preferred financing for his proposed buyout of Twitter Inc. to eliminate the need for any margin loan linked to his Tesla Inc. shares, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The billionaire’s advisers, led by Morgan Stanley, have begun soliciting interest from potential investors ...Read more

Biologists conducting an necropsy on a sperm whale that beached itself in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the Florida Keys said they found man-made materials in the mammal’s stomach that likely contributed to its death.

The adult male was one of two sperm whales that died in Florida Keys waters within seven days. The other was a ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, from campaign trail through his first year in office, declared himself a climate-forward leader.

He promised to slash the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% below 2005 levels by 2030, and aimed to hit net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Both goals are vital to avoiding the most disastrous ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Peggy Stenger casually admits to having a freezer of dead birds.

The Cleveland native, who lives in Chicago's South Loop and works in the Loop, collects the creatures when she sees them on the ground, often dead or injured from midflight collisions with buildings in her neighborhood.

Stenger puts the dead birds in Ziploc bags and ...Read more