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Steve Ringman/Seattle Times/TNS

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

Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

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

Kendall Warner/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

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

Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/TNS

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

Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

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

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America/TNS

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

Kevin Hatala/Chatham University/TNS

Ancient footprints show two different human ancestors coexisted at the same spot 1.5M years ago

Maybe they helped each other. Maybe they ran from each other. Maybe they ignored each other.

It’s long been known that multiple species of ancient humans lived in the same hot, lush lakeshore area of East Africa. Yet skeletal remains have made that difficult to prove.

Now, a team of researchers say they have unearthed 1.5 million-year-old ...Read more

Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Why is a global treaty on plastic pollution dividing the world?

SEOUL, South Korea — What on earth to do about all the plastic polluting the oceans, the food supply, even our bodies?

That is the question that the delegates from 175 countries are trying to answer this week in Busan, South Korea, where the fifth and final round of negotiations are underway for a United Nations-led treaty that would regulate...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Pennsylvania's buck season opens this weekend, and many deer hunters will stay in Allegheny County

PITTSBURGH — For the opening of buck season on Saturday and the rest of firearms deer season, many local hunters won't be leaving Allegheny County.

More than half a million hunters are expected to take to the woods for the post-Thanksgiving tradition of white-tailed deer hunting from Nov. 30 until Dec. 14, excluding only Sunday, Dec. 8.

In ...Read more

Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS

How will climate change impact Florida's Everglades? Gators may be a key gauge

MIAMI — A bright searchlight pierces the darkness as the 18-foot airboat glides across the Everglades, the beam igniting small sparkling shimmers in the ink-black water dotted with lily pads.

Glowing gator eyes — the tell-tale reflections of lurking reptiles.

Alligators like to hunt in the dark but tonight they’re the creatures being ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

'Marching orders haven't changed': New Artemis mobile launcher takes shape amid uncertain future

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Months after an alarmist review from NASA’s Office of the Inspector General, hundreds of construction workers seem out to prove their critics wrong as progress picks up steam on the Artemis program’s mobile launcher 2, the platform atop which future versions of the powerful Space Launch System rocket will launch.

...Read more

Erik Lesser/ZUMA PRESS/TNS

Has nuclear power entered a new era of acceptance amid global warming?

LOS ANGELES — When Heather Hoff took a job at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, she was skeptical of nuclear energy — so much so that she resolved to report anything questionable to the anti-nuclear group Mothers for Peace.

Instead, after working at the plant for over a decade and asking every question she could think of about operations ...Read more

Awareness of food waste can help us appreciate holiday meals

Americans celebrate the winter holidays in many ways, which typically include an abundance of food, drinks, desserts – and waste. Food waste is receiving increasing attention from managers, activists, policymakers and scholars, who call it a global social problem. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, wealthy nations ...Read more

UN climate negotiations end on shaky geopolitical ground, but I see reasons for hope

The 2024 United Nations climate talks wrapped up two days late, with an ending fitting that of a geopolitical reality TV show, complete with walkouts and recriminations.

Countries agreed on a new climate finance target on Nov. 24, 2024, promising to provide at least US$300 billion annually by 2035 to help developing countries build ...Read more

David Herraez/Dreamstime/TNS

Google seeks to undo Epic Games antitrust win over app store

Alphabet Inc.’s Google is asking a federal appeals court to throw out a ruling in an antitrust case brought by Fortnite-maker Epic Games that would force the search giant to overhaul its Play mobile app store.

Google said in a filing Wednesday that U.S. District Judge James Donato’s ruling is mistaken and asked that the outcome of the long...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Blue-collar tech unicorn ServiceTitan files for IPO

Ara Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan had a simple plan after graduating from college: Write some software that could assist their dads with all the paperwork that comes with being a contractor.

Two decades later, that idea has morphed into a Glendale, California, company called ServiceTitan, which last year served some 8,000 plumbing, HVAC, ...Read more

Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries/TNS

Seals with shark bites spotted along Massachusetts South Shore: 'Sharks are still close to our beaches'

BOSTON — As Thanksgiving approaches, white sharks are still trying to have a feast of their own in these local chilly waters.

Shark researchers have seen a higher number of seals with shark bites along the Massachusetts South Shore this fall.

Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s Marine Animal Rescue and Response team has responded to seven ...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: You are backing up your photos, right?

Photos sure do take up a lot of space on our phones and computers.

When smartphone cameras took over as our main cameras, more storage on the phones became a necessity.

Remember when your phone only had 8 or 16 gigabytes of storage? The new iPhone 16 and Google Pixel 9 Pro have a minimum of 128 GB of storage with options for expanding it up ...Read more

Square Enix/TNS

'Life Is Strange: Double Exposure' review: Max’s return a welcome reality

Regret has a way of making us wish, sometimes, that we could turn back time. The reality of the matter, though, is that we can’t, and we have to live with our choices. At least, that’s our reality. But for Max Caulfield, the time-traveling protagonist of 2015’s "Life Is Strange," the same rules didn’t apply. The regret, though? That ...Read more

Bethesda/TNS

Preview: ‘Indiana Jones and the Great Circle’ weaves itself into the fabric of the films

MachineGames knows how to breathe new life into franchises. The Swedish studio founded by former Starbreeze developers reimagined “Wolfenstein” from a frenetic shooter into a more explorative and inventive action game. They explored what they could do with the franchise, and now, Bethesda has handed them one of the biggest properties in ...Read more