Science & Technology
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Residents of California town baffled by mysterious exploding birds
The residents of a California town are raising the alarm after dozens of birds appear to have exploded without explanation.
The phenomena appears to be limited to a single neighborhood in Richmond, about 10 miles north of Oakland.
Neighbors claim that more than 50 birds have suddenly fallen dead to the ground after sitting on a stretch of ...Read more

Google unveils major Android redesign ahead of iPhone overhaul
Google unveiled the biggest update to its Android mobile operating system in years, weeks before its biggest competitor in the space, Apple Inc., is expected to give a preview of its overhauled iPhone software.
The Alphabet Inc. unit is rolling out a new, bolder design language — called Material 3 Expressive — that spans the entire Android ...Read more
California eaglets Sunny and Gizmo get ready to test their wings
LOS ANGELES — Fans of Big Bear's bald eagle family — stars of their own webcam reality show — watched over the winter as parents Jackie and Shadow finally welcomed offspring to the nest after several previous attempts led to heartbreak. Now, in just 2 1/2 months, their eaglets have sprouted up.
Time flies — and, any day now, so will ...Read more

Sam Altman's eye-scanning orbs have arrived, sparking curiosity and fear
Earlier this month, a mysterious store selling a vision of the future opened its doors in downtown San Francisco's Union Square district.
A cryptic message appeared on the storefront window: "World is the real human network. Anonymous proof of human and universally inclusive finance for the age of AI. Millions of humans in over 160 countries. ...Read more

Local governments in Colorado demanding more accountability from oil and gas
When the Denver City Council rejected a $25 million contract with Suncor Energy last week, it was just the latest example in the past year of local governments in Colorado pushing back against the oil and gas industry.
The council voted unanimously as its members cited the Commerce City oil refinery’s repeated violation of its air and water ...Read more

Trump administration cuts endanger many critical science programs in Alaska, researchers say
Scientific work that has long benefited Alaskans is in the crosshairs as President Donald Trump's administration moves to slash funding for climate and environmental studies, Alaska scientists say.
Entire research institutes that often work with universities, such as the Alaska Ocean Observing System that provides critical weather data and ...Read more

These researchers are charged with defending the planet against asteroids
In December, astronomers identified that the asteroid YR4 had a small but not insignificant chance of striking Earth in 2032, a scenario that experts postulated could have more explosive potential than 500 Hiroshima nuclear bombs.
Researchers reclassified YR4 as a non-threat in February, but the interim period when the asteroid was considered a...Read more

Michigan pauses program to lethally gas nuisance geese at Belle Isle, other sites
LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has paused a pilot program that allowed for the collection and lethal gassing of nuisance Canada geese, according to a Friday letter from M. Scott Bowen, the state agency's director.
Bowen announced the decision in a message to a group of Democratic lawmakers who had expressed ...Read more

Sharks spotted off Massachusetts coast: 'This is an enormous shark… Holy cow!'
BOSTON — The sharks are back!
The second largest shark species in the world is being spotted close to the Bay State coast, according to shark researchers.
Multiple basking sharks were seen off Plymouth Friday morning. Shark researcher John Chisholm was alerted to the site, and he counted at least five basking sharks close to the beach.
“...Read more

Mussel quarantine in place in California due to toxin risk. What you need to know
LOS ANGELES — California public health officials have announced a quarantine on mussels that aren't commercially harvested, cautioning that naturally occurring toxins make the species potentially poisonous to humans this time of year.
The order from the state Department of Public Health, which is issued annually, runs through Oct. 31 and ...Read more

Trump memo seeks to protect Great Lakes from invasive carp, backs barrier project
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Friday directing his administration to "achieve maximum speed and efficiency" in moving to block invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes, while also taking a jab at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat.
In a fact sheet provided first to The Detroit News, a White House ...Read more

Get ready, Massachusetts, the cicadas are coming: 'They can be really loud, as loud as a chainsaw'
BOSTON — Seventeen years after the Brood XIV cicadas last emerged as adults and annoyed people with their loud buzzing calls, they’re coming back.
Residents along inner Cape Cod and over the bridge into southeastern Plymouth County should expect the 17-year periodical red-eyed cicadas to surface by late June.
While the noisy cicadas are ...Read more

'A painful summer': Lake Mead at risk of reaching crisis levels with new projections
Forecasters are confident it’s a particularly bad water year for the Colorado River, worrying some about a likely return to record low levels in reservoirs that are reminiscent of 2022.
Las Vegas is almost entirely dependent on Lake Mead, the country’s biggest reservoir, for its water supply. Flows into Lake Mead come from Lake Powell, the ...Read more

Biden created Chuckwalla monument in California desert. A lawsuit aims to undo it
LOS ANGELES — A lawsuit filed in federal court is seeking to undo the 624,000-acre Chuckwalla National Monument in the Southern California desert, claiming President Biden overstepped his authority by setting aside such a vast swath of land days before leaving office.
Plaintiffs represented by an Austin, Texas-based conservative think tank ...Read more

Trump memo seeks to protect Great Lakes from invasive carp, backs barrier project
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday is expected to sign a memorandum directing his administration to take steps to block invasive carp from reaching the Great Lakes, signaling support for a construction project in Illinois that would install barriers to prevent the carp from infiltrating Lake Michigan.
In a fact sheet provided first...Read more
Brace for the seaweed invasion, Florida. It could be biggest ever
MIAMI — Bad news, beachgoers: The seaweed monster is back and it’s expected to be bigger than ever.
Scientists at the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab, the point people for tracking the floating mats of seaweed called sargassum, are predicting what could be the state’s worst seaweed season. In the latest report issued ...Read more

Microsoft's Brad Smith, other tech execs give Congress AI wish list
Tech leaders representing four major players in artificial intelligence appeared before Congress on Thursday, urging looser regulation and heavier investment in energy to support the technology's growth.
Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation probed Microsoft President Brad Smith, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and ...Read more

Chicago campus that composts and creates energy aims to redefine waste management
CHICAGO — At a once-vacant brownfield on the South Side of Chicago, a semitruck backed into an unassuming warehouse and unloaded a colorful batch of food scraps and spoiled products. The discards soon ended up in a massive tank that mimics a cow’s digestion — minus the release of gassy byproducts — where they were turned into compost and...Read more

SoCal officials unleash sterile mosquitoes in bid to curb disease -- with promising results
LOS ANGELES — A battle is underway against an invasive mosquito behind a recent surge in the local spread of dengue fever in Southern California — and officials may have unlocked a powerful tool to help win the day.
Two vector control districts — local agencies tasked with controlling disease-spreading organisms — released thousands of ...Read more

Trump to rescind chip curbs after debate over AI rules
The Trump administration plans to rescind Biden-era AI chip curbs as part of a broader effort to revise semiconductor trade restrictions that have drawn strong opposition from major tech companies and foreign governments, according to people familiar with the matter.
The repeal, which is not yet final, seeks to refashion a policy launched under...Read more
Popular Stories
- Michigan pauses program to lethally gas nuisance geese at Belle Isle, other sites
- These researchers are charged with defending the planet against asteroids
- Trump administration cuts endanger many critical science programs in Alaska, researchers say
- Sharks spotted off Massachusetts coast: 'This is an enormous shark… Holy cow!'
- Local governments in Colorado demanding more accountability from oil and gas