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Robert Schwemmer/NOAA/TNS

NOAA's uncertain future brings tsunami of worry for wildlife, ocean

When the Palisades fire raged and winds whipped ash and debris into the Pacific Ocean, scientists with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration — already out in boats doing water-quality surveys — quickly gathered tainted saltwater samples, knowing the data would be vital to understand the impacts the wildfires would have on the ocean...Read more

press release/TNS

UCSD neurosurgeon rallies broad national support in fight to save research funding

SAN DIEGO — Forty-five professional associations and societies representing a broad range of medical specialties from anesthesiology to urology are backing a letter written by a UC San Diego neurosurgeon. The letter calls for the National Institutes of Health to rescind a controversial cap on indirect cost payments that significantly increase ...Read more

Rob Ostermaier/Daily Press/TNS

Bad news for the Chesapeake Bay: It's getting hot

Global warming is increasing ocean temperatures at a rate that could have dire consequences for the largest estuary in the United States, according to a new study from the Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

The study estimates the Chesapeake Bay area could have marine heat wave conditions ...Read more

Richard Tribou/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

SpaceX set for 1st Space Coast launch since booster fire

SpaceX is set to send up late Monday its first Falcon 9 from Florida's Space Coast since a fire destroyed a booster after it landed.

This Falcon 9 booster is flying for the 22nd time set to launch 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 targeting an 11:21 p.m. Eastern time liftoff with backup ...Read more

L.E. Baskow @Left_Eye_Images/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Could Trump walk back Biden's Colorado River deal-making? Nevada hopes so

LAS VEGAS — The hourglass is running out of sand when it comes to solving the crisis on the Colorado River, but a group of states sees an opportunity: a new administration.

In a letter sent to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum last month and obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the three negotiators who represent Nevada, California and ...Read more

Joel Saget/Getty Images North America/TNS

Elon Musk's feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, explained

A bitter rift between two Silicon Valley billionaires could shape the future of the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, who has his own AI startup, is duking it out in court and in a public war of words with Sam Altman, leader of ChatGPT maker OpenAI.

Musk, who is the world's richest man and has the ...Read more

Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility aims to build the electric power grid of the future − alongside the old one

An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future.

The city, with voters’ strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won’t replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE’s wires.

...Read more

Marie Tharp pioneered mapping the bottom of the ocean 6 decades ago – scientists are still learning about Earth’s last frontier

Despite all the deep-sea expeditions and samples taken from the seabed over the past 100 years, humans still know very little about the ocean’s deepest reaches. And there are good reasons to learn more.

Most tsunamis start with earthquakes under or near the ocean floor. The seafloor provides habitat for fish, corals and complex ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

With stuck Boeing Starliner astronauts waiting, SpaceX Crew-10 arrives to Kennedy Space Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The return to Earth of Boeing’s Starliner astronauts stuck on the International Space Station inched closer as their replacements arrived to Florida for their relief flight next week.

The quartet assigned to the SpaceX Crew-10 mission arrived to KSC having flown into the former space shuttle landing facility Thursday ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Interior Secretary Burgum eyes national monuments for energy resources

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has directed his staff to review and possibly alter national monuments as part of a push to expand U.S. energy production, a move that could further shake up public lands amid mass firings of national park and forest employees.

Conservationists fear that cherished landscapes — including two newly minted ...Read more

After Trump's inauguration, a dramatic halt to LGBTQ+ research

WASHINGTON — Four months ago, Tara McKay, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University, received an award from the National Institutes of Health recognizing her contributions to the field of LGBTQ+ health research.

After President Donald Trump was inaugurated, the office that gave her that award — the Sexual and Gender Minority Research ...Read more

Handout/Intuitive Machines/TNS

Intuitive Machines declares moon mission done with lander on side, batteries dead

Intuitive Machines revealed its Athena moon lander mission has ended after tipping over on its side.

The Houston-based company has now suffered two landing mishaps in two years.

A photo released Friday showed the lander’s legs in the air.

The company said it activated what it could since touching down near the moon’s south pole Thursday ...Read more

Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle/The Wichita Eagle/TNS

Missouri's only nesting bald eagle camera is live. Here's how to watch in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ever wanted to feast your eyes on a bald eagle? The Missouri Department of Conservation is giving you the opportunity, and you don’t have to leave the house.

A nesting bald eagle pair in Blue Springs is now viewable through a livestream on YouTube, the city of Blue Springs announced. It’s the only bald eagle camera in ...Read more

Handout/Friends of Big Bear Valley/TNS

Pip in final egg means bald eagles Jackie and Shadow should soon be parents of triplets

LOS ANGELES — For several days, excitement has grown around the two new hatchlings of Jackie and Shadow, Big Bear’s celebrity bald eagles.

On Thursday, a pip — or the first sign of hatching — was seen in the third egg in the avian couple’s clutch. Triplets would be unprecedented for the eagles in a decade of observation.

“Earlier ...Read more

NASA/TNS

Tipped again: Commercial lander on the moon but not upright

Commercial company Intuitive Machines has had some luck getting its lunar landers to the surface of the moon, but hasn’t had any luck keeping them upright.

The Houston-based company flying its second mission under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program made history in 2024 becoming the first commercial company to manage a soft ...Read more

RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Another SpaceX Starship lost during test flight despite successful booster catch

SpaceX lost contact again in its latest test flight of the Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Texas.

The rocket was making its eighth attempt, and SpaceX was able to perform the third-ever catch of the booster back at the tower. The suborbital test flight came just under two months since the last attempt ended explosively over the Atlantic.

...Read more

Sammy Fretwell/The State/TNS

Environmental programs at risk if Trump purge extends to state agencies in SC

President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the budget of federal agencies could have ominous implications for South Carolina’s state-run environmental protection department and the natural resources it is charged with safeguarding.

State programs that bring clean drinking water to poor communities, protect beaches from erosion-causing ...Read more

Hyosub Shin/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

Home Depot launches Magic Apron, a generative AI customer guide

Home Depot has rolled out an online concierge, powered by generative artificial intelligence, to help answer customers’ questions about millions of products and even how to get projects done.

The Georgia-based home improvement giant said Magic Apron is powered by advanced large language model tools and can provide real-time answers online ...Read more

Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Low salmon numbers in California could prompt shutdown of fishing for a record third straight year

LOS ANGELES — California’s salmon population has declined so severely over the last several years that regulators canceled the fishing season in 2023 and again in 2024.

This year, state estimates show the number of Chinook salmon is still so low that fishing could again be prohibited — or if not, sharply limited — to help fish stocks ...Read more

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump says South Korea wants to invest in the Alaska gas pipeline. Does it?

SEOUL, South Korea — In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that South Korea, alongside other countries such as Japan, wanted to invest “trillions of dollars each” in a $44 billion liquefied natural gas pipeline in Alaska that he has touted since taking office.

But in South Korea, where the government has made ...Read more