World

Conservationists restoring habitat at a historic estate in Northumberland have rediscovered a hidden population of one of England’s rarest insects, finding the species just 10 minutes into a survey at a site where it had not been recorded for more than 70 years. Dr Dave Wainwright, a senior conservation scientist with Butterfly Conservation, found a…

forever checmicals(Representative image) Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are often called “forever chemicals” because their ultra-strong carbon–fluorine bonds make them stubbornly resistant to breakdown in the environment. They’re prized in industry for repelling water, oil and heat, but that same durability means they persist in soil, water and living tissue long after use. Now, a…

For nearly a decade, a California town fought to seize its privately owned water utility California’s highest court has rejected a key legal argument in a decade-long effort by a Southern California town to take control of its local water system. The California Supreme Court ruled 7-0, August 24, against the Town of Apple Valley,…

Dalton Highway south of the Continental Divide in the summer. Image Credit: Bureau of Land Management The Dalton Highway cuts through some of the most remote country in the United States, running 414 miles from Livengood in northern Alaska to Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean. Built to support construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, the road…

American Airlines Boeing 777-300ER, PC: Wikipedia American Airlines has narrowed its 24-hour cancellation policy, ending a more generous refund option for passengers who book flights close to departure. Previously, tickets purchased at least 2 days before departure could generally be cancelled within 24 hours for a full refund, regardless of fare type. American’s customer service…

Ashka Shah (Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, NY) A 17-year-old student from New York has developed a targeted method to stop cancer cells from growing, earning national recognition for tackling one of the biggest challenges in cancer research. Ashka Shah, a senior at Jericho High School on Long Island, developed a method that blocks the…

The desire to be recognised can quietly shape how people measure their success, confidence and self-worth. More than two thousand years ago, Chinese philosopher Confucius offered a different perspective, suggesting that people should be less concerned about whether others notice their achievements and more concerned about recognising the merits of those around them. In the…

A barren stretch of Egypt’s Western Desert has yielded an unexpected glimpse into a prehistoric ocean, with scientists uncovering fossilised shark teeth belonging to five extinct species that lived during the Late Cretaceous, when dinosaurs still dominated the planet. The discovery comes from the Abu-Tartur Plateau in southwestern Egypt, an area that today is an…

View of the remains of the sanctuary. Image Credit: University of West Bohemia A prehistoric sanctuary discovered near Chleby in the Czech Republic is giving archaeologists a brand new view of how Europe’s early farming communities understood the Sun, Moon and changing seasons. The circular structure, built more than 6,500 years ago, is around 1,000…

In the 1970s, British aquaculture businesses imported North American signal crayfish to stock farms, hoping to build a profitable new freshwater fishery. But the plan backfired: the hardy invaders escaped into rivers, multiplied rapidly and spread across England, Wales and Scotland. Today they dominate many waterways and carry crayfish plague, a disease that is usually…