Mother Nature on steroids: Early signs point to devastating California fire season
Record temperatures have exacerbated the state’s ongoing drought and triggered dry-lightning that started more than 700 fires, some in redwood rainforests and Joshua trees that do not normally burn. Firefighters had a grip on the three largest blazes on Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area but warned residents to prepare for fall winds that typically drive the state’s largest fires. With...
Mother Nature on steroids: Early signs point to devastating California fire season
Record temperatures have exacerbated the state’s ongoing drought and triggered dry-lightning that started more than 700 fires, some in redwood rainforests and Joshua trees that do not normally burn. Firefighters had a grip on the three largest blazes on Friday in the San Francisco Bay Area but warned residents to prepare for fall winds that typically drive the state’s largest fires. With...
Fossil Reveals 'One of the Cutest Dinosaurs' Ever Found
Some 20 years ago, someone smuggled dinosaur eggs from Argentina to the United States illegally. The smuggler probably had little clue that inside one of the eggs was one of the best-preserved skulls of a dinosaur embryo ever found, which is now giving us new insights into the facial appearance of one line of our planet's erstwhile rulers."When I had a look at this specimen, I quickly...
You Can't Escape Lice, Even 6,500 Feet Below the Ocean
Darling, it's better under the sea, unless you're an insect. You might find some bugs skimming the surface of a pond or even creating their own scuba bubble to dive beneath the surface of inland lakes. But insects are virtually absent from the open ocean.If you look at the hind flippers of southern elephant seals, however, you will find some insects that have made their way to a partially...
Warsaw zoo tests effect of hemp oil on elephants' stress
Scientists at Warsaw's zoo have been taking blood, saliva and other samples from the zoo's three elephants in recent days to prepare to test whether giving them hemp oil can reduce their stress. Dr. Agnieszka Czujkowska, a zoo veterinarian, said hemp oil, also known as CBD, or cannabidiol oil, has been shown to reduce anxiety and stress in other animals, including horses and dogs. “Basically...
A giant water park in the California desert was abandoned 3 times. Now, its eerie remains could spring back to life.
The park has weathered its fair share of disasters, including an employee accident, bankruptcy, and...
Lock of Lincoln's hair and bloodied telegram up for auction
This is one macabre auction: A lock of Abraham Lincoln's hair, wrapped in a bloodstained telegram about his 1865 assassination, is up for sale. Boston-based RR Auction said bidding has opened online for the items ahead of a live auction scheduled for Sept. 12 in New Hampshire. The auction house set the minimum bid at $10,000 but expects the lock and telegram to fetch $75,000 or more, spokesman...
Singapore battles record dengue outbreak with more mosquitoes
From the high balcony of a Singapore public housing block, an environment official steadies his mosquito launcher, the latest contraption authorities have devised to combat a record outbreak of the tropical disease dengue. With the click of a button and a whirr of a fan, a hatch opens and 150 lab-reared male mosquitoes are sent flying, off in search of a female companion with whom they can mate...
CDC director now says anyone who wants a COVID-19 test can get one following backlash over changes to testing guidelines that excluded asymptomatic people
"Everyone who needs a COVID-19 test, can get a test. Everyone who wants a test does not necessarily need a test," Redfield...
Mammal-like Triassic creature beat polar winters by hibernating
The tusks of a stoutly built plant-eating mammal relative that inhabited Antarctica 250 million years ago are providing the oldest-known evidence that animals resorted to hibernation-like states to get through lean times such as polar winters. The research published on Thursday focused on a four-legged forager called Lystrosaurus whose fossils have been found in China, Russia, India, South Africa...
Mammal-like Triassic creature beat polar winters by hibernating
The tusks of a stoutly built plant-eating mammal relative that inhabited Antarctica 250 million years ago are providing the oldest-known evidence that animals resorted to hibernation-like states to get through lean times such as polar winters. The research published on Thursday focused on a four-legged forager called Lystrosaurus whose fossils have been found in China, Russia, India, South Africa...
Severe or fatal COVID-19 very rare in children, study finds
Children and young people are far less likely than adults to get severe cases of COVID-19 infection, and death from the pandemic disease among children is exceptionally rare, according to UK research published on Thursday. A study of COVID-19 patients admitted to 138 hospitals in Britain found that less than 1% were children, and of those fewer than 1% - or six in total - died, all of whom were...