Tag: Science

Former Trump EPA Official Questions Court Order Striking Down Key Water Rule

On Aug. 30, Judge Rosemary Márquez of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, an Obama administration appointee, remanded and vacated the Trump administration’s 2020 Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR), drawing criticism from a former Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official and Senate Republicans. The NWPR had replaced the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean…


NASA’s Mars Rover Collects First Planetary Samples for Return to Earth

NASA’s Mars science rover Perseverance has collected and stashed away the first of numerous mineral samples that the U.S. space agency hopes to retrieve from the surface of the Red Planet for analysis on Earth, NASA said on Friday. Tools attached to Perseverance and operated by mission specialists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near…


All Jokes Aside, Scientists Find Talking Duck

AMSTERDAM—A Dutch scientist has uncovered old recordings of a musk duck mimicking the phrase, “You bloody fool!”—learned when it was raised by humans in an Australian bird park. Leiden University scientist Carel Ten Cate said that what was interesting about the vocal expression of the waterfowl, nicknamed “Ripper,” was not so much the message, but…


Lighting Found to Help Battle Depression

An Australian study has found valuable information on how different lighting conditions can affect our mood, bolstering research and innovation in reducing mental health symptoms. Led by psychological scientist Elise McGlashan of Monash’s Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, the team discovered that the presence of light changed our neurobiology in a way that…


Mysterious Radio Signals From the Center of the Milky Way Detected

By Entrepreneur en Español If something has become clear in recent years, it is that we are largely ignorant of what happens outside the Earth (also within it). Millionaires embody a battle to reach the Moon, Mars, and the ends of the galaxy, but there are countless unknowns. Such is the case with a mysterious…


Smoke Alarms Sound at International Space Station

MOSCOW—Smoke alarms went off at the Russian segment of the International Space Station in the early hours of Thursday, and the crew reported noticing smoke and the smell of burnt plastic. Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said the incident took place in the Russian-built Zvezda module and occurred as the station’s batteries were being recharged. According…


New York Sets 2035 Zero-Emission Passenger Car Goal

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday signed into law a bill that sets a goal for all new passenger cars and light-duty trucks to be zero-emission models by 2035, joining the state of California in attempting to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles. The law directs setting regulations requiring higher numbers of zero-emission vehicles with a goal…


Utah Towns Grapple With Critical Water Supply Shortage

To say that Utah’s water shortage in 2021 is severe doesn’t do justice to the stark reality that many of the state’s lakes, creeks, and reservoirs are literally drying up. And unless nature cooperates soon, some of these once-full bodies of potable water will resemble the desert areas that surround them. At Echo Reservoir off…


Biden Administration Envisions Solar Power Decarbonizing the Grid

On Sept. 8, the Biden administration’s Department of Energy issued a new report, “The Solar Futures Study,” which claims solar energy could power 40 percent of the U.S. grid by 2035 and 45 percent of the grid by 2050. The report, produced by the DoE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and the National Renewable Energy…


Researchers Complete First-Ever Detailed Map of Global Coral

HONOLULU—Researchers have completed a comprehensive online map of the world’s coral reefs by using more than 2 million satellite images from across the globe. The Allen Coral Atlas, named after late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will act as a reference for reef conservation, marine planning, and coral science as researchers try to save these fragile…