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Spacex/Nasa/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

SpaceX sends up latest Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX knocked off its latest Cape Canaveral mission on Tuesday night.

A Falcon 9 carrying 28 Starlink satellites lifted off at 9:17 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The first-stage booster for the mission flew for the seventh time with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on ...Read more

Andrey Popov/Dreamstime/TNS

Shake-up at EPA threatens Energy Star, climate offices

WASHINGTON — A proposal by the Trump administration to reorganize the Environmental Protection Agency targets divisions that house its climate change offices as well as Energy Star, a widely popular program designed to help lower energy costs for American households.

A chart of the proposed reorganization reviewed by the Los Angeles Times on ...Read more

Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Groups call on Trump administration to curb wasteful use of Colorado River water

Environmental groups are demanding that the Trump administration exercise the federal government’s authority to curb wasteful water use in an effort to address the Colorado River’s chronic water shortages.

In a petition submitted Tuesday, the Natural Resources Defense Council and nine other groups called for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ...Read more

Spacex/Nasa/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

SpaceX aims for launch after sunset tonight from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX has lined up another launch soon after sunset Tuesday night from Cape Canaveal.

A Falcon 9 carrying 28 Starlink satellites is targeting an 8:22 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at the opening of a four-hour launch window.

The first-stage booster for the mission is flying for the seventh ...Read more

Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Colorado Parks and Wildlife/TNS

Rusty crayfish, an 'aquatic nuisance,' discovered in northern Colorado river

DENVER — Rusty crayfish, an aquatic nuisance and an invasive species, has been discovered in a Larimer County river south of Estes Park, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

This is the first time the crayfish has been confirmed in the agency’s northeast region and the second time it’s been found east of the Continental Divide in ...Read more

Jason Redmond/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

OpenAI says its nonprofit will remain in control of its for-profit business

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Monday that its nonprofit will remain in control over its for-profit business, as the startup moves forward with plans to change its organizational structure.

The move comes after a coalition of California nonprofits, foundations and labor groups called on the state's attorney general to investigate OpenAI's decision ...Read more

Green fireball spotted over western skies. 'Never seen anything quite like this'

Hundreds of people reported seeing a fireball over several western U.S. states, especially over Utah, where it was exceptionally large, bright and green.

Reports poured into the American Meteor Society from Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and even Alberta, Canada, on Saturday, May 3 and into Sunday, May 4.

Videos attached to the May ...Read more

Scott Olson/Getty Images North America/TNS

Sam's Club is adding AI to the shopping experience. Why are privacy advocacy groups worried?

Sam's Club is going register-free and introducing an all-digital, AI-powered shopping experience for its customers, a move that has privacy advocates worried that the new AI tool could be used to unfairly target some customers with higher-priced items based on their shopping habits.

The all-digital approach started with the reconstruction of a ...Read more

Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

'Just bodies of animals everywhere': Toxic algae bloom taking a toll on Southern California's marine life

SAN DIEGO — One by one, the four California sea lions slid out of their crates and into the ocean. As the SeaWorld San Diego rescue boat bobbed nearby, one of the pinnipeds dove deep and then popped his head out of the water, his mouth full of what may have been a squid.

SeaWorld’s rescue curator Jeni Smith smiled. “We had a pep talk,” ...Read more

TNS

'Extremely rare' unidentified fossil sitting in museum is a new extinct species

For decades, an “extremely rare” fossil sat unidentified in Japan’s Museum of Unique Insect Fossils.

Discovered in 1988 in Hyogo Prefecture, the imprint of a large butterfly wing and body is now confirmed to belong to an extinct species that’s new to science, according to a May 2 study published in the journal Paleontological Research. ...Read more

Cape Cod seals, watch out: White shark migrating north 'getting a head start' on shark season

BOSTON — Hopefully Cape seals pay attention to the news.

If they do, this is their warning: The great white sharks are coming.

The latest sign that the apex predators will soon arrive is on a popular shark tracker, which shows a 9.5-foot subadult male white shark near Martha’s Vineyard and Rhode Island.

The 450-plus pound shark named “...Read more

NASA/Frank Michaux/NASA/TNS

NASA takes possession of Orion for Artemis II moon mission

For the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972, NASA officially has its hands on a spacecraft expected to fly humans to the moon.

Lockheed Martin, prime contractor for the Orion space capsule, transferred possession of the Artemis II spacecraft Thursday to the agency’s Exploration Ground Systems team base at Kennedy Space Center.

Artemis II is ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Paragliders invade Orlando Wetlands! Birds spooked, birders aghast

ORLANDO, Fla. — Most weekends, the Facebook pages dedicated to the Orlando Wetlands focus on spectacular pictures of nature in action — huge, hungry gators, mischievious otters and a flamboyant array of nesting birds.

But last weekend, a pair of unwelcome fliers sailed into the 1,650-acre park about 25 miles east of Orlando, causing a ...Read more

Researchers discover 'lid' keeping Yellowstone's super volcano from erupting

It’s no secret that a super volcano lies miles beneath the surface of Yellowstone National Park, but all this time researchers knew little beyond that — until now.

A team of researchers recently made a breakthrough discovery that sheds light on the forces shaping the volcanic system and what might keep it from erupting in our lifetime, ...Read more

Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Orphaned otters in Virginia rescued by wildlife rehabilitator

NORFOLK, Va. — Workers reporting to a Virginia Beach military base office building last week found a charming surprise when they walked up to the entrance — two baby otters huddled together in a corner by the door.

They were cute, but not particularly friendly. Whenever someone tried to approach, they screamed, as otters often do when they�...Read more

NASA/TNS

Failed Soviet-era spacecraft to reenter Earth's atmosphere this month

A failed Soviet-era spacecraft is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere some time this month.

The Soviet Union launched Kosmos 482 in 1972, intending to land on Venus. However, the probe never left Earth’s orbit because of a rocket malfunction. Since then, the rocket has very gradually lost altitude as it circled the world in a highly ...Read more

UPMC/UPMC/TNS

Pitt researchers develop artificial touch sensations for people with spinal cord injuries

PITTSBURGH — As Robert Gaunt, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, puts it, the sensation of touch doesn't actually come from the fingers. It comes from electrical impulses sent to the brain.

In research published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, Pitt researchers attempted to use brain stimulation to recreate touch ...Read more

Jacob Stagg/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/TNS/TNS

House Republicans vote to remove California fish from endangered species list

House Republicans passed a measure Thursday that would repeal the government’s decision to place California’s longfin smelt, a finger-sized fish, on the endangered species list.

House members passed the resolution, introduced by Republican California Rep. Doug LaMalfa, in a 216-195 vote that followed party lines. The resolution now goes to ...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Dolphin strandings are taking a toll on LA County's lifeguards. Experts say there's no end in sight

LOS ANGELES — Spencer Parker has never seen so many dolphin strandings in his more than 20 years as an L.A. County lifeguard.

Since he started in 2002, only twice had he seen them come ashore before this year. But in just the last two weeks, there have been four.

Now, things have gotten so bad that L.A. County lifeguards have begun taking ...Read more

Ashley Miznazi/The Miami Herald/TNS

How much stinky seaweed will South Florida see?

MIAMI — Piles of smelly seaweed have washed ashore on Miami Beach and Key Biscayne, a stinky reminder that this is sargassum season.

The brown seaweed is a common sight across the Caribbean and on South Florida beaches.

Researchers who track seaweed blooms expect 2025 to be another “major sargassum year” for the Atlantic Basin — but ...Read more