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Glenn Nagel/Dreamstime/TNS

Ag fertilizer runoff likely will force more drinking water restrictions

For nearly a month, hundreds of thousands of Iowans have not been allowed to water their lawns — even though there’s no drought.

Local authorities previously asked the public to refrain from washing cars and filling pools. And some cities turned off splash pads in the height of summer heat.

While such measures are common during dry periods...Read more

Mary Ann Thomas/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS

How flinging crickets in the air helped save purple martins in Western Pa.

PITTSBURGH — One bird spectacle readily observable in Allegheny County right now comes in the form of 100 purple martins swirling above the fields and their condos at Harrison Hills Park.

Nesting in colonies, the handsome dark purple bird is the largest swallow in the nation, boasting a 16-inch wingspan and gobbling up thousands of insects.

...Read more

Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS

As LA bakes, duration of heat waves is accelerating faster than climate change, UCLA study shows

As sizzling temperatures sweep across Southern California this week, University of California, Los Angeles researchers have released an alarming new finding — the duration of heat waves is increasing faster than global warming itself.

Researchers found that not only are heat waves getting hotter, but they're also becoming longer at a rate ...Read more

Chad Livengood/The Detroit News/TNS

Whitefish decline a 'big' problem in Great Lakes, DNR biologist says

The story of Great Lakes whitefish is not a happy one, state fish biologist Stephen Lenart warned on Thursday, but it needs to be told as their numbers decline.

Lenart presented the uncomfortable facts about the iconic Great Lakes species during a Michigan Natural Resource Commission meeting on Thursday.

The long-lived fish are prized table ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Four fungi related to species that hijack brains of insects discovered in Thailand

If you’ve played the video game “The Last of Us” or seen the television adaption, then you’ve heard of cordyceps — a “zombie” fungus that infects its host and takes over its body. This leads to the main plotline of a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with “infected” humans shooting fungal spores from every pore.

The cordyceps ...Read more

SpaceX/SpaceX/TNS

NASA targets July 31 for Crew-11 launch while Ax-4 mission won't return until next week

There’s nowhere to park right now at the International Space Station for NASA’s next Commercial Crew Program launch, but a slot should clear next week allowing for the launch of Crew-11 as early as July 31.

That’s because the private Axiom Space Ax-4 mission that arrived to the space station two weeks ago could depart as early as Monday, ...Read more

Trump wants to cut research centers like the one in this PNW forest

Budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration could lead to the closure of 26 long-term ecological research, or LTER, facilities across the United States, including the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in Oregon.

President Donald Trump has pitched these cuts to the National Science Foundation for the next budget year, which starts in October...Read more

NICOLAS TUCAT/GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/TNS

A week after layoffs linked to AI cost, Microsoft pledges $4B to AI education

Microsoft plans to donate $4 billion worth of cash, technology and training to enhance artificial intelligence education, a substantial bequest as the Redmond, Washington-based software giant aims to make billions more off a technology it expects to be on par with the introduction of electricity.

Microsoft President Brad Smith announced the ...Read more

Man charged with smuggling bound, sedated toucans across U.S.-Mexico border

A San Ysidro man was charged Wednesday in San Diego federal court with attempting to smuggle 14 exotic toucans across the U.S.-Mexico border after the protected birds were found bound and hidden in his car’s dashboard.

The driver, 35, was charged with smuggling merchandise and importation contrary to law, according to federal prosecutors.

...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ghost factories are a warning sign for green manufacturing's future

The vast tract of land off Route 85 was meant to be a symbol of Made-in-America manufacturing. A billion-dollar battery factory was going to rise, bringing thousands of new jobs. The business announced, “Get Ready Arizona,” the governor said the state was thrilled and even the U.S. president gave the project a shoutout.

But here, in the ...Read more

Mark Cook/South Florida Water Management District/TNS

Largest Everglades flamingo flock in a decade spotted. Are they nesting in Florida?

MIAMI – One of the largest flocks of flamingos in a decade was recently spotted in the Everglades by avian ecologist and restoration scientist Mark Cook.

Cook said he stumbled upon a group of 125 American flamingos while conducting a wading bird survey along the Florida Bay coastline last week. The flock is believed to be the largest one ...Read more

Jerry Cleveland/The Denver Post/TNS

70 million-year-old dinosaur fossil discovered under Denver Museum of Nature and Science

A new dinosaur fossil at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science was found buried hundreds of feet under the facility’s parking lot in January, making the herbivorous animal’s remains the oldest and deepest dinosaur fossil ever discovered in the city.

Museum crews came across the partial-bone fossil while conducting a geothermal drilling test...Read more

Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS

Darkness is crucial to Everglades habitat. Could Alligator Alcatraz threaten it?

Surrounded by the low hum of swamp bugs, Anthony Sleiman pointed his camera to the west.

The conservation photographer was more than 15 miles from the state’s newly built immigrant detention center, dubbed Alligator Alcatraz. But just before 10 p.m. on July 1, he could see the site’s glow with his naked eye.

Sleiman, whose night-sky ...Read more

Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Researchers develop new tool to measure biological age

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new tool that can compute the “biological age” of human organs by processing a single vial of blood.

The tool, unveiled in Nature Medicine Wednesday morning, was developed by a research team spearheaded by Tony Wyss-Coray. Wyss-Coray, a Stanford Medicine professor who ...Read more

Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS

Maryland state parks adjust as pandemic popularity endures

BALTIMORE — Maryland state parks are in their busy season, with yearly attendance still millions more than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We were discovered in and after the pandemic, and we stayed discovered,” Tim Hamilton, the business and marketing manager for the Maryland Park Service, said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun. “...Read more

Spencer Platt/Getty Images North America/TNS

Commentary: You cannot 'restore' high scientific standards if they are already in place

President Donald Trump’s executive order “Restoring Gold Standard Science” provides a directive to restore a higher standard for scientific research and discovery. Yet despite the concerns it raises, the very standards that it describes already exist and are widely applied.

Section one of the order describes why the administration ...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Should you be using a password manager?

This week a reader writes, “My wife and I have reached an age where keeping track of passwords is quite a chore. Could you please comment on a reputable password manager product? Are subscription products better and safer than freebies? We use Apple devices for communication and Microsoft platforms for computing. I do not feel comfortable ...Read more

TNS

Gadgets: A smart bird feeder

The FeatherSnap Scout smart bird feeder is the first time I've reviewed a product like this, and if I had to describe it in one word, it would be addicting. It also makes sense that FeatherSnap calls the feeder "Your Window to the Wild." In just minutes, you can have live nature and wildlife from your backyard playing on your smartphone.

...Read more

Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Foreign, feral honeybees are crowding out native bee species in southern California

LOS ANGELES — You've probably heard the phrase: "Save the bees." But new research suggests we may need to be more specific about which bees we're saving.

Europeans introduced western honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) to the Americas in the early 1600s. They play an essential role in pollinating crops and flowering plants, and are often hailed as ...Read more

Stephen Lovekin/WIRED/Getty Images North America/TNS

This entrepreneur spots deepfakes for celebrities. Can he help average Joes too?

Celebrities are all too familiar with the world of deepfakes, the colloquial term for artificial-intelligence-generated videos that depict actors and other Hollywood talent falsely doing or saying things that they never agreed to.

To protect themselves, actors including Steve Harvey, Beverly Hills talent agency WME and studios have enlisted the...Read more