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Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Kids most affected by climate change explore jobs to fix it at the Future Green Leaders Summit

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — At the 2025 Future Green Leaders Summit, middle school students designed fire-resistant homes using AI, learned about jobs that support the climate and environment, and cheered on superheroes dressed as “Wind,” “Solar,” “Ethanol” and other energy sources as they squared off in a rap and dance battle.

The ...Read more

Handout/Second Dinner/TNS

‘Marvel Snap’ slings new Spider-verse cards with Arachnid Anarchy season

October was a mixed bag for “Marvel Snap” fans. The Undead Horde season was disappointing with its Season Pass card. The Horde archetype, focusing on creating a massive zombie card, wasn’t as powerful as expected, but it introduced new additions such as Headpool and and Colonel America that will have life outside of the spooky month.

...Read more

Pedro Pardo/Getty Images North America/TNS

Chinese astronauts return to Earth after being stuck in space

Three Chinese astronauts who were stuck in space after debris crashed into their spacecraft have returned to Earth.

The Shenzhou-20 crew successfully landed in Inner Mongolia at 4:40pm local time on Friday, state broadcaster China Central Television reported. The astronauts are in good physical condition and used the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft —...Read more

Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Australia and Turkey at loggerheads over 2026 climate summit

Australia and Turkey are vying to host the annual United Nations climate summit next year, a contest that on Thursday broke into full view at the current talks in Brazil.

Advocates supporting Australia’s bid mounted a news conference to make their case outside the country’s pavilion at COP30 — in an awkward twist, just steps away from ...Read more

Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Newsom touts California's record battery energy gains at UN climate conference

California added 1,200 megawatts of battery energy storage to its electrical grid over the last six months, further building on its nation-leading capacity and pushing the state closer to its clean energy goals, officials said Thursday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the latest milestone while making the rounds at the United Nations Conference of ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Blue Origin rides high with launch, first-ever New Glenn booster landing

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The shouts on the beach were just like a stadium crowd celebrating a touchdown. That’s because that’s exactly what they were doing.

The hundreds of rocket fans that had come out to watch the second-ever launch of Blue Origin’s big New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday then huddled ...Read more

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

Pa. scientific researchers urge Congress to increase funding to the NIH as the shutdown ends

The record-breaking federal government shutdown marked yet another impediment to scientific research efforts at the Wistar Institute this year.

After a year in which federal research funding was thrown into uncertainty, with funding freezes and canceled grants, the shutdown meant that the National Institutes of Health were not able to review ...Read more

Blue Origin retargets for Thursday afternoon launch of New Glenn

After scrubs Sunday and Wednesday for weather issues both on and off-planet, Blue Origin is retargeting the launch of its New Glenn rocket for Thursday afternoon.

The heavy-lift rocket its attempting to make its second launch ever solidifying Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company in its competition with the likes of SpaceX and United Launch Alliance....Read more

Allen J Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Why did national parks look so normal during this shutdown?

LOS ANGELES — As the government shutdown stretched on last week, Travis Puglisi saw something unusual at Joshua Tree National Park: two rangers doing graffiti checks.

“Do you know how often I run into rangers in the park and actually have conversations with them out in the field?” he said. “Never.”

Puglisi would know what’s normal....Read more

Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune/TNS

SkyWater Technology, now one of biggest US chip foundries, switches growth focus to new tech

SkyWater Technology is set to hit the $600 million mark in revenue next year as it takes advantage of incentives to reshore semiconductor manufacturing and the growth of a new type of computing technology.

Next year, the Bloomington, Minnesota-based company is poised to grow revenue around 40% from the midpoint of its expected 2025 revenue ...Read more

Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/TNS

As the crypto art market cools, Seattle's NFT museum in limbo

Like the volatile, hype-prone digital art market it briefly celebrated, the Seattle NFT Museum sometimes struggled to be taken seriously.

Billed as the world’s first museum for NFTs, or non-fungible tokens," it opened in Seattle in 2022, when the NFT market was on fire and celebrities were paying fortunes for art that lived on cryptocurrency ...Read more

Will Oliver/CNP/ZUMA Press/TNS

Parmy Olson: Mark Zuckerberg is picking groupthink over an AI godfather

When you're a leading scientist who thinks Big Tech is chasing the wrong AI breakthrough, you probably won’t last long at a company desperate to catch up with the herd. Yann LeCun, a French-U.S. scientist known as one of the Godfathers of AI thanks to his foundational research on deep learning, is leaving Meta after 12 years to start his own ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Google accused in suit of using Gemini AI tool to snoop on users

Google was accused in a lawsuit of using its Gemini AI assistant to unlawfully track the private communications of users of its Gmail, instant messaging and videoconference programs.

In the past, users of Gmail, Chat and Meet were given the option to turn on Google’s artificial intelligence program. But in October, the Alphabet Inc. unit “...Read more

Dangbei/Dangbei/TNS

Tech review: Dangbei MP1 Max brings 4K clarity to your home theater or backyard movie night

I really wish I had room in my house for a proper home theater, but my wife and I live in a smallish place without an open expanse of wall to put up a big screen.

So if I want to use a projector for movie nights or to watch a big game, I have to pull out a portable screen and set up a projector.

Lately I’ve been testing out a very bright and...Read more

Mauro Pimentel/Getty Images North America/TNS

At Brazilian climate summit, Newsom positions California as a stand-in for the US

BELÉM, Brazil — The expansive halls of the Amazon's newly built climate summit hub echoed with the hum of air conditioners and the footsteps of delegates from around the world — scientists, diplomats, Indigenous leaders and energy executives, all converging for two frenetic weeks of negotiations.

Then Gov. Gavin Newsom rounded the corner,...Read more

TNS

Gadgets: Hearing aids

Ceretone has announced the immediate availability of its Core One Pro over-the-counter, FDA-compliant hearing aids. Designed for individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss, the Core One Pros are prescription-free and could help restore clarity, confidence and connection in everyday life.

With an ultra-discreet design and weighing just 0....Read more

Courtesy Google/TNS/TNS

Jim Rossman: Should you opt for a Chromebook?

I received an email this week from a reader who wants me to compare Chromebooks to Windows laptops for a recent college grad to use for a job search. Specifically, they’d like to know the limitations of cloud storage and the ability to create documents and print, as well as a cost break down.

Everyone is familiar with Windows laptops, so ...Read more

Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Newsom denounces Trump's plan to resume California offshore oil drilling

As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate trip in Brazil continues, reports emerged that the Trump administration plans to allow oil and gas drilling off the California coast for the first time since the 1980s.

Newsom called the plan “dead on arrival” and denounced the administration’s consistent pursuit of fossil fuels, saying “the polluted ...Read more

L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Colorado River deadline passes without an agreement

LAS VEGAS — Information, like water, is in short supply in the Colorado River Basin as seven states blew past the Trump administration’s deadline for an agreement.

Tuesday was Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s major deadline for the states to submit a framework for a consensus-based deal to update the river’s operating guidelines that ...Read more

Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Trump wants oil drilling off the coast of California. But does anyone else?

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration reportedly has plans to open the waters off California’s coast to new oil and gas drilling for the first time in four decades, drawing swift condemnation from Gov. Gavin Newsom, lawmakers and environmental groups who say it would be disastrous for the state’s environment, economy and clean energy ...Read more