Science & Technology

/

Knowledge

Andy Cross/The Denver Post/TNS

Adams County water district sues Denver over contamination from fire training facility

DENVER — An Adams County water district filed a lawsuit against Denver on Tuesday, alleging that foam from the city’s fire training facility has contaminated its water for decades.

The South Adams County Water and Sanitation District says the city’s Roslyn Fire Training Facility, near the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, ...Read more

NASA head Isaacman tempers Artemis praise with ideas on program's future

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. — Even as NASA celebrated the rollout of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis II over the weekend, NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman made sure to put an asterisk on the program’s future.

“The architecture you see behind us here with SLS and the Orion spacecraft is just the ...Read more

Handout/Link2Care/TNS

Gadgets: New health smartwatch

Link2Care, a next‑generation preventive‑health wearable platform, announced the United States release of its Watch2Care Vital Smartwatch recently at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

The Watch2Care Vital is touted in its press release as the first smartwatch uniting 3,000 Years of traditional Chinese medicine with over 9 million...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Are you really unsubscribed?

We all get a lot of emails, and every once in a while, it feels good to purge the inbox and unsubscribe from the ones that are getting on our nerves.

In the United States, it is a federal law that marketing emails must include an “unsubscribe” link.

A lot of people I know are afraid to click on them, for fear of getting signed up for ...Read more

Rockstar Games/TNS

Video games 2026: 5 projects that we’re excited to play

One game will define the upcoming year, and the hype surrounding it is so meteoric that it will likely dwarf anything around it. After several delays, “Grand Theft Auto VI” is scheduled to arrive Nov. 19 with as much hoopla as “The Phantom Menace” did in 1999.

It’s been more than a decade since the release of the previous entry in ...Read more

Stephen Brashear/Getty Images North America/TNS

Microsoft CEO warns AI needs to spread beyond Big Tech to avoid bubble

As tech companies spend billions on artificial intelligence data centers and computer chips, fears of an AI bubble held privately by Wall Street traders and some Big Tech titans are beginning to pop into public view.

Speaking to the world’s economic elite Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tossed out his 2 cents.

AI ...Read more

Peter Casey/The Virginian-Pilot/TNS

Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Spanberger says

NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia will rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the multistate coalition that aims to reduce the use of fossil fuels as an energy source, Gov. Abigail Spanberger told lawmakers Monday.

“This is about cost savings,” she said in an address to the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate. “RGGI generated hundreds ...Read more

E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Construction of Asian carp barrier in Illinois hits another snag

WASHINGTON — Nine months ago, President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum instructing his administration to "achieve maximum speed and efficiency" in moving to block invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.

But the key project in Illinois to erect barriers that would prevent the fish from infiltrating Lake Michigan has ...Read more

ReBecca Hunt-Foster/National Park Service/TNS

First new fossils in more than 100 years discovered at Colorado's Dinosaur National Monument

DENVER — Parking lot construction at Colorado’s Dinosaur National Monument unearthed new fossils last fall, the first discovery at the monument in more than 100 years, according to the National Park Service.

Monument staff discovered the fossils — which likely belong to the Diplodocus, a large, long-necked dinosaur — on Sept. 16 near ...Read more

Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images North America/TNS

Oldest astronaut Buzz Aldrin turns 96 as new moon astronauts share Apollo inspirations

Buzz Aldrin, the second man and only one of 12 to ever walk on the moon, turns 96 today. He’s just one of four living moonwalkers and the oldest remaining astronaut still making trips around the sun.

Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. followed Neil Armstrong onto the lunar surfaces as part of the Apollo 11 landing in 1969 as a 39-year-old. He was born ...Read more

Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Tijuana wastewater pipe repairs completed in 3 days, ending river discharge

SAN DIEGO — Repairs to a collapsed wastewater pipe in Tijuana have been completed, with flows to the Tijuana River now stopped, the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission announced Monday.

The Insurgentes Collector, part of the larger Tijuana Wastewater system, collapsed the night of Jan. 15, diverting about 11.5 million gallons per...Read more

Eric Vilchis/The Press-Enterprise/TNS

As EPA ponders Clean Water Act, activists say business eclipsing environment

The long-term health of the ocean off the coast of Southern California, and the health of the region’s freshwater streams and rivers and lakes, soon could hinge on the Trump administration’s definition of a single word: ditch.

The Environmental Protection Agency is in the midst of sorting out which of the “waters of the United States,” ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Michigan airports awarded grants to respond to PFAS pollution

Airports across Michigan were awarded state grants to help cover the costs of responding to PFAS, a class of man-made pollutants common in fire suppression foam used at airports, the state's environmental department announced Friday.

Airport officials can use the money to test for PFAS, monitor the pollution, control the pollution, clean ...Read more

Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Trump is winning the fight against offshore wind despite court losses

President Donald Trump’s campaign against offshore wind power in the U.S. sustained major setbacks last week when three different judges blocked enforcement of a government ban and allowed projects in New York, Rhode Island and Virginia to resume construction. And two others may win similar decisions soon.

But Trump may already have won his ...Read more

Volunteers kayak through San Diego River Estuary to pick up trash and protect endangered wildlife

SAN DIEGO — Dozens of kayakers lined up beneath the West Mission Bay Drive Bridge on a clear, chilly Saturday morning, preparing to paddle through the San Diego River Estuary’s shallow reeds in search of trash threatening one of the region’s most important wildlife habitats.

More than 200 volunteers, clad in gloves and lifejackets, ...Read more

Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

NASA's Artemis II rocket rolls to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Humanity’s return to the moon began Saturday morning before dawn at less than 1 mph.

That was the top speed NASA’s rocket for the Artemis II mission was able to hit during its ride atop the massive crawler that inched out of Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building on its way Launch Pad 39-B.

It was a 4-...Read more

JOSÉ LUIS VILLEGAS/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

A new bill could give Californians money for science they fund

California lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a $23 billion science research bond aimed at offsetting recent federal funding losses — and, in a break from past efforts, tying public investment in university research to lower drug prices for Californians.

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, announced the effort during a news conference ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

4 in 5 small businesses had cyberscams last year and almost half of attacks were AI powered

One more reason things cost more today: cybercrime.

A survey by the Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego-based education and victim resource nonprofit, found that 38% of small businesses hit by a cyberscam or breach in the previous 12 months passed those losses to customers by raising prices.

Another key finding: Cybercrime against ...Read more

Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Is California really 100% drought-free for the first time in 25 years? Yes and no. Here's why

For the second time in the past two weeks, the U.S. Drought Monitor, a prominent national report, has classified 100% of California as being drought-free. That’s a rating that hasn’t occurred in 25 years.

Great news, right?

It’s not quite that simple. To be exact, the last time the report had California at 100% drought-free was the week ...Read more

Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Will unseasonably hot weather dash Southern California's hopes for a 2026 superbloom?

LOS ANGELES — Wildflower expert Naomi Fraga was excited about the prospect of an extraordinary bloom this spring, after a winter of near record rainfall, but this week's unseasonably hot, dry weather has dimmed her hopes for a superbloom year.

"Superblooms are not guaranteed every year, even after lots of rain," said Fraga, director of ...Read more