LOS ANGELES -- Oceanographer Anya Stajner was recently enjoying a sunset walk along the La Jolla Shores beach when a vibrant violet pop of color caught her eye in the sand.

She got down on her hands and knees and was astonished to realize she had stumbled upon a rare species of sea snail, Janthina janthina.

These creatures, more commonly ...Read more

On July 23 — three weeks into a month that saw close to 100 million Americans living under heat alerts, 17 million people living under flash flood warnings and Oregon’s massive Cram Fire barreling toward its 100,000th acre burned — the United Nations' highest court declared climate change an “urgent and existential threat.”

"The human...Read more

There will be a cloud hanging over the Supertunia Mini Vista Petunia group next year, but I promise you will jump for joy.

It will be even more cloudy if you plant the new Supertunia Mini Vista Pink Cloud petunia in hanging baskets. But those of us provided with the opportunity to trial them this year are finding they are perfect for window ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Joseph O’Connor, pastor of the Sacramento Fijian Seventh-day Adventist Church, doesn’t mind that his congregation meets in a rented space off Arden Way.

On Saturdays, the church is one of many spaces where Sacramento’s Fijian community explores fellowship, food and faith within California’s capital city. Sacramento...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The 8-year-old girl is a migrant student whose family moves frequently in search of seasonal work. But for five weeks this summer, she found stability, fun and academic nurturing in a program for children like her that included visits to the L.A. Zoo twice a week.

But like the axolotl, the salamander she studied, this program is...Read more

As a dating coach, I often get questions about the first date — the length, the venue, the method of parting … you name it. I thought I’d share a few gems this week:

Question: So I've been texting back and forth with this girl for a while now (kept having conflicting schedules), and we're finally getting to meet this Thursday. Can you ...Read more

Dear Kid Whisperer,

How do you handle kids who steal? My son steals from me, from stores, and from friends and family. I have no idea how to give Learning Opportunities to him that are appropriate. He is 10.

Answer: Stealing tends to really freak parents out because it is often the first negative behavior that kids exhibit that is illegal.

...Read more

Q. Each time my son goes to see his father, I get a phone call telling me there is no food in the house. My son tells me he’s starving. “Dad never feeds us!” He’s 14! He needs to eat.

I don’t want my son to be hungry and since I rarely talk to his dad, I just call Grubhub and have something quick like McDonald’s delivered. Then I ...Read more

EMPIRE, Colo. — The Owls were ready to climb after spending a mid-July morning at a small fishing pond in the Rocky Mountains.

“My hands still smell like fish,” one of the Owls — an 11-year-old named Jackson Dana — said. He’d caught two that morning.

Jackson, fitted with a helmet and harness, ran off to the wall, but his twin Kacy ...Read more

In a world of instant gratification, the journey to wealth stands out. It’s about consistent, deliberate choices, not jumping from one financial fad to another.

While many people dream of getting rich, building wealth is something different. Getting rich often implies a sudden windfall, like a lottery win or an unexpected inheritance. It’s ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA -- After dropping out of Dobbins Technical High School more than 25 years ago, Kevin Dean had an unfulfilled promise to his grandmother: to obtain a diploma.

Dean beamed with pride Thursday when he graduated from Goodwill’s Helms Academy and obtained his long-awaited diploma. He gave the commencement address and dedicated his ...Read more

DENVER — The Trump administration has already disrupted Darius McGregor’s academic journey.

The 18-year-old graduate of Denver’s East High School interned earlier this year at a laboratory on the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus, where he and his peers evaluated whether bio-fortified maize could help hungry Guatemalan ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Beatriz Swanson can remember the first time she saw the blinking glow. She was 10 years old, growing up in Mexico, when two fireflies appeared in front of her, floating away before she could carefully capture them in her hands.

Swanson did not see the shining insects again until she moved to upstate New York 17 years after her first ...Read more

At the end of every school year, Rob and Nora Tonn show up at Hinsdale Central High School and give away scholarships to graduating student athletes who are kind.

Maybe the athletes are also fast and maybe they also won a lot and maybe they’re going on to play their sport in college. But also, maybe not.

“We ask for nominations from ...Read more

The campfire has certainly gone through some beautiful transformation in the past three years. First there was Campfire Marshmallow in 2024 and next year it will be even hotter with Campfire Red Ember. Yes, I am talking about plants and particularly the genus Bidens.

Despite what seems to be a gazillion species of Bidens, you probably don’t ...Read more

CHICAGO -- Three stories above the Field Museum’s exhibits, rows and rows of taxidermied chipmunks filled a tray in the museum’s mammal archives. Pointing to two of the oldest critters, mammalogist Stephanie Smith picked up the pair of chipmunks off the tray, balancing them in the palm of her hand.

“The oldest ones we have are from 1891, ...Read more

ALTON, Ill. — Eugene Jones Baldwin came to pay his respects at the funeral of civil rights pioneer Josephine Beckwith in 2017. He had interviewed her two years prior on her 100th birthday when he learned a remarkable detail about her childhood — she used to baby-sit Miles Davis, also a native of this river town.

Baldwin, now 77, said a ...Read more

When it comes to getting out of debt, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Your financial goals should reflect your priorities, income and lifestyle. Setting clear, achievable goals can boost your chances of becoming debt-free.

Whether you’re negotiating with creditors or consolidating loans, focusing on tangible milestones helps you ...Read more

Back in 2019 (and for some reason it graced my mind today), the actress Emma Watson brought attention to singledom, not simply by saying that she is happily single but by naming herself as “self-partnered.” It not only acknowledges the fact that being single is a choice, which many people seem to forget, but it’s a valid one at that.

Too ...Read more

Dear Anna,

I recently got out of a long-term relationship — seven years, monogamous, talked-about-getting-married serious. I’m 34, and this is the first time I’ve been properly single since my mid-20s. It’s been a mix of freeing and terrifying. The dating scene feels like a completely different planet now — apps, situationships, ...Read more