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SpaceX chalks up another launch from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX knocked out another Starlink launch on Friday morning from the Space Coast.

A Falcon 9 carrying 23 of the internet satellites lifted off at 10:19 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

This marked the 21st launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of ...Read more

Palm trees are about as LA as it gets. But is it time to bid them a frond farewell?

LOS ANGELES — The Eiffel Tower was not, at its birth, universally admired. The fact that it was supposed to be temporary did not mollify the people who disliked it, chief among them the short-story writer Guy de Maupassant. You probably read his work in middle school, and maybe even wrote a report on one story, "The Necklace," about a woman ...Read more

Sarah A. Miller/Idaho Statesman/TNS

Environmental groups challenge approval of central Idaho gold mine still needing permits

BOISE, Idaho — A coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump administration this week to try to thwart the approval of the Stibnite Gold Project, a planned gold and antimony mine in Central Idaho.

Owned by Perpetua Resources, a Canadian mining company with offices in Idaho, the open-pit mine project received U.S. Forest Service approval ...Read more

Boeing/Boeing/TNS

Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible

Elon Musk’s latest space-related hammer throw is to call for it to be deorbited as soon as two years from now.

In posts to X, Musk said, “It is time to begin preparations for deorbiting the (space station). It has served its purpose. There is very little incremental utility. Let’s go to Mars.”

When pressed for whether or not he meant ...Read more

'Devil'-like flower with 'horns' found in Texas is new species. Its location is secret

In a rugged stretch of desert in one of the nation’s most remote national parks, a volunteer’s eyes were caught by a colorful sight sprouting up from the beige and brown of the Chihuahuan Desert — “devil”-ish blooms, flowers like bright red horns.

The volunteer, Deb Manley, walked into the dusty basin and snapped a photo of the eye-...Read more

Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/TNS

How a chunk of a SpaceX rocket wound up behind a Polish warehouse

Adam Burucki had a very peculiar Wednesday morning. Upon arriving at his warehouse in the quaint Polish village of Komorniki, he discovered that a massive chunk of charred rocket debris had crash-landed on his property.

Flabbergasted by the discovery, he called the police in the nearby city of Poznan, the BBC reported.

The police, working ...Read more

Bill Estep/Lexington Herald-Leader/TNS

Kentucky's top environmental official has 'grave concerns' about water pollution bill

Kentucky’s top environmental official says she has “grave concerns” about a controversial bill that would allow more water pollution around the state on behalf of the coal industry and other business interests.

Kentucky Energy and Environment Secretary Rebecca Goodman sent a letter Tuesday to state Rep. Jim Gooch, chairman of the House ...Read more

Handout/ATLAS/NASA/TNS

The chances of an asteroid hitting Earth in 2032 have changed. But what's the risk, really?

The chances that an asteroid, known as 2024 YR4, could hit Earth in seven years have fluctuated recently, but experts aren’t preparing for the worst yet.

At the end of 2024, a NASA-funded telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, first spotted 2024 YR4 and a month later scientists concluded there was a more than 1% chance the asteroid would crash into...Read more

More eagles, owls dying of bird flu as persistent outbreak circulates in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS — Rising numbers of great-horned owls, bald eagles and red-tailed hawks have been getting sick and dying of bird flu this winter as the virus continues to mutate and circulate in North American wildlife.

There are no signs of this strain of the H5N1 virus dissipating, unlike past bird flu outbreaks. Wildlife managers are bracing ...Read more

Wirestock/Dreamstime/TNS

Microsoft debuts generative AI that can create video-game scenes

Microsoft Corp. unveiled artificial intelligence tools that can create video-game scenes that would normally have to be programmed and animated by a human, a model it built using data collected from Xbox gamers and their controllers.

Called Muse, the model is the first of its kind, according to Microsoft. A machine learning research team ...Read more

andoveraudio.com/andoveraudio.com/TNS

Sound Advice: A phono preamp upgrade for your audio system

Q. I have an Emotiva BasX A2 amp driving Thiel CS2 speakers. My turntable is a Phase Linear 8000 Series Two with a Vessel R3SM cartridge. Since my amplifier does not have a phono input I am using a Music Hall Mini Plus phono preamp. I am considering upgrading the phono preamp and have a $250 budget. What would you recommend, and does my system ...Read more

Vincent Feuray/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

With AI friends like these, who needs humans?

Grok looks like any plush toy you’d find in a kid’s bedroom. Its round body is shaped like a rocket, and my two kids have been playing with it for months. It’s different from other toys they’re used to. For one thing, Grok is heavy. Inside it is a plastic box containing a small computer, so that whenever it detects human speech it can ...Read more

Bear makes California home its own, swimming in pool, bringing in takeout from neighbors' trash

LOS ANGELES — A second black bear has taken up tenancy in the crawlspace of a home evacuated during the Eaton fire, prompting local frustration and fear about the furry creature's destructive capabilities.

The bear has been making himself comfortable, lounging by the pool during the day and bringing food back to the crawlspace from neighbors'...Read more

Handout/Beatbot/TNS

Gadgets: Robotic pool cleaner

You would think that buying a pool vacuum is simple, but as a pool owner, I can say that it's confusing to know what will work for your pool. Owners have one thing in common: We want a clean pool.

Beatbot, a technology company dedicated to the global robotization of the swimming pool environment, has launched several robotic swimming pool ...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Clogged inkjet printer? Run that cleaning cycle

I got a call from a friend who was having trouble with his inkjet printer. He was going to be officiating a wedding and wanted to print out his notes, but the printer was not cooperating.

His Canon inkjet printer was spitting out streaky text that was unreadable.

He uses the printer only occasionally, and print quality was terrible. This is ...Read more

SteelSeries/TNS/TNS

Review: How the SteelSeries Apex Pro TKL made me a fan of Hall effect switches

Gamers always look for an edge or better aesthetics when it comes to keyboards. In the past, RGB lighting offered a way to stand out in a crowd while offering visual feedback. Size became a focus as smaller layouts gained favor because of desk space and lending more area for the mouse to roam.

If it offers an advantage, a product will filter ...Read more

Malcolm Snook/Dreamstime/TNS

Meta says it plans to build the world's longest undersea internet cable

Facebook's parent company Meta said it's working on the world's longest undersea cable as part of the social media giant's efforts to connect more people to high-speed internet.

Called Project Waterworth, the massive cable spanning more than 50,000 kilometers will bring "industry-leading connectivity" to the United States, India, Brazil, South ...Read more

How California can rebuild safer, more resilient cities after wildfires without pricing out workers

The dramatic images of wealthy neighborhoods burning during the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires captured global attention, but the damage was much more widespread. Many working-class families lost their homes, businesses and jobs. In all, more than 16,000 structures – most of them homes – were destroyed, leaving thousands of people ...Read more

New landing spot: SpaceX launch could bring sonic boom to the Bahamas

ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX has found a new parking spot off of the Bahamas for its droneships that catch boosters from launches from the Space Coast.

A Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 10-12 mission carrying 23 of the company’s internet satellites is targeting a 6:15 p.m. Tuesday liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch ...Read more

Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal/TNS

Great Unconformity protection efforts stalled, but advocates hopeful

Las Vegas locals began a project in the 1990s to protect a geological marvel at the edge of town. They made educational signs and were joined by politicians including late Sen. Harry Reid and then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, but the area was vandalized soon after.

Thirty years later, groups are no closer to increasing protections for the ...Read more