WINNIPEG, Canada — Ken Lachnit had done what he could. All that remained was prayer.

For three days this spring, Lachnit and dozens of other volunteer firefighters had labored to beat back a fast-growing wildfire as it advanced on his hometown of Woodridge, a hamlet 60 miles southeast of Winnipeg.

Some plowed fire breaks with bulldozers. ...Read more

Besides spurring nationwide protests over police brutality, the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis also prompted a larger reckoning that included universities and scientists who contended with the histories and modern realities of racism across their fields.

The scientific community seemed to finally be confronting something we Black ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Beloved nonagenarians Mommy and Abrazzo are parents once again.

Nine more western Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoises have hatched, the Philadelphia Zoo announced Wednesday. This is the couple’s second clutch, bringing their total number of offspring to 16.

The hatchlings mark a milestone for the 150-year-old institution: ...Read more

DENVER — When longtime birder Patrick O’Driscoll saw a massive tropical bird slowly flying over Denver’s City Park last weekend, he almost couldn’t believe his eyes.

Could it be a sandhill crane? No, that didn’t fit. It wasn’t a great blue heron, either.

“I was dumbfounded that it was a wood stork, which is not supposed to be ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — In the Sierra Nevada, private lands used for logging are more likely to experience high-severity fire that devastates forest ecosystems compared to public lands like National Forests.

It’s a fact that’s been known for years— but what exactly causes this discrepancy has remained elusive.

Consequently, the factoid has ...Read more

It won’t have any crew, but the U.S. Space Force is set to send the Boeing-built X-37B spacecraft — which looks like a miniature space shuttle — back for a long-duration mission to orbit during a late-night launch Thursday.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 is set to lift off with the spacecraft on the USSF-36 mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch...Read more

LEE VINING, Calif. — At a trailhead surrounded by sagebrush, a naturalist welcomes a group of visitors to Mono Lake beside a sign that reads “Oasis in the Desert.”

Guide Ryan Garrett, his face alight, greets the group of vacationers and entreats them to see the value in the saline lake — it teems with migrating birds, it’s around a ...Read more

A rare whale died off the coast of Honduras after ingesting a plastic bag in what’s been described as a “tragic event.”

The marine mammal — a young pygmy sperm whale — was spotted in distress near the island of Utila on Aug. 19, according to a news release from the Kanahau Utila Research and Conservation Facility, an environmental ...Read more

SEATTLE — It's beautiful, ethereal: When we hear the sound of the Swainson’s thrush in the Pacific Northwest's woods, we know our summer is truly here. Our bird is back, with its signature song gracing our long, summer twilights.

And yet, this is not really “our” bird at all. It is a bird of two worlds. Arriving here by late May for its...Read more

President Donald Trump said the U.S. won’t approve solar and wind projects that hurt farmland, claiming they are inflating electricity prices.

The post on Truth Social, Trump’s latest attack on renewables, comes a day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it was ending programs that provide financial support to clean energy on ...Read more

One of the best parts of my gig as a tech reviewer is the chance to try out gadgets that might not be on my radar otherwise.

As an IT guy, I spend a lot of my workday on my computer, and I’ve worked my way through a lot of computer accessories such as keyboards and mice to settle on which ones I want to use daily.

Recently, I’ve been ...Read more

Centuries after the massive ancestor of modern-day cattle went extinct, a new breed is being released in Denmark to rewild the terrain.

Aurochs, or Bos primigenius, were a species of massive cow that lived hundreds of thousands of years before habitat loss and hunting led to their extinction in 1627.

They originally lived in Europe, Asia and ...Read more

ST. LOUIS — A man battling a rare brain infection from an amoeba in Lake of the Ozarks has died, state health officials confirmed Wednesday.

The man died Tuesday at a St. Louis area hospital. No other information was provided.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the patient,” read a news release by the Missouri ...Read more

Cisco Systems and Oracle America have decided to embark on fresh rounds of layoffs that will eliminate a combined 300-plus jobs in the Bay Area, the tech titans disclosed in WARN notices they sent to the state’s labor agency.

Here are the details of the staffing reductions reported to the California Employment Development Department by Cisco ...Read more

It’s been more than a decade since Electronic Arts released a football game on a Nintendo console, and the absence has been noticeable for a company with one of the biggest fandoms and install bases. The last “Madden” entry was on the Wii U and featured now-retired Calvin Johnson on the cover. EA entirely skipped the Switch generation.

...Read more

When friends love a game, you learn about it through osmosis. They discuss the campaign’s challenges, its failings and the reasons they keep on playing despite the frustrations. That’s how I absorbed everything about “Grounded” before wholeheartedly jumping in.

My brother played it religiously and regaled me about his adventures in ...Read more

Did you know you can download and install the new iOS 26 ahead of this fall’s launch, if your phone can handle it?

Apple traditionally announces the new versions of their operating systems during their annual Worldwide Developer Conference each June and then releases them right around the time the new iPhones go on sale in September.

...Read more

After a long and tiring day, your legs will benefit from Urevo's new AI-powered wireless Relax Massager. The portable massager is part of the Urevo Wellness Care series of products. It’s designed for a variety of uses, including overall muscle relaxation, stress relief and pain management. It can be taken anywhere.

If you do have any ...Read more

Florida is plagued by invasive creatures, but it’s the native rainbow snake that state officials are asking people to report on sight.

The reason: The snakes are increasingly tough to find, giving rise to fears the species is dying out, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says.

“We need help from Floridians and visitors ...Read more

The Environmental Protection Agency announced the first national drinking water standard for six so-called forever chemicals Wednesday, a change that could cost Washington public water utilities an estimated $1.6 billion, according to state officials.

The EPA’s legally enforceable limits for two of the most persistent of these chemicals, PFOA...Read more