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Lawsuits seeking to address climate change have promise but face uncertain future

The U.S. Supreme Court in March 2025 ended a decade-old lawsuit filed by a group of children who sought to hold the federal government responsible for some of the consequences of climate change. But just two months earlier, the justices allowed a similar suit from the city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii, to continue against oil and gas ...Read more

CleanAIRE NC/CleanAIRE NC/TNS

Trump has canceled environmental justice grants. Here's what communities are losing

Jabaar Edmond has long advocated for better air quality in his Childs Park neighborhood in St. Petersburg, Florida.

For decades, residents of the predominantly Black neighborhood complained of a persistent gasolinelike odor.

“We had an initiative called ‘Smell something, say something,’” said Edmond, former president of the ...Read more

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Scientist find strong evidence of alien life on faraway planet

Scientists using The James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered potentially earth-shattering evidence indicating a faraway world could be home to alien life.

A team at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Astronomy made the discovery while studying the atmosphere of K2-18 b, a planet orbiting a dwarf star in the constellation Leo, about...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

French university's 'Safe Place for Science' draws US applicants

Aix Marseille University’s “Safe Place for Science” program, which aims to attract top U.S. graduates, claims it’s received nearly 300 applications from scholars “wishing to pursue their research in complete freedom.”

University President Eric Berton said Thursday the school proposed a bill this week requesting “scientific refugee...Read more

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Live colossal squid, super-heavyweight of the deep sea, caught on video for the first time

The colossal squid, the world's largest squid species, was caught on video for the first time swimming in its natural habitat, according to a California ocean research organization.

This squid, as its name suggests, can grow to as much as 23 feet in length and 1,100 pounds — the heaviest invertebrate in the world — according to the Schmidt ...Read more

Appliance efficiency standards save consumers billions, reduce pollution and fight climate change

President Donald Trump has said he wants to reverse decades of regulations about energy efficiency in American household appliances, claiming doing so will provide Americans with “freedom to choose” products that meet their needs.

In an April 9, 2025, statement, Trump claimed he could alter government regulations on his own, ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

How Orange County plans to sterilize mosquitos to limit pest's spread of disease

Mosquito season has arrived in Southern California. That means more mosquitoes will be flying around looking for someone to bite.

“There’s not a lot of things that we can all agree on, especially in this day and age, right? But if there’s one thing that can bring us together, it’s that mosquitoes suck,” said Brian Brannon, a ...Read more

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Trump administration seeks to narrow Endangered Species Act by redefining 'harm'

The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed a rule to redefine what it means to “harm” a protected species under the Endangered Species Act, a move conservationists say will strip vulnerable plants and animals of habitat they need to survive.

The proposal advanced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries ...Read more

Monterey Bay Eco Tours/Monterey Bay Eco Tours/TNS

Jane Goodall talks of protecting sea otters, joins boat tour in California wetland

MOSS LANDING — Aboard a quiet, full catamaran, legendary conservationist Jane Goodall spoke to her latest mission: supporting the survival of Monterey Bay’s charming, yet still vulnerable, icon – the sea otter.

During a visit to Carmel last month, a conversation between Goodall and former Monterey Bay Aquarium Executive Director Julie ...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Plagued with pollution for decades, Tijuana River ranked nation's second most endangered

The Tijuana River has been plagued with raw sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana for decades, fouling beaches along the U.S.-Mexico border with polluted water and sending foul odors drifting through communities in San Diego County.

On Wednesday, the environmental group American Rivers ranked the Tijuana River No. 2 on its annual list of the...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Will global warming impact your life? Results from poll break 28-year record

A record-high share of Americans now consider global warming to be a major concern, according to a new poll.

In the latest Gallup survey, 48% of respondents said global warming will pose a “serious threat” to them or their way of life during their lifetime — the highest share recorded since 1997, when the question was first asked.

It ...Read more

How single-stream recycling works − your choices can make it better

Every week, millions of Americans toss their recyclables into a single bin, trusting that their plastic bottles, aluminum cans and cardboard boxes will be given a new life.

But what really happens after the truck picks them up?

Single-stream recycling makes participating in recycling easy, but behind the scenes, complex ...Read more

Cuktech/Cuktech/TNS

Tech review: These tech gifts will please anyone

It is getting to be time for gift-giving for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and graduations. Today I have a few gift ideas that I’ve been trying out for a few weeks and I think they’d make anyone happy.

Cuktech 15 Ultra Power Bank

Batteries have advanced in recent years and it is great to able to carry your own power when there might not ...Read more

MBARI. PRESS RELEASE/TNS

Underwater robots, great white sharks and glowing jellyfish: New $50 million high-tech ship arrives to unlock ocean mysteries

During his lifetime, David Packard was a Silicon Valley pioneer, starting one of the nation’s leading tech companies, Hewlett Packard, in his Palo Alto, California, garage with his friend Bill Hewlett and $538, and then using the fortune he earned to explore and preserve the world’s oceans.

Although Packard died in 1996, the latest of his ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Spotify down as outages reported worldwide

Audio streaming platform Spotify was down Wednesday with outages reported around the world.

Thousands reported being unable to access the service around 8 a.m. EST, according to Down Detector.

Users of the app reported an unending loading screen while the website featured a 502 error message.

About an hour after the first reports were made, ...Read more

Tyger Williams/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

How Comcast's fast internet gets from data centers to your home, with the help of new tech and AI

How fast is your internet?

For Comcast customers in Philadelphia, the ceiling for speed just got higher.

And it's made possible by what goes on inside a dull-looking Northeast Philadelphia office building where state-of-the-art technology is powering the network 24/7.

In recent months, the majority of Comcast's residential and business ...Read more

Handout/Don Lindich/TNS

Sound Advice: A small air fryer, audio system upgrades and portable CD players

Small air fryer gets it done for under $50: My cooking website is launching very soon, and I recently retired my old air fryer so I searched for a new one with the goal of finding a small model that performs well. I came across this gem that is perfect for those who cook for one or two people, or when storage and counter space is at a premium.

...Read more

Miami researchers are testing a textured seawall designed to hold back water and create a home for marine organisms

Morningside Park, a beloved neighborhood park in Miami with sweeping views of Biscayne Bay, will soon pilot an innovative approach to coastal resilience.

BIOCAP tiles, a 3D-printed modular system designed to support marine life and reduce wave impact along urban seawalls, will be installed on the existing seawall there in spring 2025....Read more

Wide variety of old-growth ecosystems across the US makes their conservation a complex challenge

In an old-growth longleaf pine savanna, the absurdly long pine needles sing in the wind. Once considered forests, these landscapes in the southeastern U.S. coastal plain are open-canopied and sunny, more grassland than forest, with underbrush kept clear by frequent fires.

Longleaf pines – their needles can be up to 18 inches long �...Read more

Jim Rossman/Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Best charging habits for your phone’s battery health? Don’t overthink it

This week a reader asks two specific questions about charging batteries.

1. Are faster chargers harder on batteries than slower chargers (for example, is a 20-watt charger harder on a battery than a 12-watt charger)?

2. Are more partial charging sessions (for example, to only 50%) harder on a battery than fewer charging sessions to 80%? Is ...Read more