Science
- Time
Here's What We Know So Far About the Downtown Denver Shooting
A shooting in downtown Denver left one person dead and four others injured Monday afternoon with police scrambling to locate a suspect who is still at large. The shooting occurred just a few blocks from Coors Field baseball stadium, home of the Colorado Rockies. “It’s too early in the investigation to be able to say exactly what happened here and why,” Denver Police spokesperson Doug Schepman told reporters Monday evening.
- Mashable
Trump administration changes EPA website to be kinder to fracking
A watchdog group known as the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative tracked those changes across the EPA’s site and just released a report documenting the group’s findings. The result of the changes has left an official U.S. government website looking more like an extension of the fossil fuel industry than a federal agency with a mission to protect the environment. The most obvious EPA website change from the report is the very title of the fracking page.
- Time
'The Fire in Us Is Still Burning.' Hong Kong Democracy Leaders Go on Trial Over the 2014 Occupy Protests
Three of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists and six others went on trial Monday for spearheading the tumultuous “Occupy Central” demonstrations in 2014. Bearing yellow umbrellas, a symbol of the pro-democracy movement, they pumped their fists and chanted, “We want real elections.” Supporters also packed into Hong Kong’s West Kowloon District Court, and greeted the defendants with a raucous standing ovation during a trial recess. Law professor Benny Tai, 54, sociologist Chan Kin-man, 59, and Reverend Chu Yiu-ming, 74, face three charges: conspiracy to cause public nuisance, inciting others to cause public nuisance and “incitement to incite public nuisance.” Each charge carries up to seven years in prison.
AFPCalifornia wildfire pollution paralyzes San Francisco region
The sidewalk cafes of this Silicon Valley city, usually packed at lunchtime with workers from Google and other high-tech companies, were mostly abandoned Monday afternoon. San Francisco reported unhealthy air quality for the 12th straight day on Monday. Purple Air, a private company that monitors air quality worldwide, last week ranked Northern California as having the foulest air around the globe.
Associated PressThe scoop on how your cat's sandpapery tongue deep cleans
Cat lovers know when kitties groom, their tongues are pretty scratchy. Using high-tech scans and some other tricks, scientists are learning how those sandpapery tongues help cats get clean and stay cool. The secret: Tiny hooks that spring up on the tongue — with scoops built in to carry saliva deep into all that fur.
- The Daily Beast
Why Is a Climate Change Skeptic Headlining Science Conferences?
Amidst the otherwise nerdy, sleepy lectures on volcanoes, rocks, and other natural formations was one from Peter L. Ward, a retired geophysicist, who delivered a talk on how volcanic eruptions—not greenhouse gases—are behind climate change. “This is definitely not our press release,” Christa Stratton, the director of education, communications, and outreach at the GSA, told The Daily Beast.
AFPAfghan opium producers hit hard by drought in 2018
Afghan opium producers were hit hard by the worst drought in living memory this year and excessive supply, with output and prices falling sharply as the area under poppy cultivation shrank, an annual survey said Monday. Potential opium production from this year's harvest dropped 29 percent to 6,400 tons -- partially reversing last year's 87 percent increase -- as cultivation shrank by 20 percent and yields fell. The sharp drop in area under cultivation to 263,000 hectares (650,000 acres) was still the second-highest level since systemic opium poppy monitoring began in 1994, according to the Afghanistan Opium Survey, jointly compiled by the UNODC and the Afghan counter-narcotics ministry.
- Time
Nissan To Dismiss Chairman Over 'Significant Misconduct'
Nissan said it was providing information to the prosecutors and cooperating with their investigation. The allegations also concern a Nissan representative director, Greg Kelly, it said. Nissan’s CEO Hiroto Saikawa planned to propose to its board that Ghosn and Kelly both be removed from their posts, the company said in a statement.
- People
Scientists Have Finally Figured Out Why Wombats' Poop Is Shaped Like a Cube
It’s a question scientists have been trying to address for some time about a phenomenon you probably didn’t even know existed: Why do wombats poop in cube form? One researcher, Dr. Patricia Yang, finally has an answer, which she presented to the world
- Time
President Trump Criticizes a Retired Four-Star Navy Admiral for Not Finding Bin Laden 'Sooner' in Wide-Ranging New Interview
President Trump addressed the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the recent court decision reinstating CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta‘s press pass, his own claims about the media and many other subjects in a wide-ranging interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Sunday. “I’m only saying it very differently than anyone’s ever said it before,” the President told Wallace, before reiterating claims that much of the mainstream coverage of his presidency is false. Responding to Trump’s “fake news” claims, Wallace brought up Retired Admiral William McRaven, who led the operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
AFP12 dead in Vietnam floods, landslides
Flash floods and landslides killed at least 12 people in central Vietnam, officials said Sunday, as hundreds of troops were dispatched to clean up destroyed villages and washed out roads. Heavy rains pounded the central Khanh Hoa province over the past few days as tropical depression Toraji blew in from the South China Sea, triggering landslides that wiped out houses and destroyed a small reservoir. The main highway linking north and south Vietnam was temporarily blocked and some railway routes were interrupted, while images on state media showed destroyed houses buried under debris and vehicles submerged in floods.
- American City Business Journals
Virgin Orbit Boeing 747 takes first flight with rocket attached (Photos)
Virgin Orbit's Boeing 747 flew for the first time with a LauncherOne space rocket attached on Sunday, just one week after the modified jumbo jet performed high-speed taxi tests. The space company, founded by Sir Richard Branson, said it was the first time a Boeing 747 has ever carried a rocket in flight. The 80-minute test over Victorville, California was "a picture-perfect flight, and a major step forward in our quest to bring a new capability to small satellite launch," Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a news release.
- Time
The Thanksgiving Tale We Tell Is a Harmful Lie. As a Native American, I’ve Found a Better Way to Celebrate the Holiday
Every November, I get asked an unfortunate, loaded question: “You’re a Native American—what do you eat on Thanksgiving?” My answer spans my lifetime. Growing up, I went to a very small country school on the reservation, in the poorest county in the United States.
- Meredith Videos
Michael Bloomberg Makes 'Unprecedented' $1.8 Billion Donation to Johns Hopkins to Boost Financial Aid
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Sunday he’s donating $1.8 billion to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, to boost financial aid for low- and middle-income students.
AFPThousands evacuated as Guatemala volcano erupts, then stops
Guatemalan authorities declared a red alert and evacuated around 4,000 people Monday after the Fuego volcano erupted for the fifth time this year, sending bursts of ash and lava down the mountain before its activity decreased and then stopped. Memories are still painfully fresh of the volcano's eruption in June, which swept away villages and left nearly 200 people dead and 235 missing. The Institute of Volcanology's director Pablo Oliva said the volcano's activity level had dropped significantly by late Monday.
- Bloomberg
Musk Says SpaceX Isn’t Planning to Reuse the Falcon 9 Rocket
Falcon 9 will only go through “minor tweaks to improve on reliability only, provided NASA & USAF are supportive,” Musk said when answering a question from a Twitter user. In 2016, Musk introduced the term BFR to describe a rocket designed to take passengers and cargo to Mars.
BGR NewsYou can now visit a black hole in virtual reality
Black holes are scary. Researchers from Radboud University in The Netherlands teamed up with scientists at Germany’s Goethe University to produce an incredible VR simulation using data models, turning past observations and readings of the black hole into a visualization that puts you right next to it. “Synthetic images at four astronomically-relevant observing frequencies are generated from the perspective of an observer with a full 360∘ view inside the accretion flow, who is advected with the flow as it evolves,” the researchers write.
- Time
Let's All Give Thanks That the Viral Thanksgiving Challenge Is Here to Prank Parents
Young people today are always often getting blamed for “killing” things, like, cheese, Applebee’s and divorce. This Thanksgiving, they may have unwittingly stumbled upon its latest victim: their dinner guests. This past weekend, younger people have been scaring their parents by asking them how to cook a turkey in the microwave, in order to bait their outraged reactions and share them on Instagram and Twitter. Some parents warned about the dangers of food-borne illness, others feared that a frozen turkey would possibly explode in the microwave.
- MarketWatch
Doing this one thing could make you a better investor — and it’s free
The best retirement financial advice you can get might be to get more sleep. Furthermore, retirees typically would like to sleep more, but can’t — due to the disruptions in sleep patterns that are a normal part of the aging process.
- ABC News Videos
The moment 'Mary Poppins Returns' star Emily Blunt learned she got the part
Blunt told ABC News it felt like director Rob Marshall "was sort of proposing to me" when she learned she had landed the title character role.
AFPThai prosecutor among trio jailed for $1.4m rhino horn haul
A public prosecutor and two Thais were sentenced for four years Tuesday after they were caught attempting to smuggle more than a dozen rhino horns worth $1.4 million through Bangkok's main airport last year. The smugglers were caught with bulging bags of the contraband at Suvarnabhumi airport, accompanied by the senior justice official who tried to sneak them through customs undetected. The two smugglers, Thitirat Arai and Kansini Anutranusatra, fled after they were stopped by customs officials who x-rayed the bag.
- Time
A New Peanut Allergy Drug Could Be a Promising Treatment for Children
A new drug could become the first-ever protective treatment for the more than one million children in the U.S. who suffer from peanut allergies. In a phase-three trial, the results of which were published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the peanut-derived drug AR101 helped some children with severe peanut allergies tolerate the equivalent of two peanut kernels without serious side effects. Prior to taking the drug, none of these children could safely ingest more than the equivalent of one-tenth of a kernel.
Associated PressRussian, US officials say space cooperation remains strong
Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin and Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human explorations and operations, said after a conference marking the 20th anniversary of the International Space Station that their agencies plan to collaborate on developing a moon orbiting outpost. Russia is working on a heavy booster rocket and a new spacecraft to complement American projects intended for a future moon mission, Rogozin said. Gerstenmaier spoke in kind, noting that space exploration "has driven us together" as effective partners that could "be an example to the outside world.
MashableHow the eerie drone of a 'Star Trek' spaceship's engine lulls people to sleep
"Have we become so fearful, have we become so cowardly, that we must extinguish a man because he carries the blood of a current enemy?" Picard asks a spaceship tribunal. Curiously enough, this science fiction sound has expanded well-beyond the outer fringes of the galaxy: Today, common Earthlings listen to hours-long loops of the Enterprise's incessant, deep, industrial hum. It's a type of (perhaps unconventional) white noise: light ambient hums that muffle perturbing or bothersome sounds.
- Motley Fool
Better Buy: CRISPR Therapeutics AG vs. Sangamo Therapeutics Inc.
Sangamo Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGMO), for example, claims a big pipeline lead over CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ: CRSP). Which of these two gene-editing biotech stocks really is the smarter alternative for long-term investors? As its name indicates, CRISPR Therapeutics focuses on using CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing to treat diseases.
