ABOARD A NASA RESEARCH PLANE — NASA scientists are crisscrossing Greenland on a mission to track melting ice. Greenland has been melting faster in the last decade and this summer, it has seen two of the biggest melts on record since 2012. Global warming is the chief culprit, but scientists...
First Tracked Mountain Lion Crosses the 405 Freeway in LA
LOS ANGELES — Officials say for the first time during a 17-year study of mountain lion populations, one of the big cats has been documented crossing Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. The National Park Service said Thursday that P-61 navigated the massive freeway between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on...
First Tracked Mountain Lion Crosses the 405 Freeway in LA
LOS ANGELES — Officials say for the first time during a 17-year study of mountain lion populations, one of the big cats has been documented crossing Interstate 405 in Los Angeles. The National Park Service said Thursday that P-61 navigated the massive freeway between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. on...
Floating Antarctic Ice Goes From Record High to Record Lows
WASHINGTON — The amount of ice circling Antarctica is suddenly plunging from a record high to record lows, baffling scientists. Floating ice off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014. But three years later, the annual average extent of Antarctic sea ice hit...
Scientists Seek Beaches Where Dead Whales Can Rot in Peace
PORTLAND, Ore. — So many gray whales are dying off the U.S. West Coast that scientists and volunteers dealing with the putrid carcasses have an urgent request for coastal residents: Lend us your private beaches so these ocean giants can rot in peace. The number of dead whales washing ashore...
Amid Urgent Climate Warnings, EPA Gives Coal a Reprieve
WASHINGTON — Amid scientists' increasingly urgent warnings, the Trump administration ordered a sweeping about-face Wednesday on Obama-era efforts to fight climate change, easing restrictions on coal-fired power plants in a move it predicted would revitalize America's sagging coal industry. As miners in hard hats and coal-country lawmakers applauded, Environmental Protection...
New California Sea Dragon Habitat Is Among World’s Largest
LA JOLLA — At first glance, it looks like a branch of kelp, but then an eye moves among its leafy appendages, and ridges of tiny, translucent fins start to flutter, sending the creature gliding through the water like something from a fairy tale. A Southern California aquarium has built...
Scientists Reveal First Image Ever Made of a Black Hole
WASHINGTON — Scientists on Wednesday revealed the first image ever made of a black hole, depicting a fiery ring of gravity-twisted light swirling around the edge of the abyss. The picture, assembled from data gathered by eight radio telescopes around the world, shows the hot, shadowy lip of a supermassive...
Meow Hear This: Study Says Cats React to Sound of Their Name
NEW YORK — Hey Kitty! Yes, you. A new study suggests household cats can respond to the sound of their own names. No surprise to you or most cat owners, right? But Japanese scientists said Thursday that they've provided the first experimental evidence that cats can distinguish between words that...
AP Finds Hot Records Falling Twice as Often as Cold Ones
Over the past 20 years, Americans have been twice as likely to sweat through record-breaking heat rather than shiver through record-setting cold, a new Associated Press data analysis shows. The AP looked at 424 weather stations throughout the Lower 48 states that had consistent temperature records since 1920 and counted...