China launches new crew for space station, with eye to putting astronauts on moon before 2030
May 30, 2023 GMTBEIJING (AP) — China launched a new three-person crew for its orbiting space station on Tuesday, with an eye to putting astronauts on the moon before the end of the decade.
Thousands evacuated as Philippines warns of flooding, landslides from approaching Typhoon Mawar
May 29, 2023 GMTMANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials began evacuating thousands of villagers, shut down schools and offices and imposed a no-sail ban Monday as Typhoon Mawar approached the country’s northern provinces a week after battering the U.S.
IAEA team in Japan for final review before planned discharge of Fukushima nuclear plant water
May 29, 2023 GMTTOKYO (AP) — An International Atomic Energy Agency team arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a final review before Japan begins releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, a plan that has been strongly opposed by local fishing communities and neighboring countries.
SANTIAGO XALITZINTLA, Mexico (AP) — When the Popocatepetl volcano reawakened in 1994, Mexican scientists needed people in the area who could be their eyes and ears. State police helped them find one, Nefi de Aquino, a farmer then in his 40s who lived beside the volcano.
Crash of private Japanese moon lander blamed on software, last-minute location switch
May 26, 2023 GMTCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private Japanese moon lander went into free-fall while trying to land on the lunar surface last month, company officials said Friday, blaming a software issue and a last-minute switch in the touchdown location.
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s government announced Friday that a U.N. Latin America regional group has endorsed a Brazilian city in the Amazon region to host the 2025 U.N. climate change conference, though the world body has not yet publicly confirmed the venue.
Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink says it has US approval to begin trials in people
May 26, 2023 GMTElon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink says it's gotten permission from U.S. regulators to begin testing its device in people.
The company made the announcement on Twitter Thursday evening but has provided no details about a potential study, which was not listed on the U.S.
Danish masters prepped canvases with leftovers from brewing beer
May 24, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Danish painters in the 19th century may have turned to an unusual source for some of their supplies: breweries.
Researchers examined paintings from the Danish Golden Age and found traces of yeast and grains.
China plans to land astronauts on moon before 2030, expand space station, bring on foreign partners
May 29, 2023 GMTBEIJING (AP) — China’s burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country's orbiting space station, officials said Monday.
Three cheetah cubs die in India amid sweltering heat wave
May 26, 2023 GMTNEW DELHI (AP) — Three cheetah cubs born to a big cat that was brought to India from Africa last year died in central India’s Kuno National Park in the past week, forest officials said, as a heat wave in the region sent temperatures soaring.
How busy will Atlantic hurricane season be? Depends on who wins unusual battle of climatic titans
May 26, 2023 GMTTwo clashing climatic behemoths, one natural and one with human fingerprints, will square off this summer to determine how quiet or chaotic the Atlantic hurricane season will be.
An El Nino is brewing and the natural weather event dramatically dampens hurricane activity.
Virgin Galactic completes final test flight before launching paying customers to space
May 26, 2023 GMTALBUQUERQUE, N.M (AP) — Virgin Galactic completed what is expected to be its final test flight Thursday before taking paying customers on brief trips to space, marking what the space tourism company described as a “fantastic achievement” in what has been a long road to commercial operations.
New Bedford once lit the world with whale oil. Now it wants to do the same with wind power
May 25, 2023 GMTNEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — New Bedford was once the city that lit the world, exporting vast quantities of whale oil for lamps in the early 1800s. Workers packed the docks, unloading casks of oil that had been extracted at sea from whale carcasses and brought in by a fleet of hundreds of whaling ships.
Japan nuclear watchdog asks Fukushima plant operator to assess risk from reactor damage
May 25, 2023 GMTTOKYO (AP) — A nuclear watchdog has asked the operator of Japan’s wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant to assess possible risks resulting from damage that was found in a key supporting structure inside one of the three melted reactors.
As India’s electrical grid strains, rural hospitals and clinics find reliable power in rooftop solar
May 25, 2023 GMTRAICHUR, India (AP) — In the searing heat that often envelops Raichur, an ancient town in southern India, a ceiling fan that spins without interruption brings sweet relief for the newborn babies and their mothers at the Government Maternity Hospital.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Energy security concerns — worsened by the war in Ukraine — and policy support from rich countries are likely to help investments in clean energy outpace spending on fossil fuels, the International Energy Agency said in a report issued Thursday.
Flying drones and chasing data, Indigenous women in Guyana join fight against climate change
May 25, 2023 GMTRUBY VILLAGE, Guyana (AP) — A small group of Indigenous women in northern Guyana are the latest weapon in the fight against climate change in this South American country where 90% of the population lives below sea level.
What makes a storm a typhoon? What’s a super typhoon?
May 25, 2023 GMTTyphoon Mawar was a Category 4 super typhoon with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (241 kph) or greater when it crossed the northern tip of Guam on Wednesday night.
Yellowstone baby bison put to death after visitor picks it up, leading herd to reject it
May 24, 2023 GMTYELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A man who picked up a bison calf in Yellowstone National Park caused it to be shunned by its herd, prompting park officials to kill the animal rather than allow it to be a hazard to visitors.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — After more than a decade of controversy and delays, the nation's most secure biosecurity laboratory for research on potentially deadly animal and plant diseases has opened in Manhattan, Kansas.
Lolita the whale may someday return to wild, Miami park says, but timeline uncertain
May 24, 2023 GMTMIAMI (AP) — Caregivers at a South Florida ocean park are taking steps to prepare Lolita, an orca whale held captive for more than a half-century, for a possible return to her home waters in Washington’s Puget Sound.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Newly fitted with tracking bands, four peregrine falcon chicks named Pickles, Muhammad, Egbert and Swooper have a nest in one of the best seats — make that perches — at Michigan State University's football stadium.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Sea urchins in Israel's Gulf of Eilat have been dying off at an alarming rate, researchers announced Wednesday — a development that threatens the Red Sea’s prized coral reef ecosystems.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — In the depths of the Amazon, Brazil is building an otherworldly structure — a complex of towers arrayed in six rings, poised to spray mists of carbon dioxide into the rainforest.
South Korea experts say Japan carefully answered questions on plan to release radioactive water
May 24, 2023 GMTTOKYO (AP) — The head of a South Korean team of experts said Wednesday they saw all of the facilities they had requested to visit at Japan’s tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and Japanese officials had carefully answered their questions about a contentious plan to release treated but still slightly radioactive water into the sea, a sign of a further thawing of ties between the countries.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea canceled its planned launch Wednesday of its first commercial-grade satellite due to a technical issue, days after rival North Korea reaffirmed its push to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's push to become a bigger player in the clean energy market is in the spotlight this week at a conference convened by its Republican governor, even as the state continues to embrace new fossil fuel production, including the controversial Willow oil project on the petroleum-rich North Slope.
BERLIN (AP) — Germany's government is facing a major test after two junior partners in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's three-party coalition sparred publicly over a key element in the country's ambitious climate policy.
LONDON (AP) — Climate change protesters were dragged away as they tried to storm the stage at Shell’s shareholder meeting Tuesday, while activist investors added pressure with a resolution demanding the global oil and gas giant beef up its emissions strategy.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station rolled out the welcome mat Monday for two Saudi visitors, including the kingdom's first female astronaut.
SpaceX's chartered flight arrived at the orbiting lab less than 16 hours after blasting off from Florida. The four guests will spend just over a week there, before returning to Earth in their capsule.
Book Review: In ‘Brave the Wild River,’ the true story of 2 scientists who explored the Grand Canyon
May 22, 2023 GMTPHOENIX (AP) — “Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon” by Melissa L. Sevigny (W. W. Norton & Company)
Long before climate change threatened the very existence of the Colorado River, two women botanists set off with a group of amateur boatmen to record the plants that lived along what was then the most dangerous river in the world.
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A bulldozer began moving sand along a stretch of badly eroded beach Monday in a Jersey Shore town where the bitter fight over how to protect its rapidly shrinking shoreline has led to $33 million worth of litigation.
In the Amazon, Brazilian ecologists try new approach against deforestation and poverty
May 22, 2023 GMTCARAUARI, Brazil (AP) — In a remote corner of the Amazon, Brazilian ecologists are trying to succeed where a lack of governance has proved disastrous. They're managing a stretch of land in a way that welcomes both local people and scientists to engage in preserving the world’s largest tropical forest.
India scorched by extreme heat with monsoon rains delayed
May 22, 2023 GMTLUCKNOW, India (AP) — Swathes of India from the northwest to the southeast braced for more scorching heat Monday, with New Delhi under a severe weather alert, as extreme temperatures strike parts of the country.
UN agency: 2M killed, $4.3 trillion in damages from extreme weather over past half-century
May 22, 2023 GMTGENEVA (AP) — The economic damage of weather- and climate-related disasters continues to rise, even as improvements in early warning have helped reduce the human toll, the U.N. weather agency said Monday.
SpaceX sends Saudi astronauts, including nation’s 1st woman in space, to International Space Station
May 22, 2023 GMTCAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s first astronauts in decades rocketed toward the International Space Station on a chartered multimillion-dollar flight Sunday.
SpaceX launched the ticket-holding crew, led by a retired NASA astronaut now working for the company that arranged the trip from Kennedy Space Center.
Mount Etna volcano erupts, raining ash on Catania, forcing flight suspension at local airport
May 21, 2023 GMTROME (AP) — Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, was erupting on Sunday, spewing ash on Catania, eastern Sicily’s largest city, and forcing a suspension of flights at that city’s airport.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Unfounded claims about Indiana University’s sex research institute, its founder and child sex abuse have been so persistent over the years that when the Legislature prohibited the institute from using state dollars, one lawmaker hailed the move as “long overdue.”
Here are the restrictions on transgender people that are moving forward in US statehouses
May 19, 2023 GMTA federal judge is considering whether to block Florida's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, as bills targeting the rights of trans people are being embraced by Republican governors and statehouses across the country.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.
Threatening 22 million people, Mexico’s Popocatepetl is a very closely watched volcano
May 19, 2023 GMTMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano rumbled to life again this week, belching out towering clouds of ash that forced 11 villages to cancel school sessions.
The residents weren't the only ones keeping a close eye on the towering peak.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A 7.7 magnitude earthquake caused a small tsunami to wash ashore on South Pacific islands Friday. No damage has been reported, and the threat passed in a few hours.
Waves 60 centimeters (2 feet) above tide level were measured off Lenakel, a port town in Vanuatu, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
Oil drilling project near mouth of Amazon River rejected by Brazil’s environmental regulator
May 18, 2023 GMTRIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s environmental regulator has rejected a license for a controversial offshore oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River that had drawn strong opposition from activists who warned of its potential for damaging the area.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A selection of bones belonging to a juvenile mastodon who roamed the woods of Michigan 13,000 years ago is now on display at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, after workers unearthed it by chance last year.
Videos show purported ivory-billed woodpeckers as US moves toward extinction decision
May 18, 2023 GMTNew video and photographs purporting to show ivory-billed woodpeckers flying in a Louisiana forest were published by researchers on Thursday, as government officials said they will make a final decision this year on whether the birds are extinct.
New Jersey blinks in dune repairs standoff, allows emergency erosion fixes in defiant town
May 18, 2023 GMTNORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey environmental officials will allow a shore town to carry out emergency repairs to its badly eroded beachfront, even as they continue a years-long fight with city officials over how best to protect the popular Jersey Shore resort's fragile coastline.
France moves to ban smoking in woodlands to combat growing climate-related risk of mega fires
May 18, 2023 GMTPARIS (AP) — French lawmakers have voted to ban smoking in all forests and woods during the fire season, part of a series of proposed measures to tackle growing destruction and dangers from climate change-related blazes.
Biden administration invests in carbon capture, upping pressure on industry to show results
May 18, 2023 GMTThe Biden administration on Wednesday announced $251 million for carbon capture and storage projects in seven states, aiming to reduce planet-warming pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s environmental regulator refused on Wednesday to grant a license for a controversial offshore oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River, prompting celebration from environmentalists who had warned of its potential impact.
Exceptional rains in drought-struck northern Italy kill 8, cancel Formula One Grand Prix
May 18, 2023 GMTCASTEL BOLOGNESE, Italy (AP) — Exceptional rains Wednesday in a drought-struck region of northern Italy swelled rivers over their banks, killing at least eight people, forcing the evacuation of thousands and prompting officials to warn that Italy needs a national plan to combat climate change-induced flooding.
EPA rule would force clean-up of toxic coal ash dumped in landfills, ponds near power plants
May 17, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal announced Wednesday would for the first time require safe management of so-called coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “legacy" ponds and other inactive sites that currently are unregulated at the federal level.
Pale Male, red-tailed hawk who nested above NYC’s Fifth Avenue for 30 years, dies at 33
May 17, 2023 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Pale Male, a red-tailed hawk who brought a touch of the wild to swanky Manhattan as he nested above Fifth Avenue for three decades, has died.
Pale Male died late Tuesday after being found ill and grounded in Central Park, wildlife rehabilitator Bobby Horvath posted on Facebook. The hawk was believed to be 33 years old.
The likelihood that Earth briefly hits key warming threshold grows bigger and closer, UN forecasts
May 17, 2023 GMTThere's a two-out-of-three chance that the world will temporarily hit a key warming limit within the next five years, the United Nations weather agency said Wednesday.
Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions
May 17, 2023 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Ice jams that blocked two Alaska rivers broke loose over the weekend, unleashing a surge of ice and water that caused major floods, damaged homes and left behind huge chunks of ice as tall as 12 feet (3.7 meters).
A rare, endangered seal named Yulia basks on Tel Aviv beach
May 16, 2023 GMTTEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An unexpected visitor spotted sunbathing on a beach in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv is turning heads and causing a media buzz.
But it's not American film director and Tel Aviv mainstay, Quentin Tarantino, or another Hollywood celebrity — it's Yulia, an endangered Mediterranean monk seal.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A staple seafood species caught by East Coast fishers for centuries is experiencing overfishing, and regulators have cut catch quotas by more than 80% to prevent the fish's population from collapse.