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China’s clean air efforts may be speeding up global warming
In 2013, China launched an ambitious campaign to clean up its air. Cities like Beijing, once blanketed by thick industrial smog, began to see blue skies. Sulphur dioxide levels across East Asia dropped by approximately 75 percent over the following decade. It was a global public health victory, saving lives and improving daily life for
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Cascadia’s threat: The quake that could redraw the Pacific Northwest in minutes
Off the coasts of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia lies a 600-mile geological fault that’s been ominously quiet for over 300 years. This is the Cascadia Subduction Zone, where the smaller Juan de Fuca Plate pushes beneath the North American Plate. Instead of sliding smoothly, the plates are locked. Strain builds year after
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First documented harpy eagle attack on human shocks scientists
The forest near the Kourou River in French Guiana had fallen quiet, save for the hush of wind through canopy leaves. It was October 2023. A group of birdwatchers, guided by a local ecotourism camp, had set out on a jungle trail toward a natural bathing pool. Somewhere overhead, a harpy eagle watched. They spotted
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The octopus that can stop your heart—and might fix it
Perched in tide pools and reefs from Japan to Australia, the blue-ringed octopus is as beautiful as it is deadly. Barely the size of a golf ball, this unassuming creature carries a toxin strong enough to paralyze a human within minutes. But beneath its lethal reputation lies a paradox: its venom, tetrodotoxin, could also help
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Scientists find brain circuit that turns pain into suffering
What if the real source of pain isn’t your body, but your brain’s reaction to it? That’s the question researchers at the Salk Institute are exploring through a groundbreaking discovery: a previously hidden neural pathway that gives pain its emotional weight. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (read the study), the
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Woman taken by shark off Tathra Beach, 10 years later her story returns
It was a perfect April morning off the coast of Tathra, New South Wales. Christine Armstrong, a 63-year-old ocean swimmer and pillar of the local surf lifesaving club, set off with her husband and a group of friends to swim their familiar 1,970-foot route from Tathra Wharf to the beach. It was a ritual they
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New study links guppy color to brainpower, sex drive, and survival
Male guppies are tiny, tropical fish, but their looks could rival any fashion week runway. The flashier the color, the greater the odds of finding a mate. Now a new study from the University of British Columbia reveals just how deep that preference runs. Turns out, a male’s vibrant orange isn’t just for show,it’s a
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Plague death confirmed in Arizona, officials urge caution
In a quiet corner of northern Arizona, an ancient killer reappeared. A local resident died at Flagstaff Medical Center on July 11, the first confirmed fatal case of pneumonic plague in Coconino County since 2007. The news is startling, and not just because of the word: plague. For many, it conjures images of the Black
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Florida cat “Pepper” uncovers new virus in backyard shrew
When a black cat showed up with a dead shrew in its mouth, it seemed like any other day in the Gainesville backyard of virologist John Lednicky. But Pepper isn’t just any cat, and that wasn’t just any shrew. The animal turned out to be infected with a virus scientists had never seen before. Lednicky,