Today: October 12, 2024
Today: October 12, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Science

Fresh look at DNA from Oetzi the Iceman traces his roots to present day Turkey

Oetzi the Iceman has a new look. Decades after the famous glacier mummy was discovered in the Italian Alps, scientists have dug back into his DNA to paint a better picture of the ancient hunter. They determined that Oetzi was mostly descended from farmers from present day Turkey, and his head was balder and skin darker than what was initially thought, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Cell Genomics. Oetzi, who lived more than 5,000 years ago, was frozen into the ice after he was killed by an arrow to the back. His

Fresh look at DNA from Oetzi the Iceman traces his roots to present day Turkey
Science

Pig kidney works in a donated body for over a month, a step toward animal-human transplants

Surgeons transplanted a pig’s kidney into a brain-dead man and for over a month it’s worked normally — a critical step toward an operation the New York team hopes to eventually try in living patients. Scientists around the country are racing to learn how to use animal organs to save human lives, and bodies donated for research offer a remarkable rehearsal. The latest experiment announced Wednesday by NYU Langone Health marks the longest a pig kidney has functioned in a person, albeit a deceased one -– and it’s not over. Researchers are set to track the

Pig kidney works in a donated body for over a month, a step toward animal-human transplants
Science

A study of fracking's links to health issues will be released by Pennsylvania researchers

Researchers in heavily drilled Pennsylvania were preparing Tuesday to release findings from taxpayer-financed studies on possible links between the natural gas industry and pediatric cancer, asthma and poor birth outcomes. The four-year, $2.5 million project is wrapping up after the state’s former governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, in 2019 agreed to commission it under pressure from the families of pediatric cancer patients who live amid the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir in western Pennsylvania. A number of states have strengthened their laws around fracking and waste disposal over the past decade. However, researchers have repeatedly said

A study of fracking's links to health issues will be released by Pennsylvania researchers
Science

Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list

Wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui killed at least 96 people, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Emergency management officials say the death toll is expected to rise as cadaver dogs and searchers make their way through the ashes of Lahaina, a historical town of 13,000 where almost every building was destroyed in the blaze. The Maui wildfires are currently the nation’s fifth-deadliest on record, according to research by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit that publishes fire codes and standards used in the U.S. and around the world.

Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list
Science

Judge sides with young activists in first-of-its-kind climate change trial in Montana

A Montana judge on Monday sided with young environmental activists who said state agencies were violating their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment by permitting fossil fuel development without considering its effect on the climate. The ruling in the first-of-its- kind trial in the U.S. adds to a small number of legal decisions around the world that have established a government duty to protect citizens from climate change. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley found the policy the state uses in evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits — which does not allow agencies to evaluate

Judge sides with young activists in first-of-its-kind climate change trial in Montana
Science

Off Alaska coast, research crew peers down, down, down to map deep and remote ocean

For the team aboard the Okeanos Explorer off the coast of Alaska, exploring the mounds and craters of the sea floor along the Aleutian Islands is a chance to surface new knowledge about life in some of the world’s deepest and most remote waters. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research vessel is on a five-month mission aboard a reconfigured former Navy vessel run by civilians and members of the NOAA Corps. The ship, with a 48-member crew, is outfitted with technology and tools to peer deep into the ocean to gather data to share with

Off Alaska coast, research crew peers down, down, down to map deep and remote ocean
Science

NOAA doubles the chances for a nasty Atlantic hurricane season due to hot ocean, tardy El Nino

Record hot ocean temperatures and a tardy El Nino are doubling the chances of a nasty Atlantic hurricane season this summer and fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. With the Atlantic hurricane season already well above normal so far, NOAA increased how many storms to expect and how busy the season can get. The agency says there’s a 60% chance for an above normal hurricane season, twice the agency’s May forecast which said it was 30%. The earlier forecast leaned more toward a near normal season with a 40%, but the chance for normal has now shrunk

NOAA doubles the chances for a nasty Atlantic hurricane season due to hot ocean, tardy El Nino
Science

Russia is to launch its first mission to the moon in almost 50 years

Russia is scheduled to launch its first mission to the moon in nearly 50 years on Friday, pitting it in a space race with India which is also aiming to land a lunar craft this month. The launch of the Luna-25 craft to the moon will be Russia’s first since 1976 when it was part of the Soviet Union and will be conducted without assistance from the European Space Agency, which ended cooperation with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine. The Russian lunar lander is expected to reach the moon on Aug. 23, about the same day

Russia is to launch its first mission to the moon in almost 50 years
Science

Virgin Galactic all set to fly its first tourists to the edge of space

Virgin Galactic is taking its first space tourists on a rocket ship ride after years of delays, including one passenger who bought his ticket 18 years ago and a mother-daughter duo from the Caribbean. The flight window opens Thursday morning at Spaceport America in the New Mexico desert for a ride to the edge of space. If all goes well, Richard Branson’s company will begin offering monthly trips to customers on its winged space plane, joining Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the space tourism business. Virgin Galactic passenger Jon Goodwin, who was among the first to

Virgin Galactic all set to fly its first tourists to the edge of space
Science

The Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend and it's even better this year

The annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak this weekend, sending bright trails of light streaking across the night sky. With only a sliver of moon in the sky, conditions this year will be ideal for seeing lots of meteors. “If you’ve got nice clear weather and a good dark sky, you go out just before dawn and you’ll see a Perseid per minute or so,” said NASA meteor scientist Bill Cooke. “That’s a pretty good show.” Here’s how to watch the meteor shower: WHAT ARE THE PERSEIDS? The Perseids — one of the biggest meteor

The Perseid meteor shower peaks this weekend and it's even better this year
Science

Millions scramble to afford energy bills amid heat waves, but federal program to help falls short

Bobbie Boyd is in a losing battle against near triple-digit temperatures in northwest Arkansas. Her window air conditioner runs nonstop and the ballooning electric bill carves about $240 out of her $882-a-month fixed income. So the 57-year-old cuts other necessities. Boyd eats one meal a day so her 15-year-old grandson, who she’s raising alone, can have two. She stopped paying car insurance and skips medical appointments. “The rent and the light bill. And I’m broke,” said Boyd, who needs the cooling to stave off her heat-induced asthma attacks. As climate change ratchets up temperatures across the U.S.,

Millions scramble to afford energy bills amid heat waves, but federal program to help falls short
Science

Scientists look beyond climate change and El Nino for other factors that heat up Earth

Scientists are wondering if global warming and El Nino have an accomplice in fueling this summer’s record-shattering heat. The European climate agency Copernicus reported that July was one-third of a degree Celsius (six-tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) hotter than the old record. That’s a bump in heat that is so recent and so big, especially in the oceans and even more so in the North Atlantic, that scientists are split on whether something else could be at work. Scientists agree that by far the biggest cause of the recent extreme warming is climate change from the burning of coal, oil

Scientists look beyond climate change and El Nino for other factors that heat up Earth
Science

After a glacial dam outburst destroyed homes in Alaska, a look at the risks of melting ice masses

People in Alaska’s capital have lived for more than a decade with periodic glacial dam outbursts like the one that destroyed at least two homes over the weekend. But the most recent flood was surprising for how quickly the water moved as the surging Mendenhall River devoured riverbanks, undermining and damaging homes, and prompted some residents to flee. Here are some issues surrounding glaciers and the floods that result from the bursting of snow-and-ice dams. WHAT CAUSED THE FLOODING IN JUNEAU? The water came from a side basin of the spectacular but receding Mendenhall Glacier that

After a glacial dam outburst destroyed homes in Alaska, a look at the risks of melting ice masses
Science

Astronauts get first look at the spacecraft that will fly them around the moon

The four astronauts assigned to fly around the moon in another year got their first look at their spacecraft, as NASA warned Tuesday there could be more delays. They peeked into their unfinished Orion capsule, red “Remove Before Flight” tags still dangling from it, and came away impressed. “Nothing else looks like that … that’s what gave me shivers,” astronaut Christina Koch told reporters. The U.S.-Canadian crew inspected the capsule during a visit to Kennedy Space Center late Monday and Tuesday. NASA plans to send the four around the moon and back late next year.

Astronauts get first look at the spacecraft that will fly them around the moon
Science

US east cleans up after deadly storms as New England braces for flooding

Crews across the eastern U.S. worked Tuesday to clear downed trees and powerlines and restore electricity following severe storms that killed at least two people, cut power to more than a million customers at their peak, and forced thousands of flight delays and cancellations. The storms that pounded a swath of the country stretching from Alabama and Tennessee to the Carolinas and New York on Monday continued to lash northern New England with wind and rain a day later. The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down in the Atlantic Coast town of

US east cleans up after deadly storms as New England braces for flooding
Science

European scientists make it official. July was the hottest month on record by far.

Now that July’s sizzling numbers are all in, the European climate monitoring organization made it official: July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin. July’s global average temperature of 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 degrees Fahrenheit) was a third of a degree Celsius (six tenths of a degree Fahrenheit) higher than the previous record set in 2019, Copernicus Climate Change Service, a division of the European Union’s space program, announced Tuesday. Normally global temperature records are broken by hundredths or a tenth of a degree, so this margin is unusual. “These records have dire consequences for both

European scientists make it official. July was the hottest month on record by far.
Science

Even frozen Antarctica is being walloped by climate extremes, scientists find

Even in Antarctica — one of the most remote and desolate places on Earth — scientists say they are finding shattered temperature records and an increase in the size and number of wacky weather events. The southernmost continent is not isolated from the extreme weather associated with human-caused climate change, according to a new paper in Frontiers in Environmental Science that tries to make a coherent picture of a place that has been a climate change oddball. Its western end and especially its peninsula have seen dramatic ice sheet melt that threatens massive sea level rises over the next few

Even frozen Antarctica is being walloped by climate extremes, scientists find
Science

Biden will tout long-sought Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit

President Joe Biden will announce a new national monument to preserve land around Grand Canyon National Park and limit it from mining, White House officials said Monday. White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi confirmed during a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that Biden will call for the designation during his visit to northern Arizona on Tuesday, making it his fifth national monument. A dozen tribes “stepped up” and asked for this monument, Zaidi added. Advocates for limiting mining around Grand Canyon National Park had expressed hope that this would be the reason behind the presidential visit.

Biden will tout long-sought Grand Canyon monument designation during Arizona visit
Science

Boeing's 1st astronaut flight bumped into next year, more repairs needed

Already running years behind, Boeing’s first astronaut flight is now off until at least next March. Problems with the parachute lines and flammable tape surfaced during final reviews in late spring, ahead of what should have been a July launch for the Starliner capsule. Boeing said Monday that it should be done removing the tape in the coming weeks. But a redesigned parachute system won’t be ready until December. If a parachute drop test goes well late this year, company officials said the spacecraft should be ready to carry two NASA astronauts to the International

Boeing's 1st astronaut flight bumped into next year, more repairs needed
Science

The EPA's ambitious plan to cut auto emissions to slow climate change runs into skepticism

The U.S. government’s most ambitious plan ever to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles faces skepticism both about how realistic it is and whether it goes far enough. The Environmental Protection Agency in April announced new strict emissions limits that the agency says are vital to slowing climate change as people around the globe endure record-high temperatures, raging wildfires and intense storms. The EPA says the industry could meet the limits if 67% of new-vehicle sales are electric by 2032, a pace the auto industry calls unrealistic. However, the new rule would not require automakers

The EPA's ambitious plan to cut auto emissions to slow climate change runs into skepticism
Science

6 months after a devastating earthquake, Turkey's preparedness is still uncertain

Dust and rubble fill the street as an excavator tears off chunks of concrete from an old apartment building. Bystanders and former residents watch from afar as construction equipment tears down the structure. Among the bystanders is Ibrahim Ozaydin, 30, a former resident. He watches the demolition not with worry, but with relief, as his building was marked by officials as unsafe months ago. Ozaydin and his family were shocked to learn that the municipality deemed his building uninhabitable. “We decided to build our own house,” he told The Associated Press as he watched his former

6 months after a devastating earthquake, Turkey's preparedness is still uncertain
Science

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence. Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth. On Wednesday, NASA’s Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2’s antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2%.

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence
Science

Climate change made July hotter for 4 of 5 humans on Earth, scientists find

Human-caused global warming made July hotter for four out of five people on Earth, with more than 2 billion people feeling climate change-boosted warmth daily, according to a flash study. More than 6.5 billion people, or 81% of the world’s population, sweated through at least one day where climate change had a significant effect on the average daily temperature, according to a new report issued Wednesday by Climate Central, a science nonprofit that has figured a way to calculate how much climate change has affected daily weather. “We really are experiencing climate change just about everywhere,” said Climate Central Vice

Climate change made July hotter for 4 of 5 humans on Earth, scientists find
Science

Surfs up takes on new meaning as California waves get bigger as Earth warms, research finds

Giant waves, measuring as high as 13 feet (about 4 meters), are becoming more common off California’s coast as the planet warms, according to innovative new research that tracked the surf’s increasing height from historical data gathered over the past 90 years. Oceanographer Peter Bromirski at Scripps Institution of Oceanography used the unusual method of analyzing seismic records dating back to 1931 to measure the change in wave height. When waves ricochet off the shore, they collide with incoming waves and cause a ripple of energy through the seafloor that can be picked up by seismographs

Surfs up takes on new meaning as California waves get bigger as Earth warms, research finds
Science

Biden decides to keep Space Command in Colorado, rejecting move to Alabama

President Joe Biden has decided to keep U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado, overturning a last-ditch decision by the Trump administration to move it to Alabama. The choice ended months of thorny deliberations, but an Alabama lawmaker vowed to fight on. U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Monday that Biden was convinced by the head of Space Command, Gen. James Dickinson, who argued that moving his headquarters now would jeopardize military readiness. Dickinson’s view, however, was in contrast to Air Force leadership, who studied the issue at length and determined that relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, was

Biden decides to keep Space Command in Colorado, rejecting move to Alabama

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