Q&A: Celebrity owl Flaco"s recent death in NYC highlights how bird strikes with buildings are strikingly common
The recent death of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl who escaped from New York City's famed Central Park Zoo last year, brought new attention to the issue of bird strikes: Experts estimate that roughly a billion birds die in the U.S. every year in collisi.....»»
Kenya floods death toll rises to 188 as heavy rains persist
The number of people who have lost their lives in devastating floods in Kenya since March has risen to 188, with dozens still missing, the interior ministry said on Thursday......»»
In the Jersey suburbs, a search for rocks to help fight climate change
In early spring, George Okoko was perched on a ledge 15 feet up a crumbly cliff, trying to whack off a basketball-size piece of rock with a hammer and chisel. The locale was suburban Berkeley Heights, N.J. The rock was basalt, a common product of vol.....»»
Long-awaited Chicago policy doesn"t do enough to protect migrating birds, advocates say
Annette Prince peered between glossy downtown buildings: "There's a bird in that grate.".....»»
CDC, FDA, USDA answer big questions about the growing bird flu outbreak
Representatives with multiple agencies including the CDC, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration on May 1 discussed the latest news about bird flu in the U.S......»»
Why do male chicks play more than females? Study finds answers in distant ancestor
Play is widespread, but far from ubiquitous, across the animal kingdom. Especially common in mammals, play is also known to occur in taxa as diverse as birds, fish, octopuses, and even insects. But what is its function, given that natural selection n.....»»
Some communities are more vulnerable to weather-related power outages in New York State
Weather-related power outages in the United States have become nearly twice as common in the last 10 years compared to the previous decade. These outages, which can last most of a day, are more than an inconvenience: lack of power and related indoor.....»»
Do earthquake hazard maps predict higher shaking than actually occurred? Research finds discrepancy
A new study by Northwestern University researchers and coworkers explains a puzzling problem with maps of future earthquake shaking used to design earthquake-resistant buildings. The research was published May 1 in the journal Science Advances in a p.....»»
Floods strand dozens of tourists in Kenya"s Maasai Mara
Nearly 100 tourists were among people marooned after a river overflowed in Kenya's famed Maasai Mara wildlife reserve following a heavy downpour, a local administrator said Wednesday, as the death toll from flood-related disasters neared 180......»»
This Texas veterinarian helped crack the mystery of bird flu in cows
The first calls that Dr. Barb Petersen received in early March were from dairy owners worried about crows, pigeons and other birds dying on their Texas farms. Then came word that barn cats—half of them on one farm—had died suddenly......»»
More than half of cats on farm died after drinking milk from cows infected with bird flu
In yet another sign that bird flu is spreading widely among mammals, a new report finds more than half of cats at the first Texas dairy farm to have cows test positive for bird flu this spring died after drinking raw milk......»»
Kenya"s devastating floods expose decades of poor urban planning and bad land management
Floods in Kenya killed at least 169 people between March and April 2024. The most catastrophic of these deaths occurred after a flash flood swept through a rural village killing 42 people. Death and destruction have also occurred in the capital, Nair.....»»
Texans encouraged to turn off nighttime lights during bird migration
Texas residents who look up at the night sky over the next few weeks might catch a glimpse of an avian superhighway......»»
Mysterious “gpt2-chatbot” AI model appears suddenly, confuses experts
Mystery LLM highlights transparency issues in AI testing. Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) On Sunday, word began to spread on social media about a new mystery chatbot named "gpt2-chatbot" that appeared in the LMSYS Chatbot.....»»
Activity in a room stirs up nanoparticles left over from consumer sprays, study shows
Common household products containing nanoparticles—grains of engineered material so miniscule they are invisible to the eye—could be contributing to a new form of indoor air pollution, according to a Rutgers University study......»»
The academic sleuth facing death threats and ingratitude
Lonni Besançon devotes evenings and weekends to rarely appreciated sanitation work. By examining scientific articles after they are published and exposing shortcomings, he has made himself an enemy of both researchers and publishers. It has gone so.....»»
Roku OS home screen is getting video ads for the first time
Meanwhile, Roku keeps making more money. Enlarge (credit: Roku) Roku CEO Anthony Wood disclosed plans to introduce video ads to the Roku OS home screen. The news highlights Roku’s growing focus on advertising and an a.....»»
Cats suffer H5N1 brain infections, blindness, death after drinking raw milk
Mammal-to-mammal transmission raises new concerns about the virus's ability to spread. Enlarge / Farm cats drinking from a trough of milk from cows that were just milked. (credit: Getty | ) On March 16, cows on a Texas d.....»»
Unveiling nature"s custodians: Study highlights crucial role of scavengers in wetlands
A study by researchers from the Ecology area of the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and the Ecology department of the University of Alicante (UA) reveals the fundamental importance of scavengers and carrion in wetlands......»»
Too many vehicles, slow reactions and reckless merging: New math model explains how traffic and bacteria move
What do the flow of cars on a highway and the movement of bacteria towards a food source have in common? In both cases, annoying traffic jams can form. Especially for cars, we might want to understand how to avoid them, but perhaps we've never though.....»»
Aggressive wall lizard provides clues to understanding evolution
Body shape, color and behavior often evolve together as species adapt to their environment. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have studied this phenomenon in a specific type of large, bright green and aggressive common wall lizard found near.....»»