Technology

Want to pitch in to help discover unknown planets?

Radio/Quirks & Quarks: Bob McDonald's blog: Astronomers with the Next Generation Transit Survey are looking for volunteers to help comb through telescope data looking for the tell-tale light signature of exoplanets.

Elephants without tusks evolve quickly due to ivory poachers

News/Science: Years of civil war and poaching in Mozambique have led to a greater proportion of elephants that will never develop tusks, a new study has found.

Scientists find oldest fossils of dinosaurs living in a herd

News/Science: A vast trove of fossils unearthed in Argentina's southern Patagonia region is offering the oldest-known evidence that some dinosaurs thrived in a complex and well-organized herd structure, with adults caring for the young and sharing a communal nesting ground.

The danger of COVID-19 misinformation is 'mind-boggling,' says Dr. Anthony Fauci

Radio/Ideas: With the COVID-19 death toll in the United States having surpassed 730,000, Dr. Anthony Fauci tells IDEAS host Nahlah Ayed that he finds it "mind-boggling" that partisanship and skepticism of science continue to fuel the pandemic.

Conservation officers issue warning after black bear knocks over man in Tofino B.C.

News/Canada/British Columbia: Conservation officers in B.C. are warning people to stay away from a creek in Tofino, after a man was knocked over by a black bear last Friday.

Proposed windfarm gets thumbs down by some Alberta landowners

News/Canada/Calgary: A hearing is underway to determine whether the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) will approve a major wind farm in Vulcan County; however some residents are opposing the project.

Lyft releases sexual assault data: 4,158 incidents, including 360 rape reports over three year period

Ridehail company Lyft on Thursday released its first ever safety report, disclosing that it received 4,158 reports of sexual assault on its platform in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Snap stock plummets 25% after iOS ad tracking changes hit revenue

Snapchat's parent company crossed $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever, but worse-than-expected earnings and a forecast of more headwinds to come led its stock to crash on Thursday.

What is a bomb cyclone?

As cooler temperatures move over the eastern U.S., the West is forecast to see heavy rain and mountain snow, including what's known as a "bomb cyclone" near the Northwest. 

Cities want more of a say in fighting climate change

News/Science: In this week's issue of our environment newsletter, we look at why cities feel they can't do more to combat climate change and how NASA can help us better understand global warming.

Anonymous U.S. buyer pays $7.75M for triceratops skeleton

News/World: An unknown buyer from the U.S. has paid $7.75 million to buy 'Big John,' a 66-million-year-old skeleton that belongs to a triceratops found in South Dakota. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters)

Ancient solar storm proves Vikings lived in Newfoundland by at least AD 1021, scientists say

News/Canada/Nfld. & Labrador: Norse legends and archeological evidence had scientists guessing when the Vikings erected a thousand-year-old settlement in Newfoundland. But the discovery of an ancient solar storm offers new evidence, nailing down the exact year they lived there.

Pig-to-human transplants come a step closer with kidney experiment

News/Science: Scientists at New York University temporarily attached a pig's kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.

Great white egret attracts attention in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut

News/Canada/North: Egrets are more usually spotted in the Everglades or on the Pacific coast so the presence of this egret immediately attracted local photographers, including Bernice Sandy, who took many photos of the unusual bird.

Cat bacteria treats mouse skin infection, scientists find

This warehouse worker became the face of a union push at Amazon. She's still bracing for the fallout

When Amazon opened a sprawling warehouse in her community in March 2020, Jennifer Bates never guessed she'd find herself testifying before members of Congress one year later about the "grueling" conditions she experienced working inside it.

Facebook kept its own oversight board in the dark on program for VIP users

Facebook failed to provide crucial details about its "Cross-Check" program that reportedly shielded millions of VIP users from the social media platform's normal content moderation rules, according to the company's oversight board.

Leaked documents show countries tried to water down UN climate report, Greenpeace says

News/Science: The head of environmental group Greenpeace warns countries and corporations may try to "greenwash" their ongoing pollution of the Earth at upcoming UN climate talks. That's after leaked documents showed countries such as Australia and Saudi Arabia tried to water down a recent UN science panel report.

Water shortages are a major risk of climate change. Alberta may already be seeing warning signs

News/Canada/Calgary: Water is already a precious resource in the Prairie provinces, which rely on vast quantities of it for agriculture. But experts warn climate change could make it an increasingly scarce resource.

Covid: new antibody treatment could offer up to 18 months' protection