Jan 3rd, 2026 - – Kenyans are mourning the death of a beloved "super tusker" elephant whose long life in the wild came to symbolize the country's increasingly successful efforts to protect the mammals from ivory poachers. The bull elephant who died on Saturday was named Craig. He lived in Amboseli National Park, a protected area in southern Kenya that is a favorite of safari tourists, the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement. "Craig, the legendary super tusker famed for its immense, ground-sweeping tusks and calm, dignified presence, passed on at the age of 54," the statement said. The Amboseli ... [Read More]

Jan 2nd, 2026 - Rogue, free-floating planets appear to have two distinct origins. Most of the exoplanets we've discovered have been in relatively tight orbits around their host stars, allowing us to track them as they repeatedly loop around them. But we've also discovered a handful of planets through a phenomenon that's called microlensing. This occurs when a planet passes between the line of sight between Earth and another star, creating a gravitational lens that distorts the star, causing it to briefly brighten. The key thing about microlensing compared to other methods of finding planets is that the ... [Read More]

Jan 2nd, 2026 - History from countries and communities across the globe, including the world's major wars. The stories behind the faiths, food, entertainment and holidays that shape our world. Between 1849 and 1886, a series of armed conflicts known as the Apache Wars took place between the U.S. Army and various Apache nations across the Southwest. The Apache to preserve their way of life and ultimately their survival in the face of white settlement on their lands. Apache warriors, known for fierce hand-to-hand combat and guerrilla tactics, trained from a young age in both strength and endurance. Boys were ... [Read More]

Jan 2nd, 2026 - The sun wanders the Milky Way alone; our star orbits the galaxy's distant center without any stellar siblings. But it wasn't always this way. The solar system was very likely born in a tremendous gas cloud that also birthed thousands of other stars , forming a large, loosely bound stellar family called an open cluster. These stars may have remained enshrouded in that nebula for 10 million years or more, until their combined stellar winds and light pushed away the surrounding nebulosity . No longer embedded in the gas, the cluster gradually disintegrated as its internal motions flung away ... [Read More]

Jan 2nd, 2026 - A woman has died in a rare suspected mountain lion attack in Colorado on Thursday, officials said. Hikers told authorities they saw a mountain lion near a person who was lying on the ground 100 yards away around 12:15 p.m., on the Crosier Mountain trail in unincorporated Larimer County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a news release. The hikers scared the lion away by throwing rocks and then attended to the adult woman, the release said. One of the witnesses was a physician and "did not find a pulse," said Kara Van Hoose, spokesperson with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The victim's ... [Read More]

Jan 2nd, 2026 - Microsoft's big focus for Windows is AI integration . Meanwhile, Valve has been not-so-quietly pilfering the entire PC gaming ecosystem from Microsoft, turning the Linux-based SteamOS into a real competitor to Windows. In a few years, gaming laptops may run SteamOS instead of Windows. And Microsoft has no one to blame but itself. Valve's big PC gaming push is bigger than the Steam Deck handheld , with a new Steam Machine living room PC. PC gaming — even PC games designed and written first and foremost for Windows — is now much bigger than Windows. Surprise, Microsoft: While you ... [Read More]

Jan 1st, 2026 - A newly revealed magnetic state in ruthenium dioxide could be the secret to faster, denser, and more reliable memory chips. Scientists from National Institute for Materials Science , Japan have confirmed that ultra-thin films of ruthenium dioxide (RuO 2 ) belong to a newly recognised and powerful class of magnetic materials called altermagnets . These materials combine the best of two magnetic worlds: they're stable against interference yet still allow fast, electrical readout—an ideal mix for future memory technology. Altermagnetism is a newly discovered type of magnetism where ... [Read More]

Jan 1st, 2026 - Cases of influenza in the United States are rising, driven by a new strain that public health officials worry current vaccines may not protect against as effectively. Health officials and researchers say that although the flu season has not reached its peak, the spike in cases is not historically unusual — and they stress vaccines probably still offer protection against the worst effects of the strain. [Read More]