SUSTAINABILITY
The Biden administration has pledged that the US will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 61% over the next decade, Bloomberg reports. This amounts to raising the country’s climate ambition “even as president-elect Donald Trump prepares to obliterate policies key to achieving the target”. DETAIL
Several hundred people and possibly even thousands may have been killed when the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century hit the French Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, a senior local French official said on Sunday. DETAIL
Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a decision by its lower court, brought by 16 young activists who argued that state law violated their right to a clean environment, reports BBC News. The lawsuit, raised by 16 plaintiffs aged from five to 22, argued that a state law banning the consideration of climate when choosing energy policy was unconstitutional, it explains. DETAIL
The world has been getting hotter for decades but a sudden and extraordinary surge in heat has sent the climate deeper into uncharted territory – and scientists are still trying to figure out why. Even NASA can't explain this alarming surge in global heat. DETAIL
Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers across the U.S. have gone on strike mere days before Christmas. Organised by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union is accusing Amazon of failing to negotiate a fair contract with them. In response, Amazon claims that the workers striking aren't actually its employees. DETAIL
Sohar Max, a 400,000 DWT (deadweight) giant ore carrier (VLOC), has made history as the largest vessel to use wind energy technology on a large scale. This innovative technology, provided by UK-based Anemoi Marine Technologies, was implemented by installing five giant rotor sails on the Sohar Max. DETAIL
HEALTH
An elderly patient in Louisiana is in "critical condition" with severe avian influenza, US authorities announced Wednesday, the first serious human case in the country as fears grow of a possible bird flu pandemic. DETAIL
Experts warn that mirror bacteria, created from mirror images of molecules found in nature, could put humans, animals and plants at risk of fatal infections, and funding for such studies should be cancelled. DETAIL
DIGITAL / TECHNOLOGY / SCIENCE / ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The scientific world has made a major discovery in the field of quantum physics, revealing a new state of matter that was previously unknown. Researchers say this discovery could radically change what we know about the behavior and nature of matter. DETAIL
SongCleaner, yapay zeka yardımıyla şarkı sözlerini tüm ailenizin, çocukların ve etkinliklerde her yaştan insanın dinleyebileceği bir hale getiriyor. Böylece çalma listenizi rahatça paylaşabilmenizi sağlıyor. DETAIL
Microscopic worms that live their lives in the highly radioactive environment of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) appear to do so completely free of radiation damage. Nematodes collected from the area have shown no sign of damage to their genomes, contrary to what might be expected for organisms living in such a dangerous place. DETAIL
Squirrels might look like adorable, nut-hoarding furballs, but some are ruthless predators that hunt, tear apart, and devour voles. That's the startling finding of a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Ethology – the first to document widespread carnivorous behavior in these seemingly innocent creatures. DETAIL
It's time to recalibrate the navigation systems on ships, planes, and (depending on the time of year) Santa's sleigh: The position of the Magnetic North Pole is officially changing and continues to drift away from Canada towards Siberia. DETAIL
A team of researchers led by Hidemasa Bono of Hiroshima University has sequenced the most complete insecticide-resistant bed bug genome to date and compared it to the genome of an insecticide-susceptible (non-resistant) bed bug. Their findings, detailed in a study published in the journal Insects in September, provide an unprecedented look into the genetic mutations driving insecticide resistance in bed bugs, which could help shape future pest control strategies. DETAIL
An amateur astronomer from Japan captured the moment an unknown object, thought to be a meteor and possibly one of the "Geminis," collided with the Moon. DETAIL
ENERGY / TRANSPORTATION
Japan’s industry ministry has unveiled a draft of a new basic energy plan which commits to maximising the use of renewable and nuclear energy to advance decarbonisation efforts. DETAIL
CYBERSECURITY
The US is considering banning TP-Link routers in the country because of possible security risks. Sources tell The Wall Street Journal that the Commerce, Defense, and Justice Departments are investigating routers from Shenzhen-based TP-Link. They are reportedly concerned that TP-Link doesn't address security flaws and ships routers to customers without fixing potential exploits. DETAIL
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and its El Paso unit (collectively, the HSCs) have announced that they suffered a cyberattack in September. The attack caused a "temporary disruption to some computer systems and applications" and resulted in the removal of certain files and folders between Sep. 17 and Sep. 29. A month later, a ransomware gang named Interlock claimed responsibility for the attack and shared 2.1 million files (2.6TB) stolen from the HSCs on the dark web. DETAIL
Hackers aligned with the Chinese government have infiltrated U.S. telecommunications infrastructure so deeply that it allowed the interception of unencrypted communications on a number of people, according to reports that first emerged in October. The operation, dubbed Salt Typhoon, apparently allowed hackers to listen to phone calls and nab text messages, and the penetration has been so extensive they haven’t even been booted from the telecom networks yet. DETAIL
HUMANITY / CURIOSITY
A few years ago, late in the fall of 2021, locals fishing Georgia's Bashplemi Lake in the municipality of Dmanisi came across a long-forgotten piece of history – a small stone tablet inscribed with dozens of mysterious symbols. DETAIL
The Pentagon is investigating whether Elon Musk and SpaceX have failed to inform federal agencies about the CEO's activities and contact with foreign officials, which is required since SpaceX is a defense contractor. DETAIL