On the outer rim of a Home Depot parking lot in West Berlin, N.J., a group of more than 20 people — many of them senior citizens — did their part to fight Big Brother in the searing August sun. “It got your license plate number!” shouted one man, pointing to a black, Flock brand solar-powered license plate reader above him and then to various cars in an Oprah-like manner, albeit at a slower clip. “They’re watching you! And You!” The camera also captured the make, model, and any bumper stickers on passing vehicles going through the shopping plaza’s main entry and exit point, whether they went to Home Depot or not, someone else rattled off. Not to mention all the police-operated license plate readers dotting the region. Waiting for the light to turn, one driver clearly isn’t buying the “surveillance state” claims. He tells the organizers their phones are already listening, lifting his for emphasis, and flipping them the bird as the line of cars begins to move again. Michael Cannon, 72, understands that response, but insists these cameras are different. “This is the freedom to travel,” he said over honks of support. “I can leave my phone at...

Pointless obstruction by governments over publishing scientific climate evaluation is threatening crucial work

Chronic wasting disease outlives the deer it kills. Wildlife managers have culled entire deer herds and waited as long as six years before reintroducing animals to affected areas – only to see the disease return. That's because the particles that cause chronic wasting disease persist in the soil, where they're taken up by plants and passed back to the deer that eat them, says Miranda Turner, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. Wildlife officials working to control chronic wasting disease face a difficult tradeoff: Hunting can help slow the disease’s spread through deer populations. But new research suggests the likelihood that chronic wasting disease can jump from deer to humans may be greater than previously thought, raising questions about whether increasing human exposure creates undue risk. “Currently, no human has been known to have chronic wasting disease. But at the same time, that is how people thought before the mad cow disease outbreak in the UK, which was also a prion disease,” said Turner. Chronic wasting disease, or CWD, is caused by misshapen proteins called prions. When a prion encounters a normal protein, it forces that protein into the same misshapen form. Those proteins then change...

“Stronger together!” If there is one formula that fits the collaboration between the French association OceanoScientific and the Spanish foundation Ecomar, it’s this one. “All of us, philanthropic org...

National Trust’s Holnicote estate says restored wetlands and rivers offer proof of resilience to drought, wildfires and flooding

Researchers have, for the first time, demonstrated a light-programmable superconducting state at an aluminium-silicon heterojunction, achieving critical temperatures ranging from 1.8 to 8.5 K through precise control with femtosecond laser pulses. The work, reported by Viktoria Yursa and eight colleagues, reveals a complex yet robust superconducting effect where temperatures can be increased or erased at will. This light-induced superconductivity (LiPS) exhibits a Berezinski-Kosterlitz-Thouless topological transition at low temperatures, alongside a distinct quantum phase disorder appearing above 2 K, suggesting multi-state behavior. The origin of this effect is linked to light pulse control of a “Moire-like superlattice of misfit dislocations” visible at the interface, opening a route to engineering long-range phase coherent superconducting states for quantum circuits and switchable devices. Light-Induced Superconductivity at Al/Si Heterojunctions The creation of programmable superconductivity, controlled by light, has moved closer to reality with the demonstration of a robust light-programmable superconducting (LiPS) state at an aluminium-silicon heterojunction; researchers achieved critical temperatures ranging from 1.8 to 8.5 K. This achievement, detailed in work led by Viktoria Yursa and eight colleagues, signifies a substantial, though still cryogenic, level of control over a superconducting state, opening possibilities for novel quantum devices. The team’s experiments reveal that the interface between...

Claudia Horn is a retired music teacher in a K-8 school in Aurora, Colorado, where she also leads the Quest For Oceans Club for middle school students. Claudia has been a recreational diver since 2006...

Learn how FlowCam enables rapid detection, counting, and characterization of microplastics using fluorescence imaging and morphology analysis.

University of British Columbia researchers have developed an edible, seaweed-derived coating that can keep strawberries fresh for at least four days at room temperature, outperforming uncoated berries...

The UNICEF Internships 2026 offer an incredible opportunity for international students and recent graduates to gain hands-on professional experience while contributing to one of the world’s most impac...

BMC Environmental Science is calling for submissions to our Collection on sustainable agriculture and food systems. The collection focuses on the ...

Microsoft Virtual Events Powered by Teams

SEOUL (The Korea Herald/ANN): An AI-generated female weathercaster delivering a forecast has sparked widespread debate in South Korea over the portrayal of women in the media, highlighting growing ethical concerns as broadcasters increasingly turn to AI-generated anchors, reporters and virtual presenters. The controversy stemmed from a generative artificial intelligence video uploaded on July 20 to the YouTube channel Weather Environment Agency, operated by Kweather, a meteorological and air-quality service provider. The video featured a virtual presenter named Kim Si-a delivering a weather report, accompanied by a disclaimer stating that the segment was produced using AI. Throughout the broadcast, Kim performed standard on-air gestures and referred to meteorological maps. Critics, however, took issue with the character’s tight, revealing outfit, arguing that it objectified female presenters and reinforced gender stereotypes. The controversy has since broadened into a wider debate over the design of AI-generated female characters. Experts warn that AI systems can reproduce existing gender biases and beauty standards, shaping characters’ appearance and roles in ways that reinforce stereotypes. The debate comes as South Korean broadcasters move quickly to incorporate AI into news and weather programming. In April, Kweather and general programming channel MBN jointly held an audition to select AI weathercasters...

Something is brewing in shallow waters offshore of Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia.

Call for Abstracts The call for abstracts has been extended. Please submit your abstract no later than 1 May 2026 (any time zone). Full submission

A prolonged, dangerous heat wave will intensify across most of the central to eastern U.S. this week, the National Weather Service said.

China is planning to launch its first sulphur futures contracts this year, sources said, in a push to help hedge against price swings and increase its pricing power in the global trade for a key material used in mining and agriculture. The Dalian Commodity Exchange could list the sulphur futures contracts in the fourth quarter of this year, although the timeframe is not finalised and more approvals are needed, two sources familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified as the plan is not public and they are not authorised to speak to media. The Dalian exchange did not answer multiple calls for comment. The China Securities Regulatory Commission, which typically grants approval to exchanges for the launch of futures contracts for a new product, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The exchange has long planned to introduce the contracts, but work has accelerated since the Iran war exacerbated price volatility and underscored the need for a hedging tool, said one of the sources. China, the world's largest consumer of sulphur, imports about 50% of its supply each year. Imports in the first five months more than halved versus the year before, customs data showed...