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ROME — Pope Francis commemorated Earth Day on Monday by warning that the planet is “falling into ruin” thanks to humanity’s failure to protect it. “Our generation has bequeathed many riches, but we have failed to protect the planet and we are not safeguarding peace,” the pontiff chided on X (former Twitter) “We are called to become artisans and caretakers of our common home, the Earth which is ‘falling into ruin,’” he declared, followed by “#EarthDay.”

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Elon Musk says prototypes are easy, production is hell. And when it comes to the long-awaited Cybertruck, Tesla's hell is its pioneering 4680 battery. Tesla delivered the first of its futuristic stainless steel-plated electric pickups last month and CEO Musk said in October that it would probably hit an annual production rate of a quarter of a million vehicles at some point during 2025.

The Swedish government is rushing to prepare the public for expanded police use of biometric systems including those monitoring from traffic stanchions and drones. Gang violence that includes firearms and explosives has pushed the government and a far-Right conservative party to examine the proposed surveillance change in a fast-tracked inquiry, according to local reports. The nation’s justice minister this week said the inquiry will be completed in half the usual time for such a body. A finding could be published by spring. Government inquiries generally are used to bury a topic or to show the public an action has been...

MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace said Wednesday on her show “Deadline” that in the 2024 election, Democrats need to say the Republican Party was “the largest anti-democratic force on the planet.” Wallace said, “I want to say it carefully because I’m not trying to throw an elbow at people that have done good, but even Liz Cheney, who did heroic work on the select committee, is not out front in protecting democracy from fellow Republicans. Neither are the other Republicans, people in the primary like Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie saying that Trump is clearly criminally compromised, if you will.”

In findings published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Saint Louis University researchers and colleagues report that elephants play a key role in creating forests that store more atmospheric carbon and maintaining the biodiversity of forests in Africa. If the already critically endangered elephants become extinct, the rainforest of central and west Africa, the second largest rainforest on earth, would lose between six and nine percent of its ability to capture atmospheric carbon, amplifying planetary warming. **SNIP** Within the forest, some trees have light wood (low carbon density trees) while others make heavy wood (high carbon density...

At first glance, the connections between the world’s growing population and climate change seem obvious. The more people we have on this planet, the larger their collective impact on the climate. However, a closer look with a longer time horizon reveals relationships between population size and climate change that can help us better understand both humanity’s predicament as the global population nears 8 billion people – a milestone the United Nations expects the world to hit on about Nov. 15, 2022. **SNIP** Using knowledge to reset the cycle again Every species, if left unchecked, would grow exponentially. But species are...

Pluto is a dwarf planet. A dwarf planet travels around, or orbits, the sun just like other planets. But it is much smaller. Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930. He was an astronomer from the United States. An astronomer is a scientist who studies stars and other objects in space. Venetia Burney named Pluto that same year. She was an 11-year-old girl from England. Pluto is not very big. It is only half as wide as the United States. Pluto is smaller than Earth's moon. This dwarf planet takes 248 Earth years to go around the sun. If you lived...

Scientists have debated the existence of Planet Nine since it was first introduced several years ago, but a new study has determined the orbit of the alleged celestial object. Caltech researchers Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin have plotted the orbital path of the mystical planet, which has yet to be discovered. In a blog post, Brown detailed that the 'highest probability' of Planet Nine's location is near aphelion - the point at which it is furthest from the sun - around 60 degrees in Right Ascension, 'pretty close to the galactic plane.' If in fact Planet Nine were at the...

If America's current COVID-19 surge continues unabated into the fall and winter, the country will likely face an even more deadly strain of the virus that could evade the current coronavirus vaccines, NIAID director Anthony Fauci told McClatchy Wednesday. Why it matters: Fauci's comments underscore the importance of acting quickly to vaccinate the tens of millions of Americans who have not been inoculated against the virus. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free The current surge in coronavirus cases nationwide is being driven by the Delta variant, which is already...

The next target of mainstream media propaganda is to convince the public that human industry is causing climate change. CNN insiders boasted about that to James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas on hidden camera (after bragging about defeating Donald Trump’s re-election). Marjorie Taylor Greene is preparing to debate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Some of us will worry whether the debate about the Green New Deal will focus on the most important points. There are a thousand issues and sub-issues. It is easy to get lost or sidetracked. I suggest laying the axe to the root:...

The first day of winter will bring a celestial delight. According to Rice University astronomer Patrick Hartigan, Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer than they’ve been since the Middle Ages. The effect will create a “Christmas Star,” or “Star of Bethlehem.” 2020 can sure use it.Just after the sun sets on December 21, the winter solstice, the two planets will look like a double planet, or large star.“Alignments between these two planets are rather rare, occurring once every 20 years or so, but this conjunction is exceptionally rare because of how close the planets will appear to one another,” said...

The bulky object—possibly the core of a failed gas giant—challenges what astronomers think about how planets form. About 730 light-years away, not far on the scale of our galaxy, an utterly bizarre planet orbits a sun-like star. Big, dense, and tightly tethered to its home star, the planet is unlike anything astronomers have yet seen—either in our own solar system or afar. The roasted world known as TOI-849b is the most massive rocky planet ever observed, with as much as 40 Earths’ worth of material crammed inside. Perplexingly, TOI-849b’s tremendous bulk suggests that it should be a giant, gassy world...

Climate campaigners have spent years pushing for defunding and divestment from fossil fuel companies. Now, as their arguments gain traction, they are taking aim at the emissions-heavy meat and dairy industries. “At some point those companies will no longer generate any revenue due to ecological limits. The financial markets aren’t pricing in those risks,” said Mark Campanale, founder of Carbon Tracker, the think-tank that popularised the notion that global warming would lead to unviable “stranded assets” in the hydrocarbon sector. Fossil fuel companies dismissed for years the idea of an inevitable energy transition making their investments unviable but some now...

Your walk is as unique as your fingerprint and harder to hide than your face. Now governments and companies are waking up to the power of gait analysis LIAM GALLAGHER, formerly of the band Oasis, tends to stroll with a roll to his shoulders. John Wayne’s slow swagger has been linked to everything from a misaligned leg to small feet. Some say Vladimir Putin’s distinctive shuffle is thanks to KGB weapons training that encouraged operatives to dampen the swing of one arm to keep it closer to their gun. Considering that walking is such an everyday function of a bipedal...

Venus Is a Russian Planet ... Says Russia Just because you get there first, that doesn't mean you own it. Russia has some strong feelings about the planet Venus. Dmitry Rogozin, the chief of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, spoke at the 2020 HeliRussia exhibition and declared that Venus is a "Russian planet," according to the Russian news agency TASS. (It's not.) This comes after the groundbreaking announcement on Monday that researchers have spotted potential evidence of life high in the clouds of Venus. The scientists found chemical signatures of a molecule called phosphine, which is only produced by living things...

The only thing more certain than death is that if a liberal accuses a conservative of doing something, you can be sure the liberal is doing it. For decades, conservatives have been portrayed as anti-environment knuckle-draggers that want to poison the planet because they care more about green money than a green earth. The new documentary, Planet of the Humans, produced by flaming liberal Michael Moore, provides ample evidence it's the left that's been raping planet earth all along.

Apple and Google have unveiled a rare partnership to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contact with a person with COVID-19. People must opt in to the system, but it has the potential to monitor about a third of the world's population

Anne-Marie Slaughter, who served as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Director of Policy Planning during part of the Obama administration, has published a column in the New York Times where she notes some effects of the coronavirus that she apparently believes are positive. “We are also suddenly living in a world that the United States government long insisted was impossible--one of drastically reduced plane and car emissions,” she writes. “That is terrible for the airlines but good for the planet. It may be good for us, too,” she said. “And now that we're all at home, what to do with...

Sometimes the host of a beauty pageant can provide as much entertainment as the contestants. Even a perfectly timed eye roll can leave a mark. The 2019 Miss Universe pageant aired December 8 on Fox with Steve Harvey serving as the host. Ninety women from around the world participated. Unlike some other recent beauty pageants, though, this one was striking due to the lack of controversial remarks made by the women. Two questions and answers did raise an eyebrow, though during the segment with the final five contestants. Eventual pageant winner Miss South Africa, Zozibini Tunzi, was asked by Harvey...

Primordial black holes (PBHs) are old and relatively small black holes that emerged soon after the Big Bang. They are thought to have been formed as a result of density fluctuations in the very early universe. It is believed that PBHs with the lowest mass have likely evaporated. However, those with larger masses may still exist, evaporating at the present epoch—even though they have been never directly observed. Astronomers Jakub Scholtz of Durham University and James Unwin of University of Illinois at Chicago, assume that PBHs could reside even closer to us than we think. In a recently published paper,...