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You can give your cat the flu. You can also pass pneumonia to a chimpanzee or tuberculosis to a bird. This kind of human-to-animal disease transmission, known as reverse zoonosis, has been seen on every continent except one: Antarctica. Now, human-linked pathogens in bird poop reveal, for the first time, that even animals on this isolated, ice-bound landmass can pick up a bug from tourists or visiting scientists. This newly identified infection route could have devastating consequences for Antarctic bird colonies, including population collapse and even extinction. “[We’re] obsessed about the potential for novel diseases to jump from wildlife to...

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto issued a stark warning on Wednesday morning against the effects of climate change, stating during a newscast that "we don't want to be slowly burned to death." “I just want to ask the question for folks at home, folks like us. We got kids. We don’t want to be slowly burned to death on our own planet here," said Sciutto, who served in the Obama State Department prior to coming to CNN. "Is the human race running - in the simplest terms running out of time to take the measures necessary to rein in this rise...

NASA sources revealing that the space rock could end up engaged in not one, but a staggering 62 different potential impact trajectories with our planet — each of them waiting to sling the asteroid toward Earth over the next 100 years. Known as asteroid 2018 LF16... The first of these unnerving opportunities arises just five years from now — occurring on August 8, 2023. Other potential impact dates in the near future fall on August 3, 2024, and on August 1, 2025.

actual LOOOOOOOOOONG title: "Climate change will make us more likely to wet the bed and may trigger a plague of ticks, snakes and VOLES as 'devastating' droughts and flooding send nature haywire by 2100"

The end of Robert Mueller’s investigation. The loss of health insurance for several million people. New laws that make it harder to vote. More tax cuts for the rich. More damage to the environment. A Republican Party molded even more in the image of President Trump. These are among the plausible consequences if the Republicans sweep the midterm elections and keep control of both the House and Senate. And don’t fool yourself. That outcome, although not the most likely one, remains possible. The last couple of weeks of polling have shown how it could happen. Voters who lean Republican —...

Why Hurricane Michael is monster unlike any other It's to be strongest hurricane to hit Panhandle By HOLLY YAN, CNN (CNN) - Even those jaded by hurricanes have never seen anything like this. For the first time, a Category 4 hurricane is on track to slam the Florida Panhandle. And it's bringing an onslaught of deadly hazards. Here's what makes Hurricane Michael especially dangerous: The strongest hurricane ever to hit the Panhandle Michael rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane overnight. By Wednesday morning, it was hurling 145-mph winds. Even scarier, Michael could get stronger before making landfall Wednesday afternoon....

Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her, cannot move back to her home due to the volume of death threats she is still receiving, her lawyers told NBC on Sunday. One of Ford's attorneys, Debra Katz, told NBC's Kasie Hunt that it's going to be "quite some time" before Ford and her family can return home. "Her family has been through a lot," Katz said. "They are not living at home. It’s going to be quite some time before they’re able to live at home. The threats have been unending. It’s...

Associate Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan said Friday she fears the high court may lack a justice going forward who would serve as a swing-vote on cases, speaking hours after President Trump's second nominee Brett Kavanaugh secured enough votes to be confirmed. Kagan said at a conference for women at Princeton University that over the past three decades, starting with Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and continuing with Justice Anthony Kennedy, that there was a figure on the bench "who found the center or people couldn't predict in that sort of way." “It’s not so clear, that I think going forward,...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The prognosis for President Donald Trump and his party was grim.</p> <p>In a post-Labor Day briefing at the White House, a top Republican pollster told senior staff that the determining factor in the election wouldn’t be the improving economy or the steady increase in job creation. It would be how voters feel about Trump. And the majority of the electorate, including a sizable percentage of Republican-leaning voters, doesn’t feel good about the president, according to a presentation from pollster Neil Newhouse that spanned dozens of pages.</p>

As if the media hadn’t already covered itself in shame this week by using 9/11 to malign President Trump, it is now using Hurricane Florence as a cudgel with which to beat him. Yesterday, The Washington Post’s editorial board ran a piece titled, “Another hurricane is about to batter our coast. Trump is complicit.” Complicit. You read that right. But they weren’t through. “When it comes to extreme weather, Mr. Trump is complicit,” it read. “He plays down humans’ role in increasing the risks, and he continues to dismantle efforts to address those risks. It is hard to attribute any...

Astronomers have found that the majority of meteorites that regularly fall into Earth's atmosphere today are the result of an asteroid collision that took place 466 million years ago. Using chemical analysis from rock samples around the world, the team discovered that before that colossal collision, Earth experienced impacts from many different types of meteorite, meaning that our planet's history with meteorites is far more complex than we thought. After examining the chemical makeup of these chrome-spinels, the team found that 34 percent of the pre-collision micrometeorites were primitive achondrites, a type of meteorite that only makes up 0.45 percent...

No amount of alcohol, sausage or bacon is safe according to a new global blueprint on how to beat cancer. Even small amounts of processed meats and booze increase the risk of a host of cancers outlined in World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) guidelines updated every decade. The respected global authority has unveiled a 10-point plan to cut your risk of getting cancer by up to 40%. Brits have been told to banish favourites such as ham, burgers and hot dogs from their diets by experts who say they are a direct cause of bowel cancer. Processed meats also cause...

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Colorado's legalization of the commercial marijuana trade, and the reviews aren't good. An editorial in the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, "Five years of retail pot coincide with five years of a homelessness growth rate that ranks among the highest rates in the country. Directors of homeless shelters, and people who live on the streets, tell us homeless substance abusers migrate here for easy access to pot." The paper says, "Five years of Big Marijuana ushered in a doubling in the number of drivers involved in fatal crashes who tested positive for marijuana, based...

The European Space Agency (ESA) predicts that the 8.5-tonne spacecraft will make an 'uncontrolled re-entry' to our planet between January and March 2018. While a precise landing location remains unclear, ESA has provided the latitudes between which Tiangong-1 is likely to land – and countries at risk include Spain, Italy, Turkey, India and parts of the US. While most of the space station will break up, parts of flaming debris could land on Earth, experts claim.  ... The craft is now at about 300 kilometres (186 miles) altitude in an orbit that is expected to decay sometime between January and...

Arizona State University researchers have analyzed minerals around the supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park and have come to a startling conclusion. It could blow much faster than previously expected, potentially wiping out life as we know it.

Every object in our Solar System that takes the plunge from out beyond Neptune to our inner reaches, where the rocky planets lie, will become a comet. As it nears the Sun, its ices melt, creating the tails we associate with them, and also creating a debris path that can create meteor showers if they cross Earth's orbit. For thousands of years, the most consistent, spectacular meteor shower has been the Perseids, created by Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle. At its incredibly large size (26 kilometers across) and speed, it contains nearly 30 times the energy of the asteroid strike that wiped out...

Donald Trump made it an early priority to dismantle the top domestic and economic achievements of his predecessor's administration, pushing for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) and eschewing global trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. But his most ardent supporters might have a surprise coming: Many Americans who would bear the brunt of Trump-administration policies are the same people who chose the GOP candidate for president in November. "I think you're going to get a disproportionate impact on people who supported Donald Trump but maybe don't realize that his policies may end up hurting them instead...

Anyone else having issues? Birmingham, AL, Charter internet and T-Mobile Those sites will not load on computer or smart phone. I need to know what Peotus has to say Glad to have FreeRepublic!

A dad in Ostego, Michigan—population 3,956—terrified parents, police, and school administrators by handing out teddy bears to people he passed on the street, including children in the presence of adults. It was Ken Cronkhite's attempt to spread some happiness and help his 89-year-old father, the owner of an 800-teddy bear collection, to downsize. And it backfired. As news spread of a man, a plan, and his plush toys, the police department's phone lines lit up. Officers sped off to patrol the bus stops as at least one frantic mom ripped apart her kid's bear to see if it contained something...

A 3-day-old baby was fatally mauled by a pet dog in front of the child's parents at their Mira Mesa home Thursday night, San Diego police said Friday. The parents were in bed, watching TV, with their newborn son and pit bull-mix dog when the mother coughed, startling the dog, child abuse unit Sgt. Tu Nguyen said. The dog reacted by biting the baby, he said. The parents pulled the animal off and raced the child to a hospital, where he was declared dead.