Free Republic

In the letter sent Monday, Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Robert Portman, R-Ohio, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged the Pentagon to increase the speed at which it was deploying the defensive aid agreed to in May under the $20 billion "Additional Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations" package. "While the medium- and long-range air defense capabilities and HIMARS included in the June 27, 2022, and July 8, 2022 aid packages are a good start, these systems must be delivered at a pace and in quantity sufficient to impact the outcome of the fighting in the Donbas, Kherson and...

Over decades of studying the oceans' fishes, some species have been found to have partial warm-bloodedness. But scientists say the opah, or moonfish, circulates heated blood — and puts it to a competitive advantage. "Nature has a way of surprising us with clever strategies where you least expect them," according to NOAA Fisheries biologist Nicholas Wegner, who works in the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. In a news release about the finding, Wegner said, "It's hard to stay warm when you're surrounded by cold water but the opah has figured it out." The opah is not a...

The car-tire-size opah is striking enough thanks to its rotund, silver body. But now, researchers have discovered something surprising about this deep-sea dweller: It's got warm blood. That makes the opah (Lampris guttatus) the first warm-blooded fish every discovered. Most fish are ectotherms, meaning they require heat from the environment to stay toasty. The opah, as an endotherm, keeps its own temperature elevated even as it dives to chilly depths of 1,300 feet (396 meters) in temperate and tropical oceans around the world.