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Why do skiers sunburn so easily on the slopes? A snow scientist explains

It’s extremely easy to get sunburned while you’re skiing and snowboarding in the mountains, but have you ever wondered why?

While it’s true that you’re slightly closer to the Sun when you’re high in the mountains, that isn’t the reason.

If you go up 1 mile (1.6 km), about the elevation from Denver to the peaks of ...Read more

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images North America/TNS

California banned polystyrene. Has the plastic industry spooked the governor into silence?

LOS ANGELES — On Jan. 1, polystyrene packaging became illegal to sell, distribute or import into California — the result of a landmark waste law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022, and heralded by lawmakers and environmentalists as a game-changer in the fight against single-use plastics and pollution.

But few would have known that this ...Read more

MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

You can once again download TikTok from Apple and Google app stores in the US

Apple and Google have restored TikTok to their U.S. app stores after President Trump delayed enforcement of a law that requires the popular video app to divest or face a nationwide ban.

The tech companies removed TikTok nearly a month ago to comply with the law, which went into effect Jan. 19.

A day later, on his first day in office, Trump ...Read more

Should Washington state test human waste fertilizer for PFAS?

SEATTLE — Farmers across Washington already spread thousands of tons of fertilizer from human waste on their crops each year, but there's a major blind spot when it comes to potential contaminants.

Fertilizers made from human waste are fairly common across the country. Depending on who you ask, they're called "biosolids" or "sludge," and they...Read more

Joel Kowsky/NASA/TNS

Overnight SpaceX launch to use booster for record 26th flight

ORLANDO, Fla. — An overnight SpaceX launch planned for early Saturday will use a booster that’s already flown to space 25 times.

A Falcon 9 is targeting 1:14 a.m. carrying 21 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveal Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with backup options through 2:15 a.m. as well as a Sunday launch window opening ...Read more

Lake Victoria is turning green – the deadly bacteria behind it

Lakes, natural and man-made, provide water, food and habitats for wildlife, as well as supporting local economies. Around the world, though, there’s a growing threat to lakes: toxic bacteria which turn the water green.

This is the same green as you see on stagnant ponds. It’s caused by tiny organisms called cyanobacteria and can ...Read more

Tom Wang/Dreamstime/TNS

Future of offshore wind on West Coast is murky under Trump

Companies and public officials in the Northwest had high hopes that the offshore wind industry could inject great quantities of cash and jobs here.

But they've encountered a four-year snag.

Just hours into his second term, President Donald Trump ordered a halt to any future offshore wind leases and a slow-walk review process for existing ...Read more

Sara Nevis/The Sacramento Bee/TNS

How does that atmospheric river flow? Scientists modernize research to understand

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- While most look for ways to avoid the steady rain falling from atmospheric rivers, some take advantage of the unwieldy weather patterns to improve forecasts and to help control, and ultimately modernize, the complex labyrinth of waterways hydrating California.

Weather researchers with the Scripps Institution of ...Read more

Ruth Peterkin/Dreamstime/TNS

Shark attacks tourist off Caribbean island when she pursues it for photo, cops say

A tourist visiting the Caribbean had to be flown to a hospital after she was attacked while trying to “engage” with a shark for a photo, according to investigators.

It happened Friday, Feb. 7, off a beach in the Turks and Caicos Islands, 600 miles southeast of Miami, and the woman is expected to survive. Her identity has not been released. ...Read more

Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

Veterinarians perform cataract surgery on bald eagle in Florida

BRANDON, Fla. —A team of veterinary surgeons performed cataract surgery on Thunder, a resident bald eagle at Moccasin Lake Nature Park in Clearwater, at a clinic in Brandon on Thursday.

Thunder was rescued after being shot by a poacher as an eaglet in her nest in Sebring in 1995, when bald eagles were still endangered. She survived, but the ...Read more

Andy Alfaro/Modesto Bee/TNS

California aims to limit pesticide. Central Valley farmworker communities say it's not enough

Farmworker communities are protesting the California Department of Pesticide Regulation’s proposal to limit the pesticide 1,3-dichloropropene, arguing the measures don’t go far enough to protect against long-term cancer risks.

Commonly used in agriculture as a pre-plant field fumigant, 1,3-D is injected into the soil, where it turns into a ...Read more

Sharkmob/TNS/TNS

‘Exoborne’ playtest offers chance to play a new twist on the extraction shooter

The extraction shooter is having a moment. The gameplay mode that gained popularity in “Tom Clancy’s The Division” has flourished into a growing subgenre. It’s characterized by gameplay loop, in which players enter an area looking for loot, and once they acquire it, they have to fight their way out to claim it.

Deaths are brutal ...Read more

Alex Harris/Miami Herald/TNS

Florida power company has a deadline to clean up salty pollution under Turkey Point. It won't make it

MIAMI — A giant plume of super salty water has been lurking underneath the Turkey Point power plant for years, tainting the surrounding groundwater along the coast of south Miami-Dade County.

Florida Power & Light, which has operated the plant’s twin nuclear reactors for more than a half-century, has been on a 10-year timeline to clean up ...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Flightless grasshopper thought to be extinct is rediscovered in Virginia 80 years later

Zoologist Andrew Rapp spent four hours hunched over looking through brush and scouring the short grass on the side of the road until he locked eyes with a creature once believed to be extinct.

He had to be careful not to scare it away, so he crept up to it, prepared his net and swung.

In doing so, Rapp officially documented a rare Appalachian ...Read more

Vuk Valcic/ZUMA Press Wire/TNS

Evan Ramstad: China's AI star DeepSeek shook basic patterns of high tech

It’s easy to analyze the strategies of high technology businesses if you know this: Hardware is always upgrading and software is always degrading.

The news last month about China’s DeepSeek artificial intelligence breakthrough blew away Silicon Valley and investors because it defied this industry norm.

Historically, the improving ...Read more

DREAMSTIME/TNS

Earthquakes are rumbling under Alaska volcano, officials say. Is it about to erupt?

A volcano near Alaska’s most populous city is showing signs it could be headed toward an eruption, officials said.

Mount Spurr, which sits about 75 miles west of Anchorage, has seen “volcanic unrest” for the last 10 months, including an increasing number of earthquakes, according to a Feb. 6 statement from the Alaska Volcano Observatory. ...Read more

Patricia J. Garcinuno/Getty Images Europe/TNS

The real Scarlett Johansson decries 'misuse of AI' by a deepfake video shaming Kanye West

LOS ANGELES — Scarlett Johansson, Steven Spielberg, Adam Sandler and several other Jewish celebrities assembled in matching T-shirts to shame Ye (formerly Kanye West) for his latest antisemitic outbursts — at least that's what a self-proclaimed "generative AI expert" fantasized this week.

Israel-based creator and marketing professional Ori ...Read more

Don Lindich/TNS

Sound Advice: Cut out satellite radio bill with streaming app

A free satellite radio alternative: I would describe my past relationship with satellite radio as a "like-hate relationship." I never loved anything about satellite radio, but I liked the ability to listen to cable news channels in the car. When tuning in to CNN, Fox News or MSNBC, you hear the audio portion of the television broadcast, and I ...Read more

TNS

Gadgets: Good (and cheaper) finds

Once again, during my annual office cleaning, I found a few products I didn't get to but are worth noting. Since I've had them for some time, the significant part is that the prices have decreased on both.

Soundcore calls the Soundcore Motion X500 surround sound Bluetooth 5.3 speaker "The World's Most Portable Spatial Audio Speaker." After ...Read more

Jim Rossman/TNS

Jim Rossman: Moving to a new cell carrier shouldn’t be scary

There are dozens of cellular phone companies and hundreds of different cell plans, and chances are there’s a better deal out there if you are just willing to do a little legwork.

We’ve all seen the commercials for cell companies offering plans for $40 or $30 or even $20 per month or less. It is tempting to want to jump ship from one of ...Read more