On September 24, 2019, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives (House), launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The investigation was triggered by allegations that Mr. Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into the business ties of 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son, Hunter. Allegedly, in order to persuade Zelensky to agree, the US president withheld federal military aid from Ukraine. So how will the impeachment process work, and what are its potential long-term implications for the president? Read on . . ....

Bees are essential for the pollination of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Sadly, over the past 15 years, the global population of the industrious insects has been declining at alarming rates. Bee Informed Partnership, a collaboration of American insect experts, estimates that between April 1, 2018, and April 1, 2019, the country's managed bee population decreased by 40.7 percent. The numbers are as dire worldwide. Now, some cities in the Netherlands are coming up with innovative ideas to help stem the population decline of these all-important insects....

Sending a distress message in a bottle would not typically be considered a sensible strategy. However, it miraculously worked for three hikers from Morro Bay, California, who found themselves stranded atop a 40-foot waterfall at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park on California's Central Coast....

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, home to over 1,500 fish species and countless other marine animals, is in trouble. Rising ocean temperatures, attributed to climate change, have destroyed about half of its coral since 1998. On August 30, 2019, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority downgraded the ecosystem's condition from "poor" to "very poor" and warned that the window of opportunity to save it was rapidly closing. Now, some scientists are hoping that a gigantic piece of pumice stone currently floating towards Australia will aid in the recovery of the world's largest coral reef system....

Though Bianca Andreescu was expected to be a formidable opponent, it was Serena Williams who was favored to win the US Open Tennis Championships finals in New York City on September 7, 2019. The 37-year-old US tennis phenom is after all an experienced veteran, with 23 Grand Slam titles to her name. Meanwhile, prior to 2019, her 19-year-old challenger had never even reached the finals of the four prestigious tournaments — the US Open, the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the French Open — that comprise the Grand Slam. But in a true-life underdog story, Bianca managed to oust Serena with a resounding 6-3, 7-5 victory in less than two hours....

The Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, had been relatively calm this year, with just one major storm in July. That changed at the end of August, when Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, came screaming through, leaving a trail of destruction all the way from the US Virgin Islands to the Bahamas and the US and Canadian east coasts....

It is not uncommon for human-generated blazes — lit to clear the land out for farming or ranching — in the Amazon rainforest to get out of control. However, this year, the number of wildfires has been extraordinarily high. Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has recorded over 73,000 fires in the world's largest tropical rainforest between January and August 2019, 2,500 of which are currently active. This is the highest number observed since the agency began keeping records in 2013, and an astounding 80 percent more than during the first eight months of 2018....

Fiona Kolbinger, a 24-year-old with little experience in competitive cycling, took the world by surprise when she became the first female to win the ultra-endurance Transcontinental Race on August 6, 2019. The cancer researcher from Germany outrode 225 men and 39 women to complete the approximately 2,485 miles (4,000 km) race from Bulgaria to France in 10 days, two hours, and 48 minutes. Even more impressive, Kolbinger crossed the finish line almost 11 hours ahead of the second-place winner, Ben Davies of the United Kingdom....

The US women's national soccer team's quest for the 2019 FIFA World Cup began on June 11, 2019, with a resounding 13-0 win over Thailand. In addition to being the largest margin of victory ever in a women’s World Cup match, the score also set a new record for the most goals in a single World Cup game — for both men and women. The team's incredible journey ended almost a month later on July 7, 2019, with a thrilling 2-0 victory against the Netherlands....

Two summers ago, on August 21, 2017, thousands of people from across the world witnessed the "Great American Solar Eclipse," the first total solar eclipse to occur exclusively over the continental United States since January 11, 1880. Now, stargazers are getting excited to watch the Sun disappear again for a brief period on July 2, 2019 — this time, the eclipse's narrow path will extend across the South Pacific all the way to Chile and Argentina....

With the days getting progressively longer and warmer in the Northern Hemisphere, summer may appear to be well under way. However, though the meteorological season began on June 1, 2019, the astronomical season will not start until June 21, 2019. Also known as the June solstice, it is the day when the North Pole is most inclined toward the sun, which means that everyone living north of the equator will experience the year's longest day and shortest night. For Southern Hemisphere residents, the date heralds the official start of winter, resulting in the shortest day and longest night of the year....

If you think humans are the only ones that like a little bling, you are in for a surprise. Australian scientists have discovered a new pink and fluffy fungus that adorns its long, thread-like tendrils with tiny flecks of gold collected from the soil. The experts hope the "gold-digger" will provide them with clues on the locations of gold deposits and make prospecting for the precious metal easier, and more environmentally friendly....

Though the Scripps National Spelling Bee has crowned two co-champions on rare occasions — five times in the past 91 years, to be exact — the number of joint winners has never risen beyond that. However, history was made on May 31, 2019, when Rishik Gandhasri, Erin Howard, Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sohum Sukhatankar, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao, and Rojan Raja became the prestigious competition's first "octo-champions." In addition to the coveted title, the middle school students from five states — New Jersey, Texas, Alabama, Maryland and California — each took home an engraved trophy and a cash prize of $50,000....

To say that Americans love donuts is an understatement. A 2017 survey conducted by Dawn Foods, a global manufacturer and ingredients supplier to bakeries worldwide, found that the average US resident eats 31 donuts a year — or about two or three a month. The consumption, of course, goes up exponentially on National Donut Day, which this year will be celebrated on June 7, 2019!...

For most people, completing the "Explorers Grand Slam," which requires climbing the Seven Summits — the highest mountain in each of the seven continents — and reaching the North and South Poles, would be achievement enough. However, not for American explorer and adventurer Victor Vescovo, who completed the challenge in 2017. Since December 2018, the 54-year-old former US naval officer has been on a new quest — to become the first person to take a manned submersible to the deepest-known point in each of the world's five oceans....

When Robert F. Smith rose to address the 400 graduates of Atlanta's Morehouse College on May 19, 2019, the students expected the commencement speaker to be entertaining, inspiring, and encouraging. What they did not expect, however, was that he would change their lives forever by pledging to pay off all their student debt....

Though Thailand has been a constitutional monarchy since 1932, the country's king is considered the spiritual protector of its people and culture. For seventy years, that role had been fulfilled by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. When the beloved monarch passed away in October 2016, his second child, and only male heir, crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, ascended to the throne. However, in respect to the highly-revered former king, the country observed a three-year mourning period, postponing the new monarch's coronation ceremony until early May 2019....

Mention the word spy, and the images that come to mind are those of secretive, stealthy fictional characters like British Secret Service agent James Bond and former CIA assassin Jason Bourne. However, the alleged Russian mole, who recently "defected" to Norway, fits none of those descriptions. In fact, it is not even a person, but a friendly Beluga whale who loves to interact with humans!...

As if being downgraded to dwarf planet status was not enough, Pluto may now be in danger of losing its wispy atmosphere by 2030. The dire prediction comes from a 28-year study of the small celestial body, which lies at the edge of our solar system, by a team of international researchers led by University of Tasmania astronomer Andrew Cole....

While rain on Earth is associated with water, precipitation on the Sun comes as giant clumps of plasma, or supercharged gas, which drizzle down from the star's atmosphere on to its surface. Though coronal rain has been observed on numerous occasions, its source, which researchers believed would help them better understand how the Sun's outer atmosphere, or corona, gets so hot, had never been discovered. Now, thanks to Emily Mason, a graduate student at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., the mystery has finally been solved....

On Monday, April 22, 2019, corporations worldwide will encourage employees to celebrate Earth Day by participating in activities like neighborhood or beach clean-ups, planting trees, or biking/walking to work. While the one-day enthusiasm to care for our planet certainly helps, to make a real difference, companies have to incorporate sustainability into their everyday operations. Here are a few businesses that are making an impact beyond Earth Day....

No visit to the beautiful city of Paris, France is complete without a visit to the Notre Dame de Paris or, as it is commonly called, Notre Dame. The medieval cathedral, built over 180 years — from 1163 to 1345— is one of the world's most stunning examples of Gothic architecture. Unfortunately, on April 15, 2019, the 850-year-old monument, which is visited by over 13 million people annually, was engulfed in a massive blaze that caused widespread damage to the iconic structure....

Easter, which falls on April 21, 2019 this year, is the oldest and most important of all Christian festivals. Many adults commemorate the holiday, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, with prayers and by fasting for 40 days prior to the event. However, for most American kids Easter is all about feasting on delicious food, enjoying springtime parades, and, best of all, participating in neighborhood egg hunts. But while these traditions are a norm in the US and other countries, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, not every country observes the occasion by looking for candy-filled eggs. Here are a handful of fun rituals that you may be tempted to incorporate into your own Easter celebrations this year....

The existence of black holes, first proposed by Albert Einstein in his 1916 general theory of relativity, has been known for decades. However, astrophysicists have thus far relied on indirect evidence, such as the stars orbiting a large and invisible object in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, to prove their presence. That changed on April 10, 2019, with the release of the first-ever direct visual evidence of a black hole in the center of the galaxy M87, located 55 million light-years from Earth....