Jenn Ross noticed that some buckets in her garage were knocked over when she returned from the gym on the morning of August 22, 2022. Believing it may be the result of the family cat, Coco, chasing after a bird, she did not give it much thought. However, she soon discovered the true culprit lounging in her hallway — an adorable young New Zealand fur seal!...

The metaverse is rapidly being portrayed as the next frontier in the tech, business, and finance world. The concept gained popularity in July 2021, after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebranded the company to Meta to reflect its growing focus on the metaverse. Today, everyone, from major corporations like Microsoft and Disney to innovative startups, is scrambling to enter the lucrative market that is predicted to reach over $780 billion by 2024. But what exactly is the metaverse? How will it affect the way we live and work?...

Bacteria can be found almost everywhere on Earth, from the bottom of the ocean to the inside of our intestines. However, the single-celled organisms typically measure a few micrometers and can only be seen through a microscope. Now, researchers have identified a thin, thread-like bacteria species that grows up to 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) long. Named Thiomargarita magnifica, it is the largest bacteria found to date....

The 1,450-mile-long Colorado River and its tributaries snake through seven states and two nations — the US and Mexico. They provide water and electricity to about 40 million people in Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah. The country's sixth largest river also irrigates 4 to 5 million acres of farmland in the Southwest....

San Francisco's public trash cans have long outlived their lifespan and need to be replaced. However, the current design is inadequate for the city's burgeoning population and the increasingly larger number of tourists. The garbage receptacles also get rummaged through by scavengers, who leave behind a mess. To alleviate the issues, in 2018, San Francisco Public Works officials set out in search of a perfect trash can. The quest proved harder than they had thought....

Batesian mimicry — where a harmless species mimics a harmful one to escape predators — is widespread in animals. But most recorded examples of the phenomena are visual. For instance, the harmless scarlet kingsnakes have evolved to resemble a venomous species, while the flower-loving hoverflies have adopted the persona of stinging wasps. Now, for the first time, researchers have uncovered a mammal that has developed acoustic Batesian mimicry to scare away predators....

The powerful eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai underwater volcano rocked the island nation of Tonga on January 15, 2022. The spectacular 13-mile-wide explosion is the largest recorded in the 21st century thus far. It expelled ash and gas plumes as high as 19 miles and triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific....

There have been numerous attempts to create an all-plastic bike. However, most have never made it past the prototype stage. Igus, a Germany-based manufacturer of high-performance plastics, and Dutch start-up MTRL aim to change that with the igus:bike — the world's first urban bike crafted almost entirely from recycled polymer....

The US House of Representatives passed the Inflation Reduction Act on August 12, 2022. The comprehensive legislation, approved by the Senate on August 8, 2022, will be signed into law by President Joe Biden later this week. It is designed to lower health care and energy costs, combat climate change, and increase taxes on large corporations. Major provisions of the bill include:...

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) as they are now called, are finally getting the attention they deserve. On June 9, 2022, NASA announced it had commissioned a study to examine observations of events that "cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena."...

Art experts at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh made an exciting discovery while preparing for an upcoming exhibition. The reverse side of Vincent van Gogh's 1885 painting, Head of a Peasant Woman, features a portrait of the famed artist....

The beautiful island country of Madagascar has a dire school shortage. About a third of Malagasy children have no access to education because the schools are too far away or severely overcrowded. Thinking Huts, a non-profit dedicated to increasing global access to education, believes that 22,000 new schools are needed to fulfill the demand. The organization plans to tackle the issue with a series of 3D-printed schools, the first of which was completed in April 2022....

A sprawling seagrass meadow has just been declared the "world's largest single living organism" based on area. The Poseidon’s ribbon weed seagrass (Posidonia australis) is located in Shark Bay, a protected body of shallow water in Western Australia. It covers an impressive 77 square miles (200 square kilometers) — the equivalent of about 280 soccer fields! The record was previously held by a 3.7 square-mile mushroom, dubbed "Humongous Fungus," in the Malheur National Forest in Oregon, USA....

There are over 30 meteor showers annually. However, few are as spectacular as the Perseids. The "shooting stars" have been blazing through the sky at a rate of about a dozen an hour since mid-July. But the best time to watch the natural fireworks show will be between August 11 and August 12, 2022. That's when the pace of the meteors will escalate to between 50 and one hundred an hour....

On June 28, 2022, Carson Pickett made history as the first athlete with a limb difference to play on the US women's national soccer team (USWNT). The 28-year-old, who filled in for defender Emily Fox, was in the game for the entire 90 minutes. She was instrumental in her team's 2-0 victory in the friendly game against Colombia. Pickett has also represented the US on the under-17 and under-23 national teams....

Freya, a 1,300-pound (589 kg) walrus, has been on an epic adventure since leaving her home in the Arctic Ocean in 2019. Over the past three years, the juvenile female has visited the coasts of Sweden, Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and the Shetland Islands. Freya, who is identified by her small tusks, white scar on her right nostril, and previous injury on her flipper, has now arrived in Norway....

A Roman-era cargo ship that sank near the Greek island of Antikythera over two thousand years ago has been yielding abundant ancient treasures since its discovery in 1900. In late June 2022, researchers revealed their latest find — a marble head depicting the Greek and Roman demigod Hercules. The expedition team believes it belongs to a headless sculpture of Hercules found during the first visit to the shipwreck....

Over the years, there have been numerous attempts to document the surface of the Moon. However, none have been as comprehensive as the map released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences on June 14, 2022....

The residents of Leye County in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are no strangers to sinkholes. The area's 29 majestic sinkholes and underground caves have earned themselves a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. But the one explored by scientists in early May 2022 harbored an extraordinary secret — a pristinely-preserved ancient forest....

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) was launched into space on December 25, 2021, with high expectations. Scientists hoped the $10 billion space observatory would allow them to explore the origins of the Universe, its galaxies, and perhaps even the formation of the first stars. The initial photos, released by NASA on July 12, 2022, indicate that Webb is living up to its promise....

July is National Ice Cream Month. This means it is your civic duty to consume a scoop or two of the delicious treat daily. The fun tradition was started by former US president Ronald Reagan, who issued Proclamation 5219 in honor of the "nutritious and wholesome food" in 1984. The decree urges Americans to mark the month, or at least July 17 — designated National Ice Cream Day — with "appropriate ceremonies and activities."...

Few countries can measure up to Egypt when it comes to fascinating archaeological discoveries. A collection of 250 beautifully painted sarcophagi with well-preserved mummies is the latest to make headlines. The 2500-year-old artifacts, unveiled on May 31, 2022, were unearthed at Saqqara's "Cemetery of Ancient Animals," near Cairo. The temple complex was dedicated to Bast, the Egyptian goddess of protection and the bringer of good health. It was the burial place of choice for affluent residents of Memphis, the capital city of the Old Kingdom of Egypt....

President Joe Biden signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law on June 25, 2022. The legislation aims to stop dangerous people from obtaining firearms and to provide much-needed funds to improve the nation's mental health system. It is the most significant gun control regulation approved by the US Congress since the now-expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994....

On June 22, 2022, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida revealed they had captured a 215-pound (98-kilo) female Burmese python in Everglades National Park. Measuring 18 feet long (5 meters), it is the heaviest Burmese python ever caught in the state. The previous record-holder was a 185-pound (84-kilo)( specimen captured in Naples, Florida, in 2021....