Every fall, families across the Northern Hemisphere rush to pumpkin patches in search of the perfect gourds. Some use them to carve out scary jack-o'-lanterns. Others place the fruits outside their homes as decor. But the fascination with pumpkins ends after Halloween, and most end up in the trash....

Every winter, Alaskan fishers head out to the Bering Sea to harvest snow crabs. However, on October 10, 2022, officials announced that the 2022/2023 snow crab season had been canceled due to a sharp decline in their population. Ocean surveys indicate that the number of snow crabs has shrunk from an estimated 11.9 billion in 2018 to about 1.9 billion in 2022....

The Sun is getting excited about Halloween as well! On October 26, 2022, NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) caught the fiery star sporting a cheerful "smile." However, don't be fooled by the friendly "jack-o'-lantern" look. It could trigger a mild solar storm on Earth on October 29, 2022....

Election season is in full swing in the United States. On November 8, 2022, millions of Americans will head to the polls to vote for their favorite candidates at this year's midterm elections. As the name indicates, the elections occur halfway through a US president's four-year term. Midterms do not receive the same attention as presidential elections. But they can have just as significant an impact on the country's direction....

Earlier this year, the United States Mint began producing a series of quarters showcasing some of the most influential American women. The fifth coin in the "American Women Quarters Program" was released on October 24, 2022. It features famous Hollywood actress Anna May Wong. She is the first Asian American to appear on the country's currency....

Few countries celebrate Halloween as enthusiastically as the United States (US). Children and adults spend months — and millions of dollars — looking for the perfect costume. Many families decorate homes and front yards with spooky skeletons and jack-o-lanterns. How did all these fun customs begin? Read on....

Electric cars are a great way to reduce our carbon footprint. But French car maker Citroën believes more can be done to make vehicles sustainable. On September 29, 2022, the company unveiled Oli, a concept electric car that can be "reused or recycled throughout ownership."...

In 1905, water from the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flooded a dry lake bed called the Salton Sink in Southern California. The flooding continued for two years, creating a pristine 400-square-mile lake. The Salton Sea, as it was called, became an instant vacation hotspot. Its sandy beaches and warm water drew millions of visitors every year. Filled with fish from the Colorado River, it also drew migratory birds looking for food in the desert....

Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) is among the most admired painters of his era. His most well-known work, Girl with a Pearl Earring, has even been nicknamed the "Dutch Mona Lisa." But Vermeer completed surprisingly few pieces — no more than 60 in total — during his lifetime, only 36 of which are still around. A recent discovery by the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC, has reduced the already paltry number even further....

Every fall, over a billion Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains worldwide celebrate Diwali. The five-day festival, which commemorates the triumph of good over evil, is India's biggest holiday. The ancient festival's date is based on the Hindu lunar calendar and differs annually. This year, Deepavali, or the Festival of Lights, as it is also called, will be observed from October 22nd to October 26th....

October is pumpkin season in America. For most people, this means eating delicious pumpkin-filled treats or visiting pumpkin patches to pick out the perfect fruit for Halloween. But for pumpkin farmers, it is a chance to showcase their giant produce at pumpkin weigh-offs. Though various such contests are held countrywide, the "Super Bowl" of pumpkin weigh-offs takes place in Half Moon Bay, CA....

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in children. The condition, which affects about 1 in 345 children, can make daily activities like walking, eating, or even lifting a cup difficult. A team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) hopes to alleviate the daily struggles with robotic clothing that will allow kids with cerebral palsy to better control their arm movements....

Researchers from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom have uncovered the fossil of a new mosasaur species that ruled the seas during the Cretaceous period. The ferocious marine lizard was an apex predator that thrived in the waters of Morocco at the same time T. rex was on land. The scientist named the creature Thalassotitan atrox (T. atrox) from the Greek words "Thalassa" and "titan," meaning "sea giant." The species name atrox translates to "cruel" or "merciless."...

On October 5, 2022, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann became the first Native American woman to launch into space. Mann is also the first woman to command a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). The 45-year-old is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes....

Columbus Day, which honors the Italian explorer's October 12, 1492, arrival to the Americas, has been a US federal holiday since 1971. However, the holiday, marked annually on the second Monday of October (October 10th this year), has always been controversial. Many believe that the European settlers' mistreatment of the Native American people is not a cause for celebration....

A gentle giant in Farmington Hills, Michigan, has set a Guinness World Record as the world's tallest living domestic cat. Fenrir Powers measured an impressive 18.83 inches on January 29, 2021. The two-year-old Savannah cat's achievement was revealed in the Guinness World Records 2023 edition, released on September 13, 2022....

Plastic may not be the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of footwear. But a significant portion of modern shoes, including soles and uppers, are made using plastic materials. The billions of pairs of discarded shoes, flip flops, and sandals that end up in landfills every year take hundreds of years to decompose and pose a substantial environmental challenge. California-based Blueview hopes to alleviate the problem with what they claim is the world's first fully compostable shoe....

The origin of Saturn's beautiful rings and the reason for the planet's unusually large 27 degree-tilt on its axis has puzzled astronomers for decades. Scientists had initially believed that the rings had been a part of the planet since its formation billions of years ago. However, recent research indicates that the planet acquired them sometime between 100 and 200 million years ago....

The Polynesian Kingdom of Tonga is home to a new island. The land mass results from the lava and ash spewed by the Home Reef seamount, an undersea volcano that came to life on September 10, 2022. While the volcano has been erupting steadily since, it poses no risk to the residents of the South Pacific archipelago....

Michael Heizer was just 27 years old when he began work on "City" in 1970. Now, 50 years later, the reclusive American artist is finally ready to showcase his life's work. The 1.5-mile-long complex, which cost $40 million to build, opened to the public on September 2, 2022. It is the largest contemporary artwork ever built. The exact location of "City" is a secret. But it lies in a remote valley in Nevada's Great Basin Desert....

Just days after destroying parts of Cuba and leaving much of the country without power, Hurricane Ian pummeled Southwest Florida on September 28, 2022. The powerful storm came ashore with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. It was just 7 miles short of becoming a Category 5 hurricane....

On September 26, 2022, NASA's golf cart-sized DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally crashed into a distant asteroid. The spectacular collision, observed by telescopes worldwide, was NASA's first practical attempt to alter the path of an asteroid. The $325 million mission was part of the space agency's overall planetary defense strategy to protect Earth from the impact of an errant space rock....

Any 25th birthday is a cause for celebration. But it was even more so for Janus, a two-headed Greek tortoise who marked the milestone year on September 3, 2022. The resident of the Natural History Museum in Geneva, Switzerland, is now believed to be the world's oldest two-headed tortoise. The museum celebrated the special occasion with a day-long party filled with fun events, which included taking photos with the birthday "boy."...

A seven-year-old boy's love for corn has made him an Internet celebrity worldwide. Tariq's rise to fame was accidental. The New York resident was at Smorgasburg, a weekly food festival in Brooklyn, this summer when Julian Shapiro-Barnum approached him. The comedian is the host of "Recess Therapy," a fun YouTube series featuring impromptu interviews with kids....