Bay Area Juvenile Burglary Ring Tied to Over 70 Heists Dismantled by Multi-Agency Sweep
A Sprawling Crime Spree Hidden in Plain Sight Four juveniles have been arrested in connection with 37 vehicle and residential burglaries in Concord and 40 more in other cities in Contra Costa and Solano counties, authorities announced Friday, August 8. What investigators uncovered wasn’t a…
Russia Hammers Ukraine With Missiles as Air Defense Crisis Deepens
A Nation Under Fire, Nearly Defenseless Against Ballistic Missiles The numbers are stark and alarming. Ukraine intercepted only 29 of the 195 ballistic missiles Russia launched at the country in July as air defenses faced a critical shortage of interceptor missiles, the Defense Ministry reported…
Scientists Discover the Brain Enzyme Behind Childhood Trauma’s Lasting Damage
A Scar You Can’t See Experiencing severe stress during childhood can make a person more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders when faced with hardships as an adult. That much has long been suspected. What scientists didn’t know — until now — was…
Puerto Rico’s Worst Drought in Decades Forces 180,000 Into Water Rationing
A Crisis Years in the Making Puerto Rico’s water crisis entered a new phase on Friday, August 7, as rationing started for thousands in the San Juan region, where severe drought has exacerbated an ongoing issue with outages and low water pressure for the past…
July Jobs Report Stuns Economists as US Economy Loses 23,000 Positions
A Shocking Reversal for the American Job Market A summer hiring slump dogged the US labor market in July as the economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report, published on August 7, landed…
FDA Approves First mRNA Flu Vaccine, Promising Faster and Stronger Protection
A Historic Milestone in Flu Prevention The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind flu vaccine made with messenger RNA technology, enabling its developer, Moderna, to complete a dramatic regulatory turnaround. The approval clears the way for a new vaccine option for older adults…
Scientists Used AI to Build Viruses From Scratch and 16 of Them Actually Work
A First in Science: Viruses Written by Machine Artificial intelligence has been used to design brand new viruses that are fully functional and can replicate in the laboratory — and it marks the first time whole genomes have been successfully designed by AI. The study,…
Romania Sinks Barges Into the Danube in Desperate Bid to Save Nuclear Power
A River Running Out of Time In one of the most dramatic emergency engineering operations in recent European memory, Romania on Thursday, August 7, sank four rock-laden barges into the Danube River in a last-ditch attempt to keep its only functioning nuclear reactor alive. Romania…
Turkey Moves to End 40-Year Kurdish Conflict With Historic Peace Law
A Landmark Step Toward Ending Decades of Bloodshed After more than four decades of armed conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Turkey is making its most concrete legal move yet toward peace. Turkey’s ruling alliance submitted legislation to parliament on Wednesday that…
Record Sun Images Reveal Hidden Vortices That Could Reshape Space Weather Science
A Solar Breakthrough Hidden in Plain Sight For decades, scientists suspected that tiny, swirling whirlpools were churning across the surface of the sun. They had the math to back it up. What they didn’t have was a telescope powerful enough to actually see them —…
