USA

Becky Shelton could have cashed in, just like many other landowners in her neighbourhood. But she knew that wasn’t what she and her late husband wanted. Selling the 215 acres to developers reshaping Northern Virginia was everything against their dream. So, she went as planned and locked the land away, ensuring that it never becomes…

Malaysian students have built a prototype that attempts to recover electricity from one of the most overlooked sources of wasted energy in a home, water flowing down the sink. Developed by three students at Universiti Malaya, WattsUp is an IoT-enabled micro-hydropower system designed specifically for the weak and intermittent flow produced by household wastewater. Rather…

From April 2017 to March 2019, Japan collected electronics through two national channels. Under the 2020 Medal Project, NTT Docomo shops took in about 6.21 million used phones, while municipalities collected approximately 78,985 tonnes of small electronic devices. Through them all, recyclers were able to extract 32 kilograms of gold, 3,500 kilograms of silver and…

The Brooks Development Authority was created in 2002 to redevelop the former 1,308-acre Brooks Air Force Base In 2002, San Antonio turned its 1,308-acre decommissioned Air Force base over to the Brooks Development Authority for redevelopment. More than two decades later, the organisation is looking beyond the former base as it seeks to bring more…

BCI surveys an abandoned uranium mine for bat habitat. Photo: Bat Conservation International. Several abandoned uranium mine sites in the Pryor Mountains of south-central Montana have been closed after federal agencies identified safety, radiation and environmental risks. The work was carried out on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), with the Department…

Scientist finds 10,000-year-old mastodon molar while surveying California creek for threatened frogs (Image Credit: Balance Hydrologics) A routine field survey in a California redwood forest has led to an extraordinary glimpse into the Ice Age. A scientist searching a San Mateo County creek for signs of habitat conditions for threatened California red-legged frogs spotted an…

Representative image of Hawaii from Canva In 1902, red mangroves were brought to Hawaii with an apparently practical purpose. Their tangled roots could hold soil in place, reduce erosion and stabilise shorelines around vulnerable coastal areas. At the time, the trees seemed like a useful solution for an island environment shaped by waves, storms and…

A cellphone number can appear to be a simple way to reach someone, but it is also often tied to bank accounts, password resets and two factor authentication. Federal prosecutors say a former AT&T retail employee exploited that connection by helping a hacker transfer customers’ phone numbers to devices controlled by criminals. The scheme allegedly…

Representative Image (AI-generated) What if a discarded Christmas tree could help bring a damaged river ecosystem back to life? For years, the Niagara River’s shoreline has been losing an important part of its natural ecosystem. More than 75% of the original coastal wetlands on the Canadian side had disappeared, reducing the shallow, sheltered areas that…

Twenty five years since the worst terror attack on US soil Twenty-five years ago America saw the darkest chapter in its history and the world hasn’t been the same since.On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial aircraft and turned them into weapons. Two planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, one…