16 Years Later: A Look Back At The 9/11 Terrorist Attacks That Changed Our LivesThough it has been 16 years, Americans who lived through the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks remember the events of the tragic day vividly. Early that morning, 19 members of the Islamic extremist organization Al Qaeda, split into four teams, each with an experienced pilot, and hijacked four commercial flights — United Flight 93 from New Jersey, American Flight 77 from Washington DC, as well as United Flight 175 and American Flight 11 from Boston....
اقرأ المقالWhat President Trump's Decision To Wind Down DACA Means For "DREAMers"On Tuesday, September 5, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will be terminated in six months and urged the U.S. Congress to pass replacement legislation before March 2018. The program, the result of a 2012 executive order by former President Barack Obama, shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation....
اقرأ المقالAmericans Come Together To Help Texas Heal After HarveyOn Friday, August 25, Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Southern Texas as a Category 4 storm, leaving in its wake unprecedented damage and chaos. To make matters worse, the storm lingered around for days, dumping almost 52-inches of rain, breaking a 50-year record for tropical cyclone rainfall measured in a single place in the US....
اقرأ المقال110-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Is So Well Preserved, It Could Be Napping!Over a 100 million years ago, an 18-foot (5.48 meter) long, 2,500-pound (1,133 kg) pineapple-shaped dinosaur met an untimely death when it was swept away by a river in what is now Alberta, Canada. Fortunately for us, its body ended up situated back-first on the muddy floor of an old seaway. This helped preserve the ancient behemoth’s front half in such extraordinary 3-D detail that the armored dinosaur almost looks alive....
اقرأ المقالHurricane Harvey Slams Into Southern TexasHurricane Harvey, which began as a tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, August 23, rapidly escalated to a Category 4 storm as it made its way towards Southern Texas. As expected the powerful hurricane, which packed 130mph winds, made landfall near the city of Rockport on August 25 at about 10:00 pm local time, causing widespread destruction. Three hours later, it made a second landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay, this time as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph winds!...
اقرأ المقالFlo Kiosks Enable Cyclists To Breeze Through Traffic Lights!Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands, is a cyclist’s dream. Unlike other urban areas that confine riders to tiny lanes, cyclists here get priority with dedicated “bicycle streets,” where cars are considered “guests,” as well as special bike tunnels and bridges. The city is also in the process of constructing the world’s biggest indoor parking lot for bikes at its central train station. However, the over 60 percent residents who use the two-wheelers as their primary mode of transportation are still frustrated because, like cyclists all over the world, they have to make constant stops at traffic lights....
اقرأ المقالThousands of Pikachus Take Over Japanese StreetsFor the past four years, the Minato Mirai district of Yokohama, Japan, has been bringing Pokémon’s most famous character to life with a Pikachu Outbreak Festival. The event, which features numerous fun activities, including colorful parades with thousands of people dressed in Pikachu costumes, began in 2014 to promote an upcoming Pokémon movie. It was such a success that its sponsors, The Pokémon Company, decided to make it an annual, week-long extravaganza....
اقرأ المقال"Doomsday Vault" Will Protect Precious Data In The Event Of A Global CatastropheGovernments, corporations, and even individuals concerned about losing valuable data or photos in the event of a cataclysmic disaster can now rest easy thanks to the recently opened Arctic World Archive. Located 300-meters (984-feet) below the ground inside an abandoned coal mine in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the “Doomsday Vault” is equipped to keep information safe in the event of a natural or man-made catastrophe....
اقرأ المقالJapanese Town Seeks Help From Dogs To Sniff Out Stomach CancerWhile Japan is known to have higher than average rates of stomach cancer, the residents of the town of Kaneyama in Yamagata Prefecture appear to be particularly susceptible to the gastric ailment. After a recent report revealed that the municipality had one of the highest stomach cancer fatality rates out of the nation’s 344 “secondary medical districts”, the town officials decided to get its 6,000 residents tested....
اقرأ المقالLost Irish Beach 'Magically' Reappears After 33 YearsWith its majestic mountains, spectacular landscapes, and pristine beaches, Ireland’s Achill Island has always been a popular European tourist destination. However, since April, the rugged 57-square mile island of just 2,600 residents has gained worldwide fame thanks to the ‘miraculous’ return of a beach that was washed away over three decades ago....
اقرأ المقالAdorable Pooch Fired From Police Force For Being Too Friendly Lands A Better JobWhen six-week-old Gavel arrived at the Government House, the official residence of the Governor of Queensland, in April 2016, everyone thought it would be for just a short period. The adorable purebred German Shepherd was, after all, being trained to become a Queensland Police Service (QPS) dog to help officials chase down criminals. Given that five members of his extended family are currently in the force, there was little doubt of his success....
اقرأ المقالAustralian Teen Invents "Clever GIRL" To Warn Swimmers Of Deadly Rip CurrentsEvery ocean lover knows the perils of getting caught in a rip current. Experienced swimmers know it is relatively easy to escape the narrow channel of fast moving water by floating and allowing it to drag you further into the ocean or by swimming alongside the shore. However, novice beachgoers often panic, and try to swim to land, placing themselves at risk of drowning due to fatigue. According to the US National Ocean Service, the currents kill about 100 Americans each year and account for 80% of all lifeguard rescues. These scary statistics may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to Clever GIRL (Global Intelligent Rip Locator), a smart buoy that alerts swimmers of the presence of deadly rip currents....
اقرأ المقالChicago Botanic Garden Visitors Witness The Rare Bloom Of Two Corpse FlowersSome fortunate visitors to the Chicago Botanic Garden recently witnessed the rare opening of not one, but two, titan arums. Better known as corpse flowers due to their pungent odor that resembles decaying flesh, the massive plants bloom once every ten years, and that too, for only a few hours. However, that may be a good thing given that when the petals unfurl, the stench emanated is so foul that it has earned the titan arum the title of the “world's smelliest flower.”...
اقرأ المقالDubai Deploys A Real-Life Robocop To Help CitizensThe city-state of Dubai that is home to the world’s tallest building, manmade islands shaped like palm trees, drone taxis, and jetpack wielding firefighters, is fast cementing its reputation as the city of the future. On May 22, Dubai officials added to their list of futuristic accomplishments with the introduction of the world’s first operational robot police officer....
اقرأ المقالPresident Trump Withdraws The US From The Paris Climate AgreementOn Tuesday, June 1, President Donald Trump fulfilled yet another campaign promise by announcing that the US was withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement. The goal of the historic pledge signed by 195 countries is to curb the use of fossil fuels to ensure that average global temperatures do not increase more than 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels. Environmentalists believe this is a critical threshold above which the planet could experience irreversible impacts, such as an unprecedented rise in sea levels and widespread plant and animal extinction....
اقرأ المقالMIT's Autonomous 3D Printing Platform Could Be Key For Building A Mars ColonyHousing ranks high among the numerous challenges that still need to be overcome before humans can colonize Mars. The brave pioneers that make the six-month voyage to the Red Planet will need a place to reside as soon as they land. While the optimal solution would be to have the structures ready before they get there, it has thus far been a challenge given that most automated construction robots have never made it out of the laboratory. Now, there may be a glimmer of hope thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) newly unveiled Digital Construction Platform (DCP)....
اقرأ المقالThailand's Famous Macaque "Uncle Fat" Placed On A Diet!Thailand’s free-roaming monkeys are a huge tourist draw. The primates, mostly macaques, are known to boldly visit with tourists who lure them with food. One of these monkeys, in particular, has recently become a worldwide sensation for both its gargantuan size and unique social status among his peers....
اقرأ المقالCan These Plastic-Eating Wax Worms Help Reduce Our Trash?Though plastic shopping bags are incredibly cheap and useful, their disposal causes widespread pollution. That's because the non-biodegradable polyethylene takes centuries to decompose and is also detrimental to wildlife who often mistake the colorful debris for food. Now, we may have an unlikely ally to help clean up our trash – a small wax worm bred primarily for use as premium fish bait....
اقرأ المقالJapan's Spectacular Train Suite Shiki-shima Is Like None OtherJapan’s newly unveiled Train Suite Shiki-shima that travels at a leisurely pace of 110 kph (68 mph) is a bit of an anomaly in a country known for magnetic levitation bullet trains that can traverse at speeds of up to 603 kph (375 mph). However, the purpose of the luxury sleeper train, which accommodates just 34 guests, is not to get passengers to their destination rapidly but to allow them to the enjoy the country’s beautiful landscapes while being thoroughly spoiled....
اقرأ المقالMicrosoft's Project Torino Helps Visually Impaired Children Learn To CodeWith technology permeating almost every aspect of our lives, the demand for computer programmers can only increase. To train the workforce of the future, companies around the world are frantically developing computing languages to introduce children as young as seven to the mysterious world of programming both in and out of school....
اقرأ المقالU.K. Gym Offers Group Napping Classes For Exhausted ClientsIn our increasingly fast-paced, technology-driven world, most adults do not get the recommended 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Things are even worse for those with young children. A recent study revealed that 86% of parents in the United Kingdom complain of fatigue and about 26% get less than 5 hours of sleep every night. To provide exhausted patrons a little relief from their hectic schedules, David Lloyd Clubs, a chain of gyms and fitness centers in Europe, has introduced a napercise class!...
اقرأ المقالGermany Unveils The World's Largest Artificial SunThe Earth’s natural power plant — the sun — bathes the planet with more than enough green energy to fulfill all our power needs. However, while we have managed to harness some of it through solar panels, most of its potential remains untapped. Finding new ways to capture more of this unlimited sustainable energy has proven tricky given that the sun doesn’t work at night, often hides behind clouds, and in some areas of the world, disappears altogether for months at a time. Now, scientists and engineers at the German Space Center (DLR) in Jülich have built a more reliable and controllable substitute to enable researchers to discover new ways to capture the sun’s energy....
اقرأ المقالEmmanuel Macron Is France's Youngest Leader Since Napoleon BonaparteOn May 7, 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron became France’s youngest leader since 35-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor in 1804. The former economy minister is also the first president in modern French history who does not belong to the country’s two mainstream political parties — the conservative Republicans and the left-wing Socialists. Macron, who quit the government in 2016 to form Centrist party “En Marche!” (“On the Move”), identifies himself as a radical outsider and promises to overhaul the country’s “failing” political system and revive the shrinking economy....
اقرأ المقالItalian Architect Envisions "Forest Cities" To Combat China's Air PollutionEver since Malaysian ecologist-architect Ken Yeang introduced the concept in the 1990’s, living walls and rooftops have become an increasingly common sight in both residential and commercial buildings. In addition to looking good, planted exteriors also help cut energy costs, and in the case of rooftop farms provide urban dwellers with homegrown produce. Now, Stefano Boeri wants to take green architecture to the next level with “Forest Cities” to combat China’s air pollution woes....
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