Nature & Science Thread

[Chris]

Live updates: Boeing and NASA launch Starliner spacecraft

A Boeing-built Starliner spacecraft, carrying two NASA astronauts, soared toward space on Wednesday. Follow for our live updates.

www.cnn.com

• A Boeing spacecraft carrying two NASA astronauts has launched its historic crewed maiden voyage.
• The astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, are attempting to become the first humans to travel to space in Boeing’s Starliner craft. They are expected to spend one day in orbit before docking with the International Space Station.
• The mission comes after years of development and costly setbacks for Boeing’s Starliner, which aims to compete with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.
• An attempt to launch the spacecraft on June 1 was scrubbed just minutes before its scheduled liftoff.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/science/spacex-starship-launch-fourth-test-flight-scn/index.html

SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever built launched Thursday and achieved key objectives laid out for its fourth test flight that demonstrated the vehicle’s reusability. The highly anticipated event was the company’s second uncrewed test of 2024.

Launch occurred from the private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50 a.m. CT (8:50 a.m. ET), and the company streamed live coverage on X, formerly known as Twitter, drawing millions of viewers.

 

[Death By Looch]

Found on the X today

Exactly.

From the comments on that tweet:

And yea, with how things are evolving, I definitely can see something similar happening.

 

[Death By Looch]

The International Union for Conservation of Nature announces that the Iberian lynx has been upgraded from endangered to vulnerable for the first time since 1986, after a 2023 census showed a population of 2,021 animals.

One of world’s rarest cats no longer endangered - conservation agency

The Iberian lynx is now classed as "vulnerable" as numbers surge due to conservation efforts.

www.bbc.com

Embrace all good news there are

 

[Grimoire Lenin]

Rapidan Dam breached by flood waters in southern Minnesota; nearby residents warned to potentially evacuate

Flooding on the Blue Earth River breached the Rapidan Dam Monday morning and it's now in an "imminent failure condition," officials said.

www.cbsnews.com

Mankato is not doing well right now, with the dam failure, emergency dams have been put up to keep the entire city from being flooded. My friend sent me a photo of just how bad it is right now, and any more rain is going to cause these emergency dams to fail. Mankato is less than an hour away from me, and other places in Minnesota is utterly flooded like Waterville, Faribault, and Freeborn.

Spoiler

 

[Chris]

Hurricane Beryl grows to Category 5 strength as it razes southeast Caribbean islands

Hurricane Beryl has ripped off doors, windows and roofs in homes across the southeast Caribbean after making landfall on the island of Carriacou.

apnews.com

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) — Hurricane Beryl strengthened to Category 5 status late Monday after it ripped doors, windows and roofs off homes across the southeastern Caribbean with devastating winds and storm surge fueled by the Atlantic’s record warmth.

Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou in Grenada as the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic, then late in the day the National Hurricane Center in Miami said its winds had increased to Category 5 strength. Fluctuations in strength, and later a significant weakening, were forecast as the storm pushes further into the Caribbean in the coming days.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/02/fda-approves-eli-lilly-alzheimers-drug-donanemab.html

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s drug donanemab, expanding the limited treatment options for the mind-wasting disease in the U.S.

The agency approved the treatment, which will be sold under the brand name Kisunla, for adults with early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, according to the company.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/weather/live-news/hurricane-beryl-texas-07-08-24/index.html

• Track the storm: Beryl has made landfall near Matagorda, Texas, as a Category 1 hurricane. It is the first storm in the Atlantic hurricane season to make landfall in the US. Stay updated on its path here.
• Forecast: Beryl is carving a path inland. Feet of storm surge is hitting the Texas coast, damaging winds are knocking out power and extreme rainfall is threatening dangerous flooding.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/business/live-news/global-outage-intl-hnk/index.html

• Global outages: Tech disruptions worldwide have hit airlines, banks and businesses, which are scrambling to respond.
• What’s behind this? The outages appear to stem at least partly from a software update for Microsoft Windows operating systems issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, experts tell CNN.
• Fix deployed, but impacts remain: CrowdStrike’s CEO said that a fix has been deployed. And Microsoft said the “underlying cause” has been fixed, but that the outages are still affecting some services.
• Travel stalled: Major US carriers including Delta, United and American Airlines have had flights grounded by authorities. Airlines in Europe and Asia-Pacific region have also seen disruptions.
• Critical infrastructure hit: Banks in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Britain have been affected, while Israel’s hospitals are facing a computer “malfunction,” and the UK’s National Health Service said most GP practices in England had been affected.

 

[Comrade Khan]

well that's not great

 

[Death By Looch]

A study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation finds thirteen Brazilian sharpnose sharks off the coast of Brazil with high levels of cocaine in their muscles and livers. Experts believe the cocaine is making its way into the waters via illegal labs where the drug is manufactured or through excrement of drug users.

Sharks off Brazil coast test positive for cocaine

Sharks taken from the shores near Rio de Janeiro have tested for high levels of cocaine.

www.bbc.com

We're getting cocaine Sharks now.

 

[Chris]

Landslides in India kill at least 60 people as monsoon rains bring misery, floods sweep away homes and roads

At least 60 people are dead and dozens more feared buried under mud after landslides hit southern India's Kerala state.

www.cbsnews.com

New Delhi — Massive landslides sparked by torrential rains swept away homes in hilly areas of southern India's Kerala state on Tuesday, killing at least 60 people and leaving dozens more missing, officials said. More than 100 people were injured and admitted to regional hospitals.

Reports on Indian news outlets suggested the death toll could reach over 80.

The landslides struck several areas in Kerala's Wayanad district early Tuesday morning, catching people off guard or as they slept.

 

[Chris]

Hurricane Debby makes landfall in Florida as Category 1 storm and threatens catastrophic flooding

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Debby has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (129 kph). Forecasters warned heavy rain could spawn catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

apnews.com

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Debby reached the Big Bend coast of Florida early Monday, bringing with it the potential for record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge as it moves slowly across the northern part of the state before stalling over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina.

The storm made landfall as a Category 1 storm near Steinhatchee, a tiny community in northern Florida of less than 1,000 residents on Florida’s Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (129 kph) and was moving northeast at 10 mph (17 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

 

[Chris]

https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4814057-epa-emergency-order-dangerous-pesticide-dcpa-dacthal/

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced an emergency order Tuesday to remove from the market a pesticide linked to fetal damage, its first such action in nearly four decades.

In a statement, the EPA said exposure to the pesticide, dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known DCPA or dacthal, can affect fetal thyroid hormone levels. These changes are in turn associated with lower birth weights and impairments to brain development and motor skills.

 

[Chris]

https://ktla.com/news/california/earthquake-hits-southern-california/

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 hit Southern California Monday afternoon, sending shockwaves that were felt across the region.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake, which was initially reported as magnitude 4.7, struck around 12:20 p.m. about 2.5 miles south, southeast of Highland Park near Chinatown.