The World We Share

Mysterious stranding kills 81 false killer whales off Southwest Florida

MIAMI — More than 80 false killer whales have been found dead after stranding themselves along the remote coast of Southwest Florida in Everglades National Park, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday. So far, the death toll is 81, with just one of the rare whales found alive. Crews continue to search for […]

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The World We Share, USA

The end of an era for “The greatest show on earth”

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus said on Saturday it will cease performances after 146 years in business, owing to what it said were declining tickets sales and high operating costs. “After much evaluation and deliberation, my family and I have made the difficult business decision that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey

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The World We Share, USA

USA – SeaWord San Diego ends world-famous killer whale show

SeaWorld San Diego ended its long-running killer whale show on Sunday, following years of protests and falling attendance. SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. announced last year that it was ending its theatrical orca shows and breeding programme. The final performances, which featured whales cavorting with trainers and leaping high out of the Shamu Stadium pool, came only

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The World We Share, USA

Tilikum, the infamous SeaWorld killer whale, has died

ORLANDO, Fla. — Tilikum, the SeaWorld killer whale that inspired the anti-captivity documentary “Blackfish” after killing an Orlando trainer, has died. SeaWorld said Tilikum had been battling a serious and persistent lung infection. Acquired by SeaWorld in 1992, Tilikum helped SeaWorld grow its captive orca collection by fathering more than a dozen offspring. But Tilikum

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The World We Share, USA

La Paz’s water is running out as Bolivia suffers its worst drought in 25 years

The rugged Dakar Rally auto race is about to blaze through Bolivia. But to many Bolivians, the timing could not be worse. Thousands of La Paz residents have been protesting these days. Now they’re also shouting online with the hashtag #AguaSíDakarNo — “yes to water, no to Dakar.” In other words, they wish authorities would

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International, The World We Share

What do we know about dinosaur eggs?

These fossils can reveal a lot about how dinosaurs lived Darla Zelinitsky A fossilized embryo of the duck-billed Hypacrosaurus. Some dinosaur eggs took a surprisingly long time to hatch, according to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By examining the teeth of unhatched dinosaur embryos, paleontologists determined

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Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share

SpaceX says failure of helium storage tank caused September rocket explosion

Four months after a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on a Florida launch pad, SpaceX said Monday that the cause was a failed composite overwrapped pressure vessel used to store liquid helium. In the final update to its investigation, the space company said one of three such tanks in the rocket’s larger, second-stage liquid oxygen tank

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share, USA

Quake swarm near the California-Mexico border gets scientists’ attention

More than 250 small earthquakes have struck since New Year’s Eve near the California-Mexico border, causing unease among residents and attention from scientists. The strongest earthquake in the sequence was magnitude 3.9, directly underneath Brawley, about 170 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The earthquakes struck in the southern end of the Brawley Seismic Zone, a

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International, The World We Share, USA

Cheetahs headed towards extinction, wildlife experts warn

Cheetahs are in a race for survival, with wildlife experts warning that the world’s fastest land animal is close to extinction. Experts estimate that there are only 7,100 cheetahs left in the world – a dramatic decline from 100 years ago, when the total population was estimated at 100,000. So imminent is the threat to

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International, The World We Share

Leap second 2016: Why this New Year’s Eve will have an extra second

The year 2017 isn’t coming as soon as you think. In fact, it will be exactly one second late. On Dec. 31, 2016, the international time keeping community will tack an additional second, known as a leap second, on to the last minute of the year. As midnight approaches, the official atomic clocks that keep

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share

What we can learn from bat calls

TEL AVIV, Israel (Press Release) — Bats, like humans, are extremely social mammals. They enjoy an average lifespan of 20-30 years, settle in large colonies, and rely heavily on social interactions for their survival, using vocalizations — or calls — for communication. There is very little known about the purpose and content of these noises.

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education, The World We Share