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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Authorities were investigating on Tuesday whether a cylindrical object about the size of a small car that washed up on a r

US biotech startup Colossal is trying to create a mammoth-elephant hybrid and introduce it to the Arctic tundra. A group of elephants in Botswana could hold the key.

The woolly mammoth has not walked the Earth for 4,000 years. Killed off at the end of the last ice age, it’s part of a group of extinct species that continue to inspire biologists, and one that US biotech startup Colossal – the self-proclaimed “de-extinction company” – has set its sights on reviving.

Colossal’s audacious plan involves creating a genetically engineered Asian elephant-mammoth hybrid, then introducing it to the Arctic tundra. The project has received millions of dollars in backing and has been met with both curiosity and a degree of scientific skepticism.

For Colossal to succeed, it must overcome many hurdles, including crafting the animal’s genetic sequence, successfully fertilizing an egg, and growing it to term. But birth is only the beginning. How these animals will live in the wild is a question that will take a lifetime or more to answer, and Colossal is turning to other animals for help – including a group of elephants in Botswana.

The startup has entered a collaboration with Elephant Havens, a wildlife foundation based in the Okavango Delta that cares for orphaned elephants.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court would have to abide by stronger ethics standards under legislation approved on Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, a response to recent revelations about donor-funded trips by justices. The bill faced united opposition from Republicans, who said it could “destroy” the court.

Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia apparently took to Twitter (accounts such as this are no longer verified in Musk’s Twitter) to announce his office’s investigation of tree trimming on the sidewalk where workers, writers, and actors are picketing.

Spill of 1,200 barrels of crude blight Ecuadoran beach: A leak at an oil terminal spilled at least 1,200 barrels of crude onto a beach popular with tourists in northwest Ecuador, near the border with Colombia, officials said Thursday.
https://phys.org/news/2023-07-barrels-crude-blight-ecuadoran-beach.html

#oilspill #Ecuador #LasPalmasBeach #environment #ecology #Petroecuador

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On July 1, an Indiana law went into effect making it a crime to come within 25 feet of an on-duty police officer if ordered to stay back.

A major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant was severely damaged after a deadly tornado ripped through North Carolina on Wednesday.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1877973

https://archive.is/9S88t

One woman could barely get words out through her tears. Another ran to the restroom as soon as she was done, wordless, wretched sobs wracking her tiny body. A third threw up on the witness stand.

These are believed to be the first women in the country since 1973 to testify in court about the impacts of a state abortion ban on their pregnancies. They almost certainly won’t be the last.

Speaking to a packed Travis County courtroom Wednesday, three women detailed devastating pregnancy losses and said medically necessary care was delayed or denied due to their doctors’ confusion over Texas’ abortion laws.

While each heat dome has brought its own set of impacts to different regions across the globe, the common denominator is the tally of broken temperature records.

Research published in journal Nature uncovers first genetic link to strong immunity against the illness

New details in the mystery of a missing documentary.

Authorities in Germany on Thursday morning warned people just outside Berlin’s city limits to stay inside.

Alaska’s Shishaldin Volcano spews 5.5-mile-high ash cloud: After a week of eruptions, the dust is settling on the Aleutian Islands. https://www.popsci.com/science/alaska-volcano-shishaldin-ash-cloud/

#alaska #volcano #eruption #geology #environment #news

The Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for teaching African American history in the state.

State rebuked in 79-page ruling for ‘systemic institutionalization’ of medically fragile children

Russell called police after saying she saw a toddler on the highway, and then vanished. But investigators have not found any evidence of that child.

The worsening drought in Missouri is forcing livestock producers to sell off their cattle herds, decisions that will be felt at the supermarket cash register.

Heat was thought to be behind more deaths in Phoenix, Florida and California even as Kentucky was dealing with fierce floodwaters.

A federal judge says that his order blocking a Florida law targeting drag shows doesn’t just apply to the restaurant that brought a lawsuit challenging it but other venues in the state.

Already facing criminal cases in New York and Florida, former President Donald Trump is in increasing legal peril as investigations into his efforts to cling to power after his election loss appear to be coming to a head.

The boss of the streaming giant also calls for an end to the strikes disrupting Hollywood.

The attacks claimed the lives of an Indiana woman and an Oregon man, both cisgender people.

For three years, Patrick Braxton says he has experienced harassment and intimidation after becoming the first Black mayor in Newbern, Alabama.