blame

Kitten Season Is Out of Control. Are Warmer Winters to Blame?The summer “kitten season” is starting earlier and lasting longer, which is bad news for both animal shelters and wildlifeBy Sachi Mulkey & GristRescue kittens in an animal shelter. Credit: Mariia Zotova/Getty ImagesIt’s almost that magical time of year that the Humane Society of America likens to a “natural disaster.” Kitten season.“The level of emotions for months on end is so draining,” said Ann Dunn, director of Oakland Animal Services, a city-run…

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.Why would a mother reject safe, potentially lifesaving vaccines for her child?Popular writing on vaccine skepticism often denigrates white and middle-class mothers who reject some or all recommended vaccines as hysterical, misinformed, zealous or ignorant. Mainstream media and medical providers increasingly dismiss vaccine refusal as a hallmark of American fringe ideology, far-right radicalization or…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain In an age of GoFundMe campaigns, it's easier than ever to help family, friends and even strangers in times of need. It's also easy to look the other way. "Most people see themselves as cooperative and generous, but there's a cost to helping people who can't reciprocate," said Pascal Boyer, the Henry Luce Professor of Collective and Individual Memory in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in…

But last year, weather conditions caused hydropower to fall short in a major way, with generation dropping by a record amount. In fact, the decrease was significant enough to have a measurable effect on global emissions. Total energy-related emissions rose by about 1.1% in 2023, and a shortfall of hydroelectric power accounts for 40% of that rise, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. Between year-to-year weather variability and climate change, there could be rocky times ahead for hydropower.…

Apple, no friend of the European Commission at the best of times, has released a strongly-worded press release in which it explains why it isn't happy about a $2 billion fine levied by the EC. The fine comes after the Commission found that Apple's "abusive App Store rules" unfairly affected music streaming apps like Spotify and others, preventing them from pointing users toward cheaper prices outside of the App Store. It also impacted users by making them pay more, too, the EC suggests. And Apple really isn't happy about…

For the past month, my mail-in ballot for the upcoming primary election has been sitting on my kitchen counter collecting dust. Every day, I walk by it. I’ve even put a pen on top of it, as a reminder to fill it out, to do my civic duty. But I haven’t even been able to bring myself to pry open the seal. And I’m hardly the only one. Of California’s roughly 22 million registered voters, only about 14% had returned their ballots as of Monday. Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., expects turnout will…

In the 1960s the Stanford psychologist Walter Mischel devised a way to measure self‑control in four-year-olds. He would leave the preschoolers alone in a room with a plate of marshmallows and a challenge: they could eat one marshmallow right away, or wait until the adult returned and eat two. In the decades that followed, he noticed something interesting. The four-year-olds who had waited for the two marshmallows did better at school, were less likely to take drugs or end up in jail, were happier and earned more. He came…

Odysseus, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in half a century, was expected to go dark on Wednesday, six days after an off-kilter touchdown that hindered its communications and solar-charging capability, NASA and the company that flew the vehicle said.Despite persistent difficulties in communicating with the lander and keeping it charged, NASA said it managed to extract data from all of its science payloads delivered to the lunar surface by the lander, flown by Texas-based Intuitive Machines."We have conducted…

While it hasn’t been confirmed by Warner Bros Discovery management just yet, star Will Forte’s Coyote vs. Acme update seems to indicate that the battle is indeed over. The shelved Looney Tunes comedy adventure seems to be on its way to deletion, with little left to do but officially break the news to the public. Though voice actor Eric Bauza hasn’t given up hope for the project’s 2024 movie schedule status, he has shared his fears for what happens next in terms of the legendary animation franchise. To be honest, I don’t…

A few hours into Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, you'll encounter Jacob Lynde, a young chap taking refuge in a makeshift shelter in the woods. Talk with him and he'll seem a little confused, explaining how his friend Ben has gone to hunt for game, and that he'd only slow the pair down if Jacob accompanied him. This is the first of many Haunting Cases you'll need to solve as Banishers and because it's the first, the decision you must make at the end on whether to blame Jacob, banish Ben, or ascend Ben,…