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More than 18 million people across the south were under the threat of severe storms yesterday, including tornadoes. The National Weather Service in Forth Worth, Texas confirmed five tornadoes across northern Texas as of yesterday afternoon. The destructive line of thunderstorms damaged dozens of businesses and homes and injured several people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Tarrant County saw three tornadoes with the strongest rating EF-1. There was also an EF-2 tornado packing winds of 125 miles per hour in Wise County....

Wall Street Journal India reports that an “unidentified object” (likely a meteorite) left a small crater on a college campus on Saturday. Reports vary as to the depth of the crater, but the impact seems to have excavated a hole between 2 and 4 feet deep. The loud boom of the impact could reportedly be heard for almost two miles, shattering nearby windows. Two gardeners and a student were injured in addition to the bus driver, who was walking in the area....

DISPATCHES FROM THE ARCTIC* This series explores the science and implications of global warming in the North Atlantic Arctic. Boulder-based writer Susan Moran is filing live reports from the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway. In this coastal Arctic city of Tromso, Norway, where sunrise and sunset merge into a multi-hour winter glow, and where twenty-something women proudly roam the ice-coated streets under the sub-freezing black sky wearing stiletto heels and little else, nothing seems too bizarre....

First, make sure you’re not wearing the red and blue glasses from 1984. Apparently the new technology won’t make you dizzy if you don’t have the right pair so you could probably trash those at this point. To watch these commercials, you’ll need to pick up a set of free glasses being provided at SoBe water stands throughout the country (125 million have been sent). If you can’t find any you can call 1-800-646-2904 to order a pair (not promising delivery)....

“Many people think, ‘it’s nature, it’s compost, so you can basically leave it without causing any harm,’” says Pieter De Frenne, a professor of applied botany at Ghent University in Belgium. Decades of research, however, proves otherwise. In addition to being gross, all of this doggy doo doo—millions of tons of which are produced every year in the US alone—takes a notable toll on public health and the environment. For one thing, dog poop is loaded with microorganisms that can get people sick....

The project started when Stephen Lea, professor emeritus at the University of Exeter, was editor of the British journal Animal Behaviour. While the journal has published on the mental abilities of species as diverse as pheasants, mongooses, and flies, he says a large portion of the papers that came across his desk had to do with dog cognition. “Through the process of working as an editor [and] seeing all this research, I definitely got a sense that we as a collective had gotten a bit overexcited about dog intelligence,” he says....

The Pentagon, Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security frequently ask themselves these questions, as drones become more prevalent and sophisticated. From airports and oil refineries to landmarks, government buildings and military bases around the world, drone threats are a problem that is literally flying right above our heads. According to a 2019 study published by the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College, more than 95 countries have access to such drone technology, and that has government officials concerned....

Imagine getting to drive the automotive equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster—that’s the feeling of piloting a real-life all-electric 2023 VW ID.BUZZ down everyday streets, surrounded by mere mortal vehicles. The outrageous throwback styling puts smiles on the faces of passers-by, and it will probably be difficult to stop with one at a public charger without an impromptu Q&A session. This ID.BUZZ is not a concept, not a pre-production prototype, or any other form of not-real vehicle like that crazy Ford Mustang Mach-E 1400 we track tested....

The aurora of LSR J1835+3259 (which, unfortunately, doesn’t have a catchier name) gives off at least 10,000 to 100,000 times more power than Jupiter’s. If you could stand on the object’s surface without getting crushed by its gravity, “you probably wouldn’t be able to see anything else in the sky because of this intensely dazzling, red aurora,” says Gregg Hallinan, one of the astronomers who discovered the aurora. LSR J1835+3259 is suspected to be a brown dwarf—an old star that can no longer sustain hydrogen fusion in its core....

If you find yourself putting together a bed frame or bookshelf every now and then, this cordless screwdriver is a solid budget choice to have in your tool kit. A 45-piece array of driver bits and sockets is included, so it’s likely you’ll have a bit on hand to complete the job without having to make a trip to the hardware store. Illuminate dark corners with the LED front light and rear flashlight, and choose between two handle positions for maneuvering in tight spaces....

FACT: The Elf on the Shelf is more nefarious than you might think By Rachel Feltman References to (and parodies of) the elf on the shelf are ubiquitous on social media this time of year. Here’s a short introduction: Based on a character from a 2005 children’s book, this little elvish doll is designed to help keep kids in line around the holiday season. The gist is that parents convince their kids that the figure magically poofs back to the North Pole nightly to report on behavior so Santa can make his naughty and nice list....

By routing your data through masking servers, VPN Unlimited removes all identifying information. Without your IP address and real location, no one can trace your connection. In addition, VPN unlimited applies military-grade AES-256 encryption to keep hackers at bay. With apps on all major desktops and mobile platforms, VPN Unlimited is beyond easy to install. The apps give you access to a range of VPN protocols, and you can choose from 400 servers in 80 locations — perfect for streaming....

All magnetic fields are actually the result of moving electric charge. In the case of a permanent magnet, the moving charges are electrons in motion around their respective nuclei. The moving electrons produce magnetic fields. While these atomic-scale fields are generally exerted in random directions, and tend to cancel each other out on a macroscopic scale, it is possible to align these fields, by placing the material inside an external field....

One reason why an EV crash can be so disastrous is their weight. To get an electric car from place to place requires energy that utilizes batteries. And for cars that can handle a lot of range and power, those batteries add up. For instance, a GMC Hummer EV weighs over 9,000 pounds, around 2,900 of which is just batteries. Similar distinctions exist between the electric and ICE (internal combustion engine) versions of the Ford F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E, Volvo XC40 EV, and RAV4 EV....

But if you’re looking to take your mental capacity to the next level, exercises geared to help the brain can help as well. After all, your brain is also a muscle and needs as much exercise as the muscles in your abs, arms, and legs. LogicLike happens to be an app that can help on that front, and for a limited time, you can get it on sale for an extra 30 percent off....

Specifically, the USPS said on March 24 that 10,019 of its routes are good fits for running electric vehicles, meaning that “a minimum” of 20 percent of their 50,000 new vehicles would be EVs. However, energy and environmental experts argue that electrifying just 20 percent of the fleet is a missed opportunity, both financially and environmentally. “Eighty percent of those vehicles that they’re purchasing are combustion-engine vehicles that we know are going to be on the roads for another 20-plus years,” says Patricio Portillo, a senior advocate with the National Resources Defense Council....

The FDA is enforcing new regulatory guidelines for electronic cigarettes currently for sale or planning to launch in the US market. Their decision involves reviewing data on safety and public health benefits to decide which products stay on shelves. Currently, the FDA has allowed the sale of 23 other e-cigarette products. The FDA’s decision to stop the sale of Juul e-cigarettes is because the company submitted insufficient data for government authorization that their product is good for people....

That’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced $75 million in funding toward a pilot program to control feral pigs. The effort is focused on areas where the hogs are causing the most damage, primarily in the Southeast. But officials in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas face significant challenges, not just due to the pigs’ rapid feeding and breeding, but also because of their value as game....

In this edition of “know your Olympic sport,” we focus on the technology enhancing our viewing experience (plus a darn cool video clip of a dog show). Garret Brown Ever heard of Garret Brown? You should have. Forget about Bob Costas, 2000 Chinese drummers or the incomparable Michael Phelps; nobody has effected your enjoyment of the Olympics in Beijing more than Brown. Pick a sport, any sport, and you have Brown to thank for camera angles you so rudely have taken for granted....

Scientists tracked how mercury levels in fish and invertebrates in a Canadian lake changed over 15 years. During the first seven years, the researchers seeded the lake with mercury. Once the influx of new mercury ceased, the team found, contaminant levels quickly fell in both small and large fish within a few years. “As a demonstration, it tells us that policies that reduce mercury pollution will be effective and that mercury concentrations would be a lot higher in the absence of these policies,” says Paul Blanchfield, a research scientist at Fisheries and Oceans Canada....