Just three years ago, researchers discovered a new geomagnetic phenomenon. Dubbed "space hurricanes", scientists saw huge swirling arms of plasma in the Earth’s magnetosphere hundreds of kilometers long around a calm "eye of the storm", just like in a regular hurricane. These events can disrupt satellites in low-Earth orbit and even cause aurorae closer to the ground – and they occur more often than thought.Initially, the discovery was exclusive to the Northern Hemisphere, likely due to more people living near or within the polar region in the North compared to the South. More people means more scientific instruments and observations. However, now scientists have quantified and qualified what space hurricanes are like in the Southern Hemisphere.It appears there aren't any major differences between the two hemispheres. Between 2005 and 2016, there were 329 space hurricanes in the Northern Hemisphere and 259 in the Southern Hemisphere. Space hurricanes are more likely to occur in the dayside polar cap at a magnetic latitude greater than 80°, very close to the magnetic poles. They are strongly dependent on the interplanetary magnetic field, the solar cycle, and even the Earth's seasons.            Space hurricanes are more likely to occur in summer and during the daytime, suggesting that sunlight exposure and magnetic tilt both play a role in the hurricanes. Unfortunately, their high latitude and daytime occurrence make it unlikely they can be witnessed by human eyes.The team estimates the average velocity for the plasma in space hurricanes is 1 kilometer per second (2,237 miles per hour). That sounds pretty fast already, but it is about 10 times faster than the average plasma found around the polar regions.Understanding these events is important as they might play a big role in space weather. The work helps create a three-dimensional picture of these magnetic vortices and how they affect the lower atmosphere. The goal is to be able eventually to be able to predict these hurricanes and be ready to mitigate some of their effects.The study is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics.

Pet cam footage released by the fire department in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has shown the moment a house caught on fire after the owner’s dog chewed into a lithium-ion power bank.According to a statement from the fire department posted to social media, firefighters responded to the house fire back in May. Though the building was significantly damaged, nobody was hurt – including the two dogs and a cat inside, who were able to escape through a dog door.The source of the fire was identified as a lithium-ion power bank or battery pack, which one of the dogs had been chewing whilst lying on its bed. Eventually, the power bank started to spark, causing the dog to drop it. Sparks then turned into flames, the bed caught alight, and a large fire grew.There’s a reason why lithium-ion batteries make a popular choice to base devices like power banks on – they can store a lot of energy for how lightweight they are, which is pretty convenient when you’re out and about without access to a regular charging point.But as the Tulsa Fire Department’s public information officer Andy Little explained in a video accompanying the statement, holding that amount of energy can end up being dangerous.“When this energy is released uncontrollably, it can generate heat, produce flammable and toxic gases, and even lead to explosions,” said Little. “These incidents can occur due to various reasons, such as exposure to extreme heat, physical damage, to the battery overcharging, or even using incompatible charging equipment.”In this case, physical damage means a dog who mistook a battery pack for a tasty snack – but this type of fire appears to be far from an isolated incident.“Fire departments all over the country are seeing fires related to these batteries,” reads the department’s statement, “and we want the public to learn about usage, safe storage and proper disposal of these potentially dangerous batteries.”On that point, Little has some good advice.“It is crucial that you adhere to manufacturer guidelines when using lithium-ion batteries, only using approved chargers and storing them out of reach of children and pets.”“Furthermore,” Little continued, “it is imperative to dispose of lithium-ion batteries properly. They should never be tossed in household garbage or recycling bins as they can cause fires during transportation or at disposal facilities.“Instead, take these batteries to designated recycling centers or household hazardous waste collection points.”

Yet another study has poured cold water on the sensational claims surrounding Homo naledi, an extinct human relative with a puny brain that has been claimed to have buried its dead.In 2023, archaeologists working at the Rising Star Cave system in South Africa claimed they had found evidence that Homo naledi intentionally buried their dead over 240,000 years ago and decorated their graves with abstract markings.It was a bold assertion because this is well over 100,000 years before Homo sapiens are known to have buried their dead, plus the species possessed a brain that’s no bigger than a chimpanzee's.After posting three pre-print articles on the discovery, the team led by Lee Berger then embarked on a huge media campaign, culminating in a slick Netflix documentary called UNKNOWN: Cave Of Bones.However, skepticism quickly followed. A peer review of their articles found that the evidence was “incomplete and inadequate, and should not be viewed as finalized scholarship,” while other researchers dished out some strongly worded rebuttals.In a new paper, another group of researchers put forward more evidence that Berger’s conclusions are unfounded.           The burial theory centers around where the 15 Homo naledi skeletons were found in the Rising Star Cave system. The bodies are found at the back of the cavern in a hard-to-reach spot that takes modern cavers more than half an hour to reach, laid out in a seemingly ordered position. What’s more, the 2023 papers argued the bodies were laid to rest in a shallow dug-out pit and covered with soil, as if they were given an organized funeral. The new paper believes this isn’t the case. The researchers carried out a re-analysis of the geochemical and sedimentological data used by the original authors to conclude that none of the surrounding sediment shows the dirt was shifted around to entomb the bodies in a deliberate burial. It is still uncertain how the Homo Naledi bodies ended up in this peculiar position. Others have speculated whether it was the work of scavenging animals, the flow of water, or a roof collapse. However, there’s a lack of evidence to support these claims too. The researchers in the latest study don’t attempt to provide an alternative answer, simply concluding that “the interpretations, the narrative, and the data are not aligned” in Berger’s work. They do, however, believe the whole saga shows the perils of using sleek TV shows to hype up ideas before they've been rigorously peer-reviewed.“I hope that this work is able to instill some skepticism in the public when it comes to archaeological research in the public eye,” Professor Kimberly Foecke, author of the new study from the Anthropology department at George Mason University, said in a statement.“We see so often flashy shows with charismatic archaeologists presenting huge claims about the past, but we must hold scientists who communicate with the public accountable to the science itself and ensure that we as a field are doing good work,” she added.   The new study is published in the journal PaleoAnthropology.

If you ask citizens of wealthy English-speaking countries which moral values they consider most important, their answers vary by the time of year, according to a new study. Naturally, the variation is not enormous, or people would have noticed it before, but it is large and surprisingly consistent over many years and may shape choices when it comes to election time.When Robert Bolt called Sir Thomas More “A Man For All Seasons” (borrowing from More’s contemporary Whittington), he was referring to the way More held true to his values even as the political climate shifted around him. The implication was that this was rare, but “Seasons” was used metaphorically, and it probably didn't occur to anyone that it might be relevant for literal seasons of the year. However, University of British Columbia researchers thought to check and found that for many of us, the time of year does affect what we believe.Social scientists have been asking people about the importance of values like loyalty and kindness for decades as a way to understand their behavior.Based on an impressive sample of 232,975 people, their data collected through yourmorals.org, UBC doctoral student Ian Hohm looked at whether the views of these values shift with the seasons, and found that they do, but in some curious ways.Purity, loyalty, and respect for authority – values venerated by traditional conservatism – often go together, and are collectively known as “binding values”, so it is no surprise they rise and fall together over the course of a year. What is stranger is that instead of peaking in summer or winter, this trio is most valued in spring and fall, and considered less important both when it is hot and cold. The effect was far stronger than required to meet tests of statistical significance and remained robust when controlling for the fact that older and wealthier people were more responsive in spring and summer.How survey respondents considered purity, loyalty, and respect for authority, showing a clear seasonal trend.Image credit: Evolutionary Social Cognition Laboratory at UBCMeanwhile, values typically  emphasized by liberals and progressives, like fairness and caring for others, showed less variation throughout the year. To the extent they did, the pattern was less clearly seasonal. Consequently, in summer and winter, they were more influential, relatively speaking.“People’s endorsement of moral values that promote group cohesion and conformity is stronger in the spring and fall than it is in the summer and winter,” Holm said in a statement. “Moral values are a fundamental part of how people make decisions and form judgments, so we think this finding might just be the tip of the iceberg in that it has implications for all sorts of other downstream effects.”Historically, this means US conservatives may have had a small boost from the requirement to hold elections at the start of November. Whether American history would be significantly different if they were held in summer or winter is hard to tell. This survey could also not tell if this advantage has been weakened now that a number of those who call themselves “conservative” have become openly contemptuous of the authority of science.In countries where the prime minister or president gets to choose the date of the election, the findings could be even more interesting to politicians. The authors looked at other English-speaking countries and found a similar pattern in Australia and Canada. In the UK, on the other hand, support for binding values fell strongly in summer, but peaked in winter. However, in each case the sample size was less than a tenth of that available for the US, so these results require more caution. It seems logical that people's values will change more with the seasons in places where the difference between summer and winter is greater than where seasons are barely a thing. Indeed, the variation observed was considerably larger for Canada than Australia, but the authors didn’t break the US variation down by state to see if Alaskan values vary more than, for example, Floridian values.Explanations for this pattern might be easier to come up with if winter and summer were opposites, instead of close matches, but the authors did find a major clue in terms of mood. Americans are more anxious in spring and fall, a follow-up study using similar methods found. “This correlation suggests that higher anxiety may drive people to seek comfort in the group norms and traditions upheld by binding values,” said senior author Professor Mark Schaller. Schaller has recently published work on how much seasons affect other aspects of psychology.The data was collected weekly over ten years, and the same pattern was seen each time, so it's unlikely it was too skewed by specific events of a particular season. Then again, anniversaries like September 11 could be an ongoing factor unrelated to the weather, and the authors speculate Christmas may have some influence.The authors also note that it is not just elections that could be affected by these trends. Criminal convictions imply a disrespect for authority, and suggest further investigation into whether judges impose heavier penalties in certain seasons as a result. Moral values also shape how we respond to crises, with the authors using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. Knowing that respect for authority and loyalty are higher at some times than others might affect the targeting of public health campaigns. The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

Have you opened an old-fashioned hard copy dictionary, lately? You'll find the terms and their original definitions are a foreign language. You certainly won't find the word, 'Woke.' We used to consider that simply... poor grammar. But our 'hip' and 'inclusive' cultural overlords used it to guilt us into surrendering our free way of life so we could 'wake up' and fix our social injustices. Because of that, we blindly consented to an entirely new language that redefines truth in order to tip toe around those who reject it. America and the West turned woke because we were all actually asleep. Welcome to 'Woke of Weak.' Join new host, Justine Brooke Murray as she brings you some of the Left's most insane moments and exposes their attempts to weaken our minds. Check out her first video here. Tune in every week for the latest episodes!

Google is still redirecting users to news about Vice President Kamala Harris even when they search for a completely different name, an MRC Free Speech America search found.  Now that the Democratic Party nominee has picked her running mate, Tim Walz, MRC decided to put Google once again to the test. Researchers conducted a comparison of Google’s search results when searching for “j d vance rally” and “tim walz rally,” and in both cases, Google referenced Harris. But in the case of Vance, Google referenced Harris even before Vance.   When MRC researchers searched for the terms “j d vance rally” on Tuesday, Google displayed a news panel labeled “Top Stories Kamala Harris and JD Vance.” All of the top six news results referred to Vance, four of the six stories referred to Harris as well. But when MRC researchers searched for Harris’s own vice presidential pick (“tim walz rally”) Google showed Walz’s name first. “Top Stories Tim Walz ᐧ Kamala Harris,” the news panel read. A USA Today story noted an upcoming Philadelphia rally, CNN noted Harris’s recent decision to choose Walz as her running mate and a third article noted that Trump blasted Walz as a “West Coast wannabe.”  This comes after just last week Google similarly placed Harris’s name ahead of Trump’s in a search for “donald trump” and “trump rally.” When MRC researchers searched for the terms “donald trump” last Tuesday, Google displayed what is described as a “knowledge panel” about the former president including his name and former title. The search giant followed up with a news panel labeled “News about Harris·Trump.” A search for the terms “trump rally” similarly prompted news panels favorable to Trump’s opponent. “Kamala Harris rally in Atlanta,” read the title of the first news panel. Google has thus far not been fully transparent as to why this is happening, but the company has in the past set the terms for which results it will allow its algorithm to produce. Earlier this year, Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot, repeatedly refused to generate images of white people when prompted. For example, when asked to produce images of popes, it reportedly produced images of an Asian female pope. The chatbot also reportedly portrayed U.S. revolutionary soldiers as Asian women and Vikings as black. Kris Ruby, AI researcher and CEO of Ruby Media Group, told Fox News host Jon Scott on Fox Report that AI algorithms are given parameters and rules of what it is and is not allowed to produce in order to eliminate information deemed “toxic.” “So the issue with the outputs is the input rules and when people are saying make me this photo, draw me this photo, what they don’t see is the parameters and the rules that dictate what is allowed to be made and what isn’t,” Ruby said.   “After a baseline for toxicity is defined, technology companies use safety labels, filters, and internal scoring to shape the digital world,” Ruby told Fox News Digital. "When it comes to AI censorship, whoever controls the definition of toxicity controls the outcome. Every model action (generative AI output) will fundamentally stem from how toxicity is defined. Your version of toxicity shapes the world around you.” Methodology  For this report, MRC Free Speech America analyzed the Aug. 6 Google search results of the innocuous words “j d vance rally” and “tim walz rally.”  MRC Free Speech America created an algorithm to automate this process in a clean environment. A “clean environment” allows for organic search to populate results without the influence of prior search history and tracking cookies. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on so-called hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

The Texas Department of Public Safety announced on Tuesday its agents had arrested a human smuggler who apparently not only turned out to be a member of Tren de Aragua, but who had been released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement days earlier after being arrested during a different alleged smuggling attempt."As part of Operation Lone Star (OLS), DPS arrested a human smuggling scout wearing an ICE Tracking Watch during a traffic stop in El Paso. The scout, Maikel Diaz-Guerra, 24, of Venezuela, is a confirmed Tren de Aragua gang member and had been arrested only a few days prior for another smuggling attempt. He was just released by ICE," Texas DPS wrote."Guerra was serving as the lookout for the other driver involved — 17-year-old Gildardo Perez III. Inside his vehicle, DPS found three illegal immigrants concealed in the rear seat. Guerra and Perez were booked into jail for smuggling of persons," the agency added.'Tren de Aragua now has members in cities like Chicago, New York City, and Denver.' — (@) — (@) Tren de Aragua is a violent gang originally from Venezuela that spread across Latin America during the mass exodus in the 2010s. As Venezuelans took advantage of the United States' border crisis under the Biden-Harris administration, gang members have had an easy time infiltrating the southern border. Tren de Aragua now has members in cities like Chicago, New York City, and Denver. Members have quickly established themselves in the criminal underworld and the migrant shelters in sanctuary cities. A recent concerning development with Tren de Aragua is that the intelligence community issued a nationwide alert to law enforcement across the country to warn that the leaders of the criminal organization have officially given their members the "green light" to attack police officers.After the threat from Tren de Aragua became undeniable, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the gang last month.“Today’s designation of Tren de Aragua as a significant Transnational Criminal Organization underscores the escalating threat it poses to American communities,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson. “As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to target Transnational Criminal Organizations, we will deploy all tools and authorities against organizations like Tren de Aragua that prey on vulnerable populations to generate revenue, engage in a range of criminal activities across borders, and abuse the U.S. financial system."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

A black Louisiana woman was charged with hate crimes after she was accused of calling a white Baton Rouge police officer who arrested her over the weekend a "racist a** mother******" and a racial slur, WVLA-TV reported.Crystal Harris, 43, of Baton Rouge, was arrested Sunday and also was charged with illegal use of the 911 emergency communication system, resisting a police officer with force or violence, public intimidation and retaliation, false communication with the intent to cause an emergency response, and misrepresentation during booking, the station said.Harris during the transport reportedly 'made multiple comments about the officer being white and that was the reason for her arrest,' the station said, citing the affidavit. They included calling the officer a 'racist a** mother******' and a 'union [N-word] boy,' WVLA reported.Police dispatchers reportedly told the responding officer that Harris “had consistently been calling in on 911 demanding an officer come out stating that she would keep calling until one arrived on scene,” WVLA said, citing the affidavit. Dispatchers also told the officer that Harris was “very aggressive towards them during the calls," which are recorded, the station said.The officer arrived at the scene in the 1100 block of Spanish Town Road around 6:30 a.m., WVLA said.Turns out the same officer brought Harris to the same location previously, the station said, adding that Harris reportedly was attempting to retrieve her belongings from an apartment complex. The affidavit indicated that the officer previously advised Harris “to call the constable’s office to set a time to recover her belongings if she was not able to do so today," WVLA noted.During the officer's Sunday encounter with Harris, the officer found her outside the complex and told her no one would help her break into the locked unit, the station said, adding that she previously had been provided with instructions on how to appropriately handle the issue.WVLA reported that Harris was arrested at the scene on charges of misusing 911 and intimidating dispatchers, placed into a police vehicle, and transported to a first district booking site.Harris during the transport reportedly “made multiple comments about the officer being white and that was the reason for her arrest," the station said, citing the affidavit. They included calling the officer a “racist a** mother******" and a “union [N-word] boy," WVLA reported. In addition, she reportedly said her arrest “wasn’t proper protocol," the station noted.More from WVLA:Harris let the officer know she would not get out of the vehicle and, at first, did not do so. During transport, she reportedly dared the officer “to put hands on her” and, once at the booking site, did not let herself be shackled and led into the holding area. BRPD said the officer had to guide Harris to the holding area. She reportedly refused to be fingerprinted multiple times, according to the affidavit.Harris on Sunday was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison; jail records examined Wednesday morning indicate she's still there.Anything else?Baton Rouge police in 2016 arrested a 35-year-old woman named Crystal Harris for calling 911 11 times, WBRZ-TV reported. The station said she repeatedly called 911 without requiring medical or police assistance; on the tenth call she was told that she would be arrested if she made another nonemergency 911 call. She was charged with illegal use of 911 and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, WBRZ said.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

WATCH: Charlie Sykes Admits They're LYING to You About Tim Walz Being a Moderate on Morning Joe

JD Vance Delivers Another Master Class in Shutting Down Journos Pushing Dem Talking Points