'I said let's go put the bear in Central Park and we'll make it look like it got hit by a bike'

Check your local forecasts before leaving the house

A team at Northwestern University has come up with the term “dancing molecules” to describe an invention of synthetic nanofibers which they say have the potential to quicken the regeneration of cartilage damage beyond what our body is capable of. The moniker was coined back in November 2021, when the same team introduced an injection […] The post Nanofiber Molecules Help Repair Cartilage Damage in Joints by ‘Regenerating Tissue’ appeared first on Good News Network.

A man who was caught on CCTV abusing his pet Old Tyme Bulldog has been banned from owning any animal for five years.

As the Earth warms, it could cross several so-called tipping points that would turn the effects of climate change from disastrous to catastrophic for most of the planet. Naturally, many scientists have put a lot of effort into trying to find out how close we are to these points, but a new study claims we simply don't know. There is too much uncertainty to tell whether those tipping points are close or many billions of tonnes of carbon emissions away, the authors conclude, making caution a priority. Complex systems – of which the climate is certainly one – can shift from one relatively stable state to another, at which point it becomes very difficult to return. A common example is when rainforest dries out to the point it becomes first dry open woodland, and then savanna. Even if the wet conditions that previously sustained the forest return, the rainforest will not (without additional inputs, which are often quite large).Many tipping points are local, but a few of global significance have haunted climate scientists for decades. Most or all of the Amazon Rainforest experiencing the shift described above is one. Some of the planet's glaciers retreating past certain hold points is another. The accelerated melting of tundra permafrost and ocean methane hydrates and the collapse of the Atlantic Meridian Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are the others that draw the most attention, although the collapse of stratocumulus clouds is also lurking. We know these have all tipped before, and in many cases have witnessed smaller counterparts do it in recent times.If we added enough greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, all of these would probably happen, and life would become unbearable for most of humanity. According to the study authors, however, we have little chance of knowing what would be required to trigger each.The scientists conclude there are three main sources of uncertainty in our estimates of what would trigger each tipping point. For one, our models of the physical mechanisms behind the tipping points are at least somewhat simplistic and may not fully capture the reasons past tips occurred. In addition, our observations of the relevant systems may not always be as representative as those making models of these systems assume.Finally, historical data – both from direct observations and from climate proxies such as tree rings – cover only a fraction of the locations and times needed to understand past behavior. Efforts to fill in the gaps statistically are not as reliable as some researchers think. The authors delve more deeply into AMOC as an example of widespread challenges. A previous study concluded AMOC will collapse between 2025 and 2095 if carbon emissions continue at projected rates. Seventy years is a wide margin of error, but the researchers don't think even this is enough. They show there are at least three methods to predict when AMOC – which helps keep northern Europe warm – and the entire ocean current system might collapse. Using all three, rather than just one as others have done, but with different starting assumptions, they conclude such a disaster could occur any time between 2050 and 8065. Even that broad range assumes we have the underlying causes of past collapses right, which may not be the case, and on one modeling method, AMOC might not tip at all.“Although some of the quantitative results of this work are specific to the AMOC, we show that these types of uncertainties will be present in any attempt to extrapolate a future tipping time of proposed Earth system tipping elements from historical data,” the authors write."Our research is both a wake-up call and a cautionary tale," lead author Maya Ben-Yami said in a statement. "There are things we still can't predict, and we need to invest in better data and a more in-depth understanding of the systems in question. The stakes are too high to rely on shaky predictions."Inevitably, some will take this as a license to keep on polluting, but co-author Professor Niklas Boers argues the opposite. “We still need to do everything we can to reduce our impact on the climate, first and foremost by cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Even if we can't predict tipping times, the probability for key Earth system components to tip still increases with every tenth of a degree of warming,” he said.On the other hand, the work should act as a counter to those who argue it is already too late to stop climate collapse, and we should either abandon society or party for the few years we have left.The study is published open access in the journal Science Advances. 

Death Valley National Park, the hottest place on the planet, experienced its warmest month ever on record in July, reaching a sweltering 42.5°C (108.5°F) average 24-hour temperature. This beats the previous record of 42.3°C (108.1°F), set in 2018, the National Park Service (NPS) announced last week.The record-breaking month also saw an average high temperature of 49.9°C (121.9°F), nine days of temperatures at 51.7°C (125°F) or greater, and only seven days that didn’t reach at least 48.8°C (120°F). The highest temperature was on July 7, when the weather station at Furnace Creek recorded 54°C (129.2°F). Meanwhile, the average low temperature of the month was 35.1°C (95.2°F), meaning there was little relief from the heat, even overnight.“We just experienced the hottest month in history in the hottest place on Earth! Six of the 10 hottest summers have come in the past 10 years, which should serve as a wake up call,” park superintendent Mike Reynolds said in a statement. “Record-breaking months like this one could become the norm as we continue to see global temperatures rise. Visitors to the park should plan ahead and come prepared to face extreme temperatures during the summer months.” Death Valley is no stranger to scorching temperatures. The aptly named Furnace Creek holds the official title for the world’s highest recorded temperature of 56.7°C (134°F), which it reached in 1913.The latest announcement comes a little over a week after it was revealed that July 22 was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, with the global surface air temperature reaching 17.15°C (62.87°F).With extreme temperatures becoming more common, the NPS is warning travelers to Death Valley to take precautions. Rangers responded to multiple life-threatening heat-related incidents in July, and so are urging visitors to stay within a 10-minute walk of an air-conditioned vehicle, drink plenty of water, eat salty snacks, and wear a hat and sunscreen.“High heat like this can pose real threats to your health,” Reynolds said in a previous statement. “While this is a very exciting time to experience potential world record setting temperatures in Death Valley, we encourage visitors to choose their activities carefully, avoiding prolonged periods of time outside of an air-conditioned vehicle or building when temperatures are this high.”

The infamous case of Melissa Caddick highlighted the complexity of marine forensics, and how hard it is to piece together the sequence of events that led to human remains winding up in water. The grim discovery of a foot in a shoe indicated her body may have been submerged at depth before it broke loose and floated to the surface.So why do some human remains stay in the depths while others wash up on beaches? And do dead bodies sink or float? Let's take a look at what the science has to say.Do dead bodies sink?Human beings are very wet. It’s true. From our eyes to our muscles and bones (side note: why do we say bone dry?) we’re saturated with all kinds of fluids, and that has a significant influence on what our dead bodies do if a corpse is left in water.Being so wet gives us about the same density as water, which is why we have to swim to stay afloat and can only do so if our lungs are filled with air. In the same way that someone in a pool can sink to the bottom by blowing the air out of their lungs, a dead body will sink without its internal buoyancy aids.However, when we die the lungs aren’t necessarily empty straight away, and how we died can greatly alter this. People who have drowned, for instance, will sink much faster compared to somebody who has died a different way.Furthermore, dead bodies may behave differently in fresh vs salt water. A 1977 paper demonstrated this in establishing the gravity and buoyancy of 98 men based on lung volume, concluding that 69 percent of the men would float in seawater with the lung volume of a recently dead person, while only 7 percent would float in freshwater.How quickly do dead bodies sink?A 2017 study found that the time it takes for a drowning victim whose lungs have filled with water to sink is very short. Different combinations of variables showed times of less than 7 seconds for sinking, with the longest time being around 10 seconds. The longer sinking times seemed to be linked to bodies with extremely small chest sizes.Water depth, current flow, body type, and water density could also influence the sinking time. Understanding how quickly bodies sink is important because it can significantly alter the approach needed when searching for a missing person, as a longer sinking time can lead to greater movement of the body, making them harder to find.Why do some dead bodies float?Dead bodies washing ashore or being sighted floating at sea aren’t uncommon, so why is it that these bodies have become buoyant after death? It all comes down to putrefaction and the changes we see in a corpse as the tissues start to decompose, producing gases.“[Death] is a failure of our biological systems that prevents a return to chemical equilibrium, and everything that then proceeds from that point onwards is typified to an extent by return to equilibrium with the exception where you've got all these biotic agents acting on the body,” said forensic expert Dr Devin Finaughty to IFLScience. “That’s because once all of that stops working, your immune system stops working, and because your immune system stops working, the bacteria that are intrinsic to our guts, which outnumber our cells 20-to-one, they are no longer constrained. So, they have a massive food bonanza and will start to consume everything.”    “They'll go through the lining of your gastrointestinal system and into your bloodstream and start to spread out throughout the body. They will start to metabolise substrates in your body, starting off with the sugars that are on the surface of our cells and that are being leached out of the cells. Then they'll proceed towards more complex carbohydrates and fats. That is truly the start of decomposition and their metabolism produces a range of by-products called volatile organic compounds, which is what we smell as death.”Some of these gases escape the body, which is why the smell of a corpse can be very noticeable, but some of those gases will – for a time – be trapped inside. This acts like a form of buoyancy replacing the now-empty lungs, filling the body with air in a way that is sometimes significant enough to make it rise to the surface. The time it takes for this to happen varies, and not all bodies will resurface, but it’s typically a matter of days if the body isn’t tethered to anything.Everything from currents to salinity and marine life can alter the speed of decomposition, but one of the biggest factors is temperature. Decomposition happens more slowly in water than in air, more slowly in salt water than freshwater, and even slower still in water that is very cold. For this reason, some bodies in the coldest depths may never resurface, and often aren’t found until they’re skeletons.What happens to bodies that float?Even bodies attached to weights have been able to resurface, and when this happens, it changes the game in terms of what organisms within the decomposition ecosystem can access the bodies. Exposed sections of the body can become food for scavengers, mold, and algae, and will sometimes mummify.All of this information can be used in marine forensics to try and ascertain how long the body has been in the water, how long it has been at the surface, and the window of time in which it could have been moving from where it entered the water. As with all forensic science, it isn’t easy, but each breakthrough in our understanding of what happens to dead bodies in water gets us closer to being able to find those lost at sea.

In their motion for summary judgment filed last week regarding the $1 billion defamation suit against them, CNN argued that their allegedly defamatory reporting accusing Plaintiff and Navy veteran Zachary Young of a crime was factually true because his efforts to get women and children out Afghanistan were illegal under Taliban law; or as it’s more infamously know: Sharia law. All as the U.S. approaches the three-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. CNN’s opening paragraphs noted that Young had worked “to have women smuggled out of Afghanistan,” and argued “discovery has indicated that those activities he orchestrated and funded, which involved moving women out of Afghanistan, almost certainly were illegal under Taliban rule” (bold added to highlight).     The lead counsel for CNN’s defense, Deanna K. Shullman, wrote the motion and seemed enthusiastic about their line of argument. “Young cannot point to a single shred of evidence indicating otherwise that could somehow create a dispute of material fact as to that issue,” she wrote. Throughout the document, CNN made it clear they intended to defend themselves with the laws they admit were oppressive of women. They repeatedly noted that Sharia law - as implemented by the Taliban - made it illegal for women to leave the country, which Young was helping them to do: All of the journalism at issue in this case arose out of the events of August 2021, when the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan, leading the Taliban to take control of the country and ban women from leaving. Because thousands of women faced possible execution or enslavement at the hands of the new government (…) The new government had also implemented Sharia law, banning women from leaving the country and threatening execution or enslavement for anyone who had collaborated with the U.S. government (…) CNN was so desperate to get the defamation suit dropped that they decried the efforts of everyone, not just Young, who diligently worked to get people out of the country. “To get women out, the operators on the ground were required either to break the law directly or to find someone to break the law for them,” they wrote to the court. As if escaping the a murderous band of terrorists was a bad thing, CNN listed off a series of illegal activities Young, the other operatives, and the people fleeing were allegedly guilty of, including “avoiding the Taliban,” “mak[ing] it past the Taliban checkpoints,” and keeping “people hidden from the Taliban”—i.e., all activities that were illegal in Afghanistan at the time.” A possible flaw in the plan to cite Sharia law in their defense is the fact that it's not a set of codified laws and can change based on an individual's interpretation. That's not to mention that the Taliban are not the internationally recognized government of the country. This was something CNN seeming admitting back in a filing back in May when they said: "it was that the market was operating in the absence of a functioning legal system..." The legal defense seemed to have something of an identity crisis, because while Shullman put all that work into defending CNN’s framing of Young’s activities as illegal under Sharia law, she also suggested CNN’s original offending reporting had “no intent to accuse Young of illegal conduct.” The filing insisted “the focus of CNN’s journalism was never on whether what Young and other private operators were doing was illegal under Taliban law,” but instead was meant to expose “war profiteers such as Young.” A quick Google search of the word “profiteering” turns up an Oxford definition that explains the noun usage as “the practice of making or seeking to make an excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market.” And the “profiteer” verb explanation says: “make or seek to make an excessive or unfair profit, especially illegally or in a black market.” CNN essentially blamed Young’s insistence that they accused him of a crime for their choice to cite Sharia law to prove their innocence: But, even if Young is right that CNN accused him of illegal conduct—which CNN vigorously disputes—he still cannot prevail on his claims (…) discovery has indicated that the activities Young directed and funded almost certainly were illegal under Taliban law, as the Taliban prohibited Afghans (especially woman) from exiting the country without permission and vastly restricted their movement inside the country. The filing also says “CNN vigorously disputes” the claim that they were accusing Young of a crime – while they were actively citing Sharia law as evidence of Young committing crimes. They further suggest that the use of the term “black market” was mean “to convey that the private market for evacuation services was unregulated,” which by common understanding was a gray market.     Back in June, Florida’s First District Court of Appeal found that CNN did accuse Young of a crime when host Jake Tapper opened the report, which singled out Young, with the words “black market,” which was accompanied with a matching chyron (pictured above). “So, these are lawyers and professional writers that, you know, are used to dealing with words and have dictionaries and know how precise – what words mean?” Judge L. Clayton Roberts pressed. In an unredacted partial transcript of CNN reporter Alex Marquardt’s deposition in the case, he admitted that they didn’t find any evidence of Young committing a crime. But while CNN made references to other operatives on the ground who broke Sharia law and were “taking advantage of the chaos and desperation,” again, Yong was the only one singled out by name and by having his face shown on-air. Still, CNN argued that the “gist” and “overall message” of their reporting were “true” and that there was no evidence of “actual malice” on their part. But that’s not accurate. Two courts and four judges (three at the appellate level) had ruled that “Young sufficiently proffered evidence of actual malice, express malice, and a level of conduct outrageous enough to open the door for him to seek punitive damages.” Linked here is CNN’s motion for summary judgment. It should be noted that it was written in a desperate attempt to get the news organization out of a defamation suit that had the strong possibility of being very damaging to both CNN’s reputation and their finances. And as such, it goes after Young pretty ruthlessly; as evidenced by their reliance on Sharia law. And while the filing portrayed CNN's reporting as rock solid and whole, Judge Roberts did note in his punitive damages ruling that the network's own internal communication showed concern about it not being ready for public viewing. "Young proffered CNN messages and emails that showed internal concern about the completeness and veracity of the reporting—the story is ‘a mess,’ ‘incomplete,’ not ‘fleshed out for digital,’ ‘the story is 80% emotion, 20% obscured fact,’ and ‘full of holes like Swiss cheese,’” he wrote. In response to NewsBusters' questions about why they were citing Sharia law, given it was so oppressive of women, and if they didn't think what Young was doing, in terms of saving women from that situation, was a good thing, a CNN spokesperson said: “Young takes issue with CNN referring to the conditions on the ground as a black market. Acknowledging the state of local law is a necessary part of the legal analysis. There is no good faith reading of CNN’s filing that supports such a false, reckless, and malicious characterization.”

New research sheds light on John Andrew Jackson, who sought help from Harriet Beecher Stowe during his escape from bondage

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he is confident that if elected, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will "do what's right for the American people" when it comes to potentially pardoning Jan. 6 capitol rioters, reports The Hill.