West Side Story

Indonesia needs to dramatically improve its tsunami warning system

Dec 26, 2018

Indonesians faced a bleak Christmas this year, after a tsunami crashed into the islands of Java and Sumatra on Saturday, following an underwater landslide caused by the eruption of the nearby volcano Anak Kraka...

India looks to drones, recently legalized, for fast transport of organs

West Side Story

Dec 25, 2018

Health, Science, World

Officials in India are considering a plan that would use drones to transport urgent medical materials to patients in hospitals, according to CNN. This comes alongside other efforts to regulate unmanned aerial v...

SpaceX launches its first mission for US military

West Side Story

Dec 23, 2018

Business, Innovation, Science

A SpaceX rocket launched Sunday morning, carrying the space transport company’s first national security cargo for the US – a GPS satellite built by Lockheed Martin. The successful launch follows several delays ...

New impact report advances plans for oil drilling in Alaska’s fragile Arctic

West Side Story

Dec 21, 2018

Environment, Science

The Trump administration advanced its efforts to allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) on Thursday, with a draft environmental report, the Washington Post reports. The assessment...

Hackers compromised the personal data of NASA staff

West Side Story

Dec 19, 2018

Innovation, Science

NASA has warned its employees that hackers may have obtained data that included their personal information, in an internal email. The US space agency says two servers had been compromised that contained the per...

Turtles in the Great Barrier Reef showed ‘alarming’ levels of chemicals

West Side Story

Dec 18, 2018

Environment, Science, World

A large, long-term study has found “alarming” levels of chemicals in Great Barrier Reef sea turtles, leading to wider concerns over the health of the reef environment in general, according to The Guardian. Scie...

The Poland climate talks, a diplomatic success, fell short of heeding scientists

West Side Story

Dec 16, 2018

Environment, Opinion, Science

The COP24 climate talks wrapped up in Katowice, Poland late on Saturday, following two weeks of dicey negotiations. The end result is diplomatically impressive, balancing the clashing needs of wealthier and dev...

Bias accusations against Google draw on a broader false narrative

West Side Story

Dec 15, 2018

Innovation, Opinion, Science

Google CEO Sundar Pichai answered questions from lawmakers at a Congressional hearing Tuesday, focused on Google’s alleged bias against conservative viewpoints. There was no resolution of the ongoing accusation...

Using CRISPR gene editing, researchers develop self-cloning hybrid rice

West Side Story

Dec 13, 2018

Innovation, Science

After decades of efforts, scientists have managed to modify a hybrid rice strain so that it passes on its favorable traits in its own seeds, according to ScienceDaily. By producing clones from its seeds, instea...

Trump’s EPA to scale back water pollution rules

West Side Story

Dec 11, 2018

Environment, Policy, Science

The Trump administration is scaling back existing federal protections on waterways, exposing streams and wetlands to pollution from agriculture and other sources, according to the LA Times. Internal talking ...

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