In the late 19th century, a young seminarian battling a life-threatening bout of pneumonia made a promise that would eventually transform a small Iowa town into the home of one of the world’s largest man-made grottos. If he survived, Father Paul Matthias Dobberstein vowed to build a shrine in honour of the Virgin Mary. He…
Quote of the day by Li Ka-shing (AP photo) There are moments when people quietly blame circumstances for the way things turn out. Luck, timing, family background, money and simple chance can all appear to have a genuine say in where a person actually ends up. Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, took…
A fungus that infects house flies has evolved a remarkable way to send spores towards new hosts. Entomophthora muscae grows inside an infected fly and, after the insect dies, it produces microscopic stalks that emerge from its body. Each stalk forms a single spore at its tip. Instead of simply dropping away, the spore is…
In 2011, conservation teams set out on one of the biggest rat eradications ever on a tropical atoll, targeting an estimated 30,000 invasive rodents on Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific. The goal was not just to remove a pest, but to restore an entire ecosystem that had been suppressed for more than a century….
Candace Owens (Image via Getty Images) A new post circulating on X has put Candace Owens’ latest comments about Turning Point USA back under the spotlight. In the clip shown in the screenshot, Owens questions the direction of the organization while suggesting that another group could eventually take its place. Her remarks have since fueled…
US-Canada trade talks coallpsed in August Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday (local time) hit back at the US, saying it should “stop doing memes, stop throwing shade and stop trying to be tough,” as he pushed back against a fresh wave of online barbs from the Trump administration, days after trade talks between…
A thick green carpet can make a pond or reservoir appear almost solid, but giant salvinia is a floating fern, spreading across the water rather than growing from the bottom. In Texas and Louisiana, the plant had become difficult to manage, forming dense mats that blocked sunlight, reduced oxygen and interfered with waterways. According to…
Photo credit: California Department of Fish and Wildlife On a late-August afternoon in the San Gabriel Mountains, a group of hikers near La Verne, California, heard an unsettling sound: what they described as “howling” coming from a large water tank along a trail. When they investigated, they discovered a mother black bear and her two…
The restoration included repairing much of the original oak frame, but also creating contemporary spaces that met the needs of modern family living. Cadman Construction was already undertaking one of its most challenging heritage projects: restoring a Grade II-listed 16th-century longhouse in Suffolk. But for Stuart Cadman, Managing Director of Cadman Construction the challenge had…
More than 1.3 million plastic bottles were collected from coastlines and waterways worldwide in a massive volunteer cleanup effort that began 40 years ago with just 2,800 people on the Texas Gulf Coast. The International Coastal Cleanup, organised by Ocean Conservancy, drew about 630,000 volunteers in 2025, who removed nearly 13.9 million pieces of rubbish…
