The U.S. has doubled the pace of cutting carbon emissions since President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) passed in 2022, analysts and scientists said, with more than 80 solar, wind and energy storage projects taking advantage of the law’s mix of direct payments and tax credits. The IRA and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law last year provided $239 billion for …
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What do Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Paul McCartney and Justin Bieber have in common with Ronald Reagan, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Garland, Fidel Castro and David Bowie? They are all left-handed, a trait shared by roughly 10% of people. But why are some people left-handed while most are righties? That is an area of active research, and a new …
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Japan must shift its policy focus away from crisis-mode stimulus towards achieving private sector-driven economic growth, a government panel said on Tuesday in the wake of the central bank’s decision to end eight years of negative interest rates. In a proposal to the government’s top economic council, the panel urged policy changes in the face of rising domestic prices and …
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The U.S. Interior Department on Tuesday approved the country’s eighth commercial-scale offshore wind project, which will be built off the coast of Massachusetts, bringing online electricity to power more than 900,000 homes. The New England Wind Project approval brings the U.S. one-third of the way to President Joe Biden’s goal of permitting 30 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2030 …
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Lying on her back, enormous paws in the air, Laerke the polar bear is being given her annual medical exam. It involves much the same as tests given to humans – blood, urine, heart. The difference? It takes a good half-dozen veterinary staff to turn her over. The recent exam at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, provided …
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A federal court in Texas that has become a favored destination for conservatives suing to block President Joe Biden’s agenda has decided not to follow a policy adopted by the judiciary’s top policymaking body that aims to curtail the practice of “judge shopping.” Chief U.S. District Judge David Godbey of the Northern District of Texas announced the decision in a …
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British primatologist-turned-conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall will mark her 90th birthday next month with a series of talks. Her greatest wish is for people to start thinking more about the environment, she said in an interview last week. But in the meantime, she says she would like the gift of more years “to continue getting the message out.” “We’ve got a …
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Artificial intelligence benchmarking group MLCommons on Wednesday released a fresh set of tests and results that rate the speed at which top-of-the-line hardware can run AI applications and respond to users. The two new benchmarks added by MLCommons measure the speed at which the AI chips and systems can generate responses from the powerful AI models packed with data. The …
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Washington’s drive to make the United States a major global lithium producer is being held back by a confusing mix of state regulations that are deterring developers and hampering efforts to break China’s control of the critical minerals sector. Across Texas, Louisiana and other mineral-rich states, it’s unclear who owns the millions of metric tons of lithium locked in salty …
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it has proposed a ban on electrical stimulation devices intended to reduce or stop self-injurious or aggressive behavior. The health regulator said these devices present an unreasonable and substantial risk of illness or injury that cannot be corrected or eliminated through new or updated device labeling. Electrical stimulation devices administer electrical …
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