The Cool Down

Political lines 'obliterated' at Pennsylvania meeting as Township votes to halt data center applications

A crowded meeting about a proposed data center in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, a former coal region, had a lot of local ...
The Cool Down

Gardener fears mystery insect beneath strawberries — others say it's one of the garden's best helpers

What looked like a problem under a strawberry patch turned into reassurance for a gardener who asked for help identifying a ...
The Cool Down

Giraffe in South Africa tears into invasive prickly pear as nature fights back

A video from South Africa is drawing attention for showing that invasive plant species do not always go untouched by the ...
thecooldown

California launches EV rebates up to $3,500, and used EV buyers can qualify for half

California's latest effort to lower electric vehicle costs reaches beyond new-car buyers and into the used market as well. Eligible shoppers could get up to $3,500 off a new EV or up to $1,750 off a ...
thecooldown

Archaeologists in China opened a 2,600-year-old tomb, and found a lord's bronze bells 'deactivated'

When archaeologists investigated the 2,600-year-old burial of Lord Qiu in China, they found his bronze bell set in disarray: the instruments, which Phys.org described as magnificent, were scattered, ...
The Cool Down

Australia and New Zealand are home to the world's smallest penguin, the little blue

This petite penguin is found along the coastlines of southern Australia and New Zealand, where they inhabit rocky shorelines, ...
thecooldown

Eight elephant bulls fought over Lima Lima in Kenya, until one rival's tusk snapped

A confrontation among elephants at Kenya's Umani Springs ended with a broken tusk after eight wild bulls gathered to pursue one elephant, Lima Lima. On Instagram, the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a ...
thecooldown

'Don't eat [them]': Homesteader receives blunt warning after leaving potatoes out in the sun

The grower explained in a Reddit post on r/homestead that a batch of just-harvested potatoes was accidentally left in direct sunlight for a couple of days, and the tubers turned green. That prompted ...
thecooldown

Cheetahs hunt in daylight, but hulking hyenas can still force them off hard-won kills

A striking wildlife post gives cheetahs some overdue credit while also showing the brutal realities of life on the savanna. Even the planet's fastest land animal can lose a meal in an instant when a ...
thecooldown

UK signs £30 million STEP deal, but it is for fusion plant software, not the plant itself

A £30 million government agreement linked to STEP has pushed the U.K.'s fusion plans back into the spotlight, drawing fresh attention to its main prototype effort. What disappeared in many retellings ...
thecooldown

Arizona resident posts 3 mystery bugs, then learns the 'allergy' spots were bedbugs

An Arizona poster thought they were asking the internet to name a bug they found in their house. Instead, other users connected the bugs to unexplained red "allergy" spots, turning a routine ...
thecooldown

On a hot Arizona day, two quail parents and 19 chicks line up for a poolside drink

A video is gaining attention online after showing a family of quails, including 19 chicks, drinking sips of water from a pond in Arizona. The clip, captured by The Desert Critters of Arizona YouTube ...