The Planet (on, and off)

A tool bag that astronauts accidentally let float away during a routine spacewalk at the International Space Station is now orbiting Earth and can be seen with a pair of binoculars. The bag drifted away from the space station this month when NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara were Read more…

In an open-air warehouse in California’s Central Valley, 40-foot-tall racks hold hundreds of trays filled with a white powder that turns crusty as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the sky. “The start-up that built the facility, Heirloom Carbon Technologies, calls it the first commercial plant in the United States to Read more…

The world is set to have been hotter in 2023 than in any other year on record, scientists have declared, before a landmark climate summit this month. “We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43C above the pre-industrial average,” Read more…

Many Americans want to abolish Daylight Saving Time. Since 2018, nearly all states have passed or entertained legislation that would drop the twice-a-year time shift. And 19 states have passed laws or resolutions in support of year-round daylight saving time, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. Read more…

A top scientist has proposed a new way to reconcile the two different ways that our clocks keep time. Meet — wait for it — the leap minute. Later this month, delegations from around the world will head to a conference in Dubai to discuss international treaties involving radio frequencies, Read more…

“Earlier this month, the California Department of Food and Agriculture quarantined 69 square miles of metro L.A. after invasive and destructive Mediterranean fruit flies were found at a home in the Leimert Park neighborhood,” notes The Hill. Officials are now planning to use small planes to drop millions of fruit Read more…