When Karen Morad, a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Cairo, went on a Kenyan safari in June 2026, she experienced something she thought was impossible: “seeing” the animals around her despite being completely blind. That moment was made possible by ScribeMe, an AI-powered app created by her older brother, Mark, also blind, which turns a phone’s camera,…

In 1865, the French government began paying people to kill dolphins in the Mediterranean Sea, offering twenty-five francs for each animal. Officials introduced the reward to protect fisheries, because fishing communities believed dolphins were emptying the sea of fish and tearing their nets. A major review of bounty programmes, published in 2026, identifies it as…

Midpen staff had discovered purple martins nesting in holes inside similar poles near the mountain top while working on Mount Umunhum. California crews left old telephone poles standing while restoring about 40 acres of land at Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve because purple martins use holes in the poles as nesting sites. The decision came…

A new species of spider from the Ecuadorian Amazon: Taczanowskia waska. Credit: David Diaz-Guevarra Researchers exploring Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest thought they had spotted a small mushroom clinging to the underside of a leaf during a night survey. A closer look revealed something far stranger. It was a spider that had disguised itself so convincingly as…

Chinese sales agent Winnie Zeng has taken an unusual step to protect herself from an uncertain future: she now shares her rented bed with a stranger to cut costs.Frustrated by stagnant pay and worried about losing her job, the 25-year-old from the central city of Wuhan recently invited another woman to move into her bedroom,…

Chesapeake Bay (Image Credit: iStock) A piece of Chesapeake Bay marshland that once formed part of an aviation pioneer’s private hunting preserve has become an important refuge for wildlife. What began as a donation of thousands of acres more than seven decades ago now protects tidal marshes, creeks, coves and wooded ridges used by migratory…