Science & Environment

Armed with two garden hoses hooked up to a sputtering tap, Matthew Craig battled fire and smoke to save his house from the onslaught of flames that devastated much of Altadena, a once leafy corner of Los Angeles County. The wind felt like dragon’s breath, he said, and “we were all eating smoke.” But even though his home is secure, …

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday banned the use of Red Dye No. 3 in food, beverages and drugs, more than three decades after the synthetic coloring was first found to cause cancer in male laboratory rats. The dye, a petroleum-based additive, has been used to give candy, soda and other products their vibrant cherry red hue. Consumer advocates …

Julie Packard, the marine biologist who has presided over the Monterey Bay Aquarium since it opened in 1984 and shepherded it through the Covid pandemic, announced her retirement as executive director on Wednesday. Ms. Packard has helped repurpose the thick-glassed fish museums of old into potent forces for ocean conservation action. Built with a $55 million donation by her parents, …

Julie Packard, the marine biologist who has presided over the Monterey Bay Aquarium since it opened in 1984 and shepherded it through the Covid pandemic, announced her retirement as executive director on Wednesday. Ms. Packard has helped repurpose the thick-glassed fish museums of old into potent forces for ocean conservation action. Built with a $55 million donation by her parents, …

At their confirmation hearings on Wednesday, the two men in line to oversee the United States’ global energy policies, Senator Marco Rubio and the fossil fuel executive Chris Wright, are expected to assail President Biden as overly concerned with climate change. According to a spokeswoman, Mr. Wright, who was picked to lead the Department of Energy, will say that Mr. …

Bournemouth University Many skeletons of women were found buried with valuable objects like pots Women in Britain 2,000 years ago appear to have passed on land and wealth to daughters not sons as communities were built around women’s blood lines, according to new research. Skeletons unearthed in Dorset contained DNA evidence that Celtic men moved to live with their wives’ …

A tantalizing vision of a women-centric society has emerged from an ancient cemetery in the bucolic countryside of southwest England. Whereas women commonly left home to join their husbands’ families upon marriage, the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe that lived in Dorset 2,000 years ago, bucked the mold with a system called matrilocality, wherein women remained in their ancestral communities and …

Chris Wright, Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Energy, landed the job during his first encounter with the past and future president. The founder and chief executive of Liberty Energy, a fracking services company based in Colorado, Mr. Wright was among about 20 oil and gas executives whom Mr. Trump gathered at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida …

For years, the World Monuments Fund has sought to draw attention and resources to endangered cultural heritage sites including Machu Picchu in Peru, temples in Cambodia and the old city of Taiz in Yemen. But this year’s list of at-risk sites goes much further afield: to the moon. “The moon seems so far outside of our scope,” said Bénédicte de …

Watch: Moment horses are rescued from approaching LA fire The trailers arrived all at once, carrying hundreds of horses fleeing the Eaton and Palisades fires in Los Angeles. Some horses came solo, others in trailers packed with fellow animals. Many had their owners, but others arrived alone, brought in by their rescuers or animal control. One horse, according to volunteers, …