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The death toll from Hurricane Helene has surpassed 200 people across six states as crews continue searching for survivors in remote areas one week after Helene struck the US. Roughly 900,000 people remain without power (see map), and tens of thousands without running water, as of this writing.
Hurricane Helene is the deadliest storm to make landfall on the US mainland since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (see list). At least 72 victims died in Buncombe County, North Carolina, which includes Asheville and was hardest hit within Helene's roughly 600-mile-long path of destruction. Helene and other storm systems in the past week dumped more than 30 inches of rain on North Carolina, triggering the biggest flooding in the state's recorded history. See photos here.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Kirk strengthened into a Category 4 storm in the Atlantic. The storm will remain in open waters but is expected to create life-threatening surf and rip currents along the US East Coast this weekend. On the other side of the world, at least two people were killed, 200 injured, and more than 10,000 evacuated after Typhoon Krathon struck southern Taiwan. |
Deep space travelers could potentially eat food produced from a single carbon-rich asteroid for 600 years, according to a new analysis released yesterday. The method could enable spacefarers to become less dependent on Earth-based supply chains, the current source of food for astronauts.
To determine the potential amount of food an asteroid could offer, researchers modeled the biochemical makeup of the 85 million-ton asteroid Bennu and found between 5,500 to 175,000 tons would be required to feed an astronaut per year.
The research is based on defense-funded experiments attempting to convert hard plastics—like those used as containers for military rations—into human-edible food via pyrolysis, an oxygenless heating technique (how it works). The process first breaks down the plastic into an oil that is then turned into edible biomass as microbial bacteria consume it. A separate study demonstrated bacteria successfully consumed carbons from a meteorite (watch more).
Learn more about what's on the menu in space here. |
The UK has agreed to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending a decadeslong dispute over the sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago and marking the UK's first territorial concession since its handover of Hong Kong in 1997.
The Chagos Islands, which include the strategic US-UK Diego Garcia military base, were detached from Mauritius in 1965 before its independence in 1968. The UK forcibly evicted around 2,000 islanders to make way for the base, a move declared illegal in a nonbinding ruling by the International Court of Justice in 2019. The agreement allows for the continued operation of the base for an initial 99 years, a resettlement plan for displaced islanders, and provides financial support to Mauritius. The handover is expected to take several years, with many details still to be negotiated.
In total, 65 countries formerly ruled by the UK have gained independence, with 14 territories remaining globally. At its height, the British Empire covered about a quarter of Earth’s land surface. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
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> "Rust" world premiere set for next month's Camerimage festival in Poland, three years after the on-set shooting death of the film's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins (More) |
> Country music star Garth Brooks accused in lawsuit of 2019 sexual assault and battery by former employee (More) |
> Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark wins 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year (More) | MLB Division Series begins tomorrow; see playoff bracket and schedule (More) |
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> Harvard students hack Meta's new AI-powered smart glass to instantaneously reveal people's personal information just by looking at their face; pair connected the glasses to the facial search engine PimEyes (More) | What is PimEyes? (More) |
> Engineers demonstrate microchip-sized tractor beam capable of picking up and moving tiny particles using only light (More) |
> Bacteria implanted into fungus can recreate the basic features of cells, offering a potential source for the origin of complex life, study suggests (More) |
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> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.2%, Dow -0.4%, Nasdaq -0.0%); investors await latest jobs report data today (More) | Dockworkers' union suspends strike until Jan. 15 to allow for negotiations (More) |
> PayPal completes first business transaction using its PYUSD stablecoin, which the financial company launched last year (More) | OpenAI receives $4B revolving credit line, bringing total liquidity to more than $10B (More) | Tesla recalls 27,000 Cybertrucks over rearview camera delay in fifth recall since its launch (More) |
> Elon Musk ($244B), Jeff Bezos ($197B), Mark Zuckerberg ($181B) top Forbes 400 list of America’s richest people; newcomers include Raising Cane's founder Todd Graves ($9.5B) and Jersey Mike’s Subs founder Peter Cancro ($5.6B) (More) |
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> Israel continues strikes in Beirut as its forces order evacuation of more than 20 villages and towns in southern Lebanon; nearly 2,000 people killed in Lebanon so far in almost a year of conflict, per Lebanese health ministry (More) | See war updates (More) |
> US Justice Department, Microsoft seize over 100 online domains allegedly used by Russian intelligence agents to hack into government agencies, including the Pentagon and State Department (More) |
> Biden administration's student loan forgiveness program to move forward after a Georgia judge lets temporary restraining order expire (More) | Three Memphis officers involved in 2023 death of Tyre Nichols convicted of witness tampering, one officer convicted of civil rights violations (More) |
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> Fentanyl Deliveries
Reuters | Staff. A visual-rich, two-part exploration of the simple, effective way fentanyl traffickers exploit US customs law to export ingredients for the narcotic. (Part 1) | (Part 2)
> Deep Life
Kurzgesagt | Staff. Recent discoveries have revealed Earth's deep biosphere—roughly 10 feet or more below the surface—to be brimming with life forms able to live for up to millions of years in extreme environments. (Watch) |
> The Rise of the Sandwich
Guardian | Sam Knight. (2017) As a $10B industry, prepackaged sandwiches are so ubiquitous today that it's easy to forget they were a novelty just four decades ago. (Listen)
> Mass-Producing Mezcal
Smithsonian | Jay Cheshes. The liquor distilled primarily from the agave plant in Mexico has long retained artisanal status, unlike its cousin tequila—but a surge in popularity risks removing the art from the process. (Read) |
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