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Birth Control for Cats? Gene Therapy May Offer a Method

A small study uses genetic engineering with the goal of curbing vast stray feline populations. For all the cats who share our homes as companion animals, there is a vast shadow world of strays — a sprawling and fast-breeding crowd. Their lives are plagued by the threat of infectious diseases, predators and fast-moving cars. And they are major predators themselves, hunting down millions of...

5 Unique Ways Animals Avoid Getting Eaten

A healthy, balanced diet is a great way to live to a ripe, old age. But even more important is avoiding being part of someone else’s healthy, balanced diet. Few creatures on this planet enjoy the distinction of sitting on top of their local food chain. Even those that rely on killing others for sustenance must sometimes avoid other, bigger predators; for every great...

Your Guide to the Majestic, Long Neck Dinosaur

Some dinosaurs needed long necks to reach high in the trees, loading their enormous guts with enough roughage to supply a small forest. These were the dinosaurs with the longest necks, so lengthy in stature that their height reached that of a four-story building while standing upright. Giraffes had nothing on these prehistoric skyscrapers. And there were many species of long-necked dinosaurs. While each...

Merck Sues Over Medicare Drug-Price Negotiation Law

The company is heavily reliant on a cancer drug that could be targeted by a program intended to lower drug prices. The pharmaceutical company Merck on Tuesday sued the federal government over legislation that empowers Medicare for the first time to negotiate prices directly with drugmakers. Merck’s lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, is the drug industry’s most significant move so far to...

Marvel: Sir Anthony Hopkins says Thor role was ‘pointless acting’

Marvel: Sir Anthony Hopkins says Thor role was ‘pointless acting’

Shutterstock Sir Anthony Hopkins has described his work in Marvel’s Thor films as “pointless acting”. The Port Talbot-born star joined the cast of Thor, Kenneth Branagh’s film version of the Marvel comic in 2011. He played Odin, the father of the titular character, and also appeared in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World and 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. “If you’re sitting in front of a green...

Astrud Gilberto: The Girl from Ipanema singer dies at 83

Astrud Gilberto: The Girl from Ipanema singer dies at 83

Getty Images By Mark Savage Music correspondent, BBC News Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian bossa nova singer best known for The Girl from Ipanema, has died aged 83. One of Brazil’s biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s, she recorded 16 albums and worked with artists ranging from Quincy Jones to George Michael. Her version of The Girl From Ipanema sold more than five million...

AI Could Usher in a New Era of Music. Will It Suck?

Michael Sayman has worked at Facebook, Google, Roblox, and Twitter. At 26, the software engineer has already published a memoir, App Kid. But until he began work on his latest project, he’d never built a website. “I made it in five hours over the weekend, out of frustration that there wasn’t anything like this,” he says. “Now there’s nearly a million streams on the site.”...

Apple Ghosts the Generative AI Revolution

After years of anticipation and contributions from thousands of people, Apple Vision Pro made its debut yesterday, promising immersion in apps, games, movies, and the workplace. With more than 20 cameras, sensors, and microphones, two processing chips, and even an external battery you carry in your pocket, it’s packed full of world-class tech, but missing an element that seems to be everywhere else right now:...