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Abu Dhabi Just Launched Its First Drone Parcel Delivery: What This Means for the Future
Abu Dhabi just took a big leap into the future of delivery services with its first drone parcel delivery test flight. The trial, which took place over Khalifa City, is part of the emirate's broader plan to modernize its transport network and make logistics more efficient. The test flight involved a drone picking up a package from a local post office and delivering it to a designated drop zone using a secure winch-based system. This approach aims to cut costs and reduce delivery times by taking advantage of airspace rather than congested roads. The trial comes under a collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio), aviation tech firm LODD, and 7X, an investment holding group that includes Emirates Post and EMX. Omran Malek from Adio stated, “This pilot is a powerful example of the kind of local partnerships and forward-thinking strategies that drive long-term economic and infrastructure value for the emirate.” The initiative falls under the strategy spearheaded by the Smart and Autonomous Systems Council. It's all about harnessing advanced technology to enhance logistics networks while promoting smart mobility. This effort has backing from both the General Civil Aviation Authority and the Integrated Transport Centre. Safety is key as regulations are being developed to support these autonomous air transport services. Humaid Saber Al Hameli from the Integrated Transport Centre emphasized that maintaining airspace safety remains a priority. Drone technology allows operators to handle multiple deliveries at once, according to Rashid Al Manai, CEO of LODD. This could mean faster service for customers in the near future. Meanwhile, over in Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed launched a similar drone delivery service last December. Keeta Drone, related to China's Meituan, received clearance from Dubai's Civil Aviation Authority to deliver food and medicine across Dubai Silicon Oasis initially. Sheikh Hamdan himself placed the inaugural order via this new platform from Rochester Institute of Technology-Dubai. The drones used here can fly up to 100 meters high with a 3-kilometer range at speeds reaching 22 meters per second. He highlighted how robotic technologies are becoming integral parts of Dubai’s digital transformation journey. Elsewhere in UAE's ambitious transport plans are driverless taxis and air taxis. Recently, Abu Dhabi ran test flights for self-flying air taxis aimed at integrating urban air mobility into everyday life. In March, Archer Aviation from the U.S. announced plans to introduce flying taxis in the Gulf region by year-end. Abu Dhabi Aviation confirmed an agreement was made for bringing Archer's Midnight electric vertical take-off vehicles this year.
Score (97)
A Flash of Light, a Shift of Atoms: Michigan Researchers Pave Path to Faster Electronics
Scientists at Michigan State University have found a way to “wiggle” atoms with ultrafast lasers, briefly changing how a material behaves—and opening the door to faster, smaller, and more efficient electronics. The work, published in Nature Photonics, combines experiments led by physicist Tyler Cocker with theoretical modeling from materials scientist Jose L. Mendoza-Cortes. Together, their teams showed how a layered material called tungsten ditelluride (WTe₂) can be manipulated at the atomic scale. Using a custom-built scanning tunneling microscope, Cocker’s lab directed terahertz laser pulses—firing hundreds of trillions of times per second—onto the sharp metal tip hovering above WTe₂. The intense pulses nudged the top atomic layer slightly out of alignment with the rest, like the top sheet in a stack of papers slipping askew. “When the laser was on, the top layer of the material behaved differently, showing electronic properties we hadn’t seen before,” Cocker said. The team was even able to capture images of the material’s “on” and “off” states, effectively creating a nanoscale switch. Meanwhile, Mendoza-Cortes’ group ran quantum simulations of the same material. Their models predicted atomic shifts of about 7 picometers—an almost unimaginable scale—that matched what Cocker’s team observed. “Our research is complementary; it’s the same observations but through different lenses,” Mendoza-Cortes said. For graduate student Daniel Maldonado-Lopez, the implications are clear: “The movement only occurs on the topmost layer, so it is very localized. This can potentially be applied in building faster and smaller electronics.” The researchers say this kind of atomic control could eventually reshape the components inside laptops, smartphones, and even quantum computers, lowering costs and boosting energy efficiency. “When you think about your smartphone or your laptop, all of the components that are in there are made out of a material,” noted Stefanie Adams, a graduate student in Cocker’s lab. “At some point, someone decided that’s the material we’re going use.” Now, MSU scientists are betting that tomorrow’s devices may rely on materials we don’t fully understand yet—ones that, when nudged by light, reveal entirely new possibilities.
Score (95)
Abandoned Golden Retriever Puppies Beat Deadly Virus, Find Hope in Boston
Three golden retriever puppies abandoned in Boston while battling a deadly virus are now on the road to recovery—and soon, to new homes. Boston Animal Control found the pups, all under 6 months old, in the Geneva Avenue area of Dorchester on August 23. Tests confirmed they had parvovirus, a highly contagious illness that can kill young dogs within 48 hours of symptoms appearing. “Parvo is highly contagious and potentially deadly, so when the puppies tested positive, Boston Animal Control immediately reached out to us for help,” said Mike Keiley, vice president of the MSPCA-Angell’s Animal Protection Division. The Massachusetts animal welfare group took in the two sickest dogs for treatment. One of them, nicknamed Big Red, was the weakest at first but has since made a strong recovery. “Golden retrievers are a highly sought-after breed, so it’s abnormal that a bunch were found sick and alone outside like this,” Keiley said. “No one has stepped forward to claim the dogs, so considering all of the circumstances, we believe they were abandoned.” After six days of intensive care at MSPCA-Angell’s hospital, the puppies moved into foster homes. Big Red is in the final stages of treatment and will be ready for adoption soon, while the other two are already healthy enough to be placed through Boston Animal Control. Interest has been overwhelming—more than 400 people have applied to adopt Big Red. “Although we can only pick one adopter, we’re so excited that he’ll soon have the very best home and a bright future after a challenging start,” Keiley said. The MSPCA used the moment to remind dog owners about the importance of vaccinations. Parvovirus, which causes vomiting, bloody diarrhea, abdominal pain, and severe lethargy, can linger in the environment for months. “Fortunately, vaccines are hugely effective and broadly available, so we hope that this serves as a reminder to people: Please vaccinate your dogs,” Keiley said. For these three golden retrievers, the worst is now behind them. Soon, each will have a fresh start—healthy, loved, and safe.
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Score (98)
This Heroic Dog Led Firefighters To His Leash Before a Rescue In a House Fire
An Illinois police officer who entered a smoke-filled home to rescue a family’s beloved dog was seen patiently following the quirky pooch to his leash before he could be led outside to safety. Aurora Police said units responded to a report of a house fire around 12:51 pm on Thursday, September 11, and immediately observed flames in the rear of the home on Whitehall Court. Body-worn camera footage shows Investigator Michael Ely forcing entry into the home and locating Oakley the terrier. Ely removes a gate to let Oakley out, and the dog charges off. The officer follows the dog to a leash hanging near a door. Ely obligingly clips the leash to Oakley’s collar, and the two leave the house by the front door. “Fortunately, nobody was inside the home at the time of the fire besides Oakley,” the police department said on Facebook. “The preliminary investigation indicated the fire originated in the attic and there were no signs of foul play.” According to the homeowners, who wished to remain anonymous, Oakley is an American Staffordshire terrier and was adopted as a puppy from local rescue Players for Pits. “He enjoys snuggling with us, snoring loudly as he sleeps, sunbathing, and eating peanut butter,” the homeowners said, according to police. “We are forever grateful to Mike at the Aurora Police Department for saving our sweet dog.”
Score (98)
Scientists Just Discovered the Pathway To Element 120—The Holy Grail Of Chemistry
Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say they’ve cracked a new way to reliably make livermorium, element 116 on the periodic table—and the breakthrough could point the way to creating even heavier, more stable elements. In a preprint paper, researchers described how they used a beam of titanium-50 ions to bombard a plutonium target, successfully producing atoms of livermorium. The work, carried out over 22 days, showed the titanium beam was strong, consistent, and effective—an encouraging sign as scientists search for the next elements, including the still-unmade 119 and 120. Until now, most superheavy elements beyond uranium have been made using calcium-48, a stable isotope long considered the “MVP” of nuclear chemistry. Calcium has been central to discoveries all the way up to element 118, oganesson, the heaviest element confirmed so far. But scientists have run into a dead end: the only suitable targets for pushing beyond oganesson are einsteinium and fermium, elements that can’t be produced in large enough quantities to make useful targets. That’s where titanium comes in. With 22 protons and 28 neutrons, titanium-50 is stable, accessible, and powerful enough to offer a new path forward. The experiment not only proved that titanium can create livermorium reliably but also suggested that the technique could be extended to heavier targets in pursuit of the elusive “island of stability.” For decades, nuclear chemists have theorized that certain combinations of protons and neutrons—the so-called “magic numbers”—might form superheavy isotopes that are far more stable than the fleeting atoms scientists can currently create, which decay in microseconds. Finding such an isotope could open the door to studying entirely new properties and potential applications. “We don’t know yet what these elements might be capable of,” the team wrote. History shows elements can surprise: mercury is a liquid metal at room temperature, bismuth is diamagnetic, and copper alone produces a wide palette of natural colors. Stable superheavy elements could hold even stranger surprises. For now, each success amounts to only a few atoms, barely enough to measure. But the titanium beam signals a new generation of tools is ready to take over from calcium, giving chemists a fresh shot at building out the periodic table. If titanium proves to be the key, the next half dozen elements—and perhaps the first glimpse of real stability in superheavy matter—may finally be within reach.
Score (98)
Philadelphia Nurse Weaves Art From Healthcare Experiences, Inspires Through Creativity
Linda Ruggiero has spent years caring for people as a nurse in Philadelphia. When she takes off her scrubs, she reaches for yarn and a loom. Weaving, she says, is her way of making sense of what she sees at Penn Medicine, where she works in the cardiac catheterization lab. "I definitely get my inspiration a lot from those experiences in the lab and in other areas of nursing," Ruggiero said. One piece she created, called “Aneurysm,” was inspired by the tubes and stents she uses with heart patients. “The heart is such a great metaphor for artwork and for opening up and healing and life,” she said. “And so it was sort of easy to make that connection.” Before becoming a nurse seven years ago, Ruggiero worked in neuroscience research. She loved the science, but when COVID-19 hit early in her career, she found herself on the front lines. “It was terrible and it was so heartbreaking, and it just felt like it wouldn't stop,” she said. During those months, she turned to weaving as a lifeline. One piece she made, called “Contained,” reflected the false hope that the virus could be controlled. Another, a chaotic mass of yarn, captured what life on the COVID ward really felt like. “This was sort of our trying to keep things tidy and contained, with it sort of seeping out on the sides. And this is what I felt like it was in reality, just kind of chaotic,” she explained. Today, her work reflects new struggles she sees in Philadelphia, from families affected by gun violence to patients fighting drug addiction. “Being creative has always kind of helped me, like, feel better,” Ruggiero said. When she isn’t working or creating, she teaches weaving to others. What began as knitting on the bus in her early 20s has grown into a second vocation, one that gives her and her students a way to process life’s hardest moments through art. For Ruggiero, nursing and weaving aren’t separate. Both are ways of caring, of finding meaning in pain, and of stitching fractured lives back together.
Score (98)
Rescued Sheep Relearns To Walk Thanks To This Custom Wheelchair
Dave the ram was never supposed to make it this far. Rescued from slaughter as a lamb, he’s spent the past six years living peacefully at Albert’s Horse Sanctuary in Barnsley. But earlier this year, his carers feared the worst. Dave was found cast, a dangerous condition where sheep end up on their backs and can’t right themselves. If left too long, it can be fatal within hours. Dave survived, but he couldn’t stand on his own for months. Volunteers lifted him daily, tended to his pressure sores, and refused to give up on him. Their persistence paid off when Winston’s Wheels, a mobility charity, donated a custom-built wheelchair. The device gave Dave the support he needed to rebuild his strength. This week came the breakthrough: Dave stood up by himself and even managed a few steps. “His journey is inspiring everyone who meets him,” a sanctuary spokesperson said. The sanctuary is now appealing for support as it struggles with rising costs for feed, bedding, and veterinary care at a time when donations are falling. For Dave, though, every step forward is proof of what care, patience, and a little ingenuity can achieve.
Score (96)
A Nonprofit is Partnering With New York To Supply Families With Diapers And Baby Products
Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, the CEOs of Baby2Baby, have partnered with New York State to boost maternal health and support newborns. This collaboration aims to set an example for other states across the U.S. The state is teaming up with Baby2Baby to distribute free newborn supply kits to families in need. These kits include essentials like diapers, hygiene items, and breastfeeding supplies. This initiative is part of a larger $2.2 billion commitment from New York aimed at improving access to affordable childcare. Governor Kathy Hochul's 2026 budget allocates $9 million to this nonprofit effort. "We were able to invite Governor Hochul into our warehouse in L.A., into our headquarters," said Weinstein. "She visited us in December, and after just a few minutes, packing the kits herself and having the program resonate with her, she made the decision to put $9 million into the state budget so that we can provide 100,000 of these kits to every mother giving birth on Medicaid next year across the state of New York." According to Baby2Baby, half of American families struggle with diaper affordability. Diapers rank as the fourth highest expense for low-income households after food, rent, and utilities. Under Patricof and Weinstein's leadership, Baby2Baby has developed a system that manufactures diapers at 80 percent less than typical retail costs. "We're able to distribute five times as many," Patricof noted about their distribution capabilities, "which is what has led us to distributing 250 million diapers." Nationally, Baby2Baby assists over one million families and children each year. Since its inception in 2011 under Patricof and Weinstein’s guidance, the organization has provided more than half a billion essential items for children in need. The partnership with New York marks their latest endeavor aimed at supporting low-income parents across the state.
Score (97)
NASA is Launching a Mission To Map the Sun's Protective Bubble And Predict Space Weather
The Sun doesn’t just light up the sky—it also creates an invisible shield that makes life on Earth possible. By constantly sending out streams of charged particles, the Sun inflates a protective bubble called the heliosphere. This vast cocoon stretches far beyond Neptune, deflecting cosmic radiation that would otherwise bombard our planetary system. Despite its importance, the heliosphere remains a mystery. Now, NASA is preparing to change that. On September 23, the agency will launch the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, on a mission to chart the boundaries of this solar bubble. The spacecraft will travel about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth to the first Earth-Sun Lagrange Point, a gravitationally stable spot between the two bodies. From there, IMAP will orbit the Sun, free of magnetic interference from Earth and other planets. Its task: to map the edges of the heliosphere and track the particles streaming through it. “With IMAP, we’ll push forward the boundaries of knowledge and understanding of our place not only in the solar system, but our place in the galaxy as a whole,” said Patrick Koehn, IMAP program scientist. “As humanity expands and explores beyond Earth, missions like IMAP will add new pieces of the space weather puzzle that fills the space between Parker Solar Probe at the Sun and the Voyagers beyond the heliopause.” The spacecraft is relatively compact, about 2.4 meters wide and 1 meter tall, and spins at four revolutions per minute. It carries 10 instruments, including three designed to detect energetic neutral atoms. These particles begin as solar wind ions but lose their charge after colliding with others in space. By mapping their movements, IMAP can help scientists pinpoint where the heliosphere ends and interstellar space begins. “IMAP will advance our understanding of two fundamental questions of how particles are energized and transported throughout the heliosphere and how the heliosphere itself interacts with our galaxy,” said Shri Kanekal, IMAP mission scientist. The mission also aims to provide practical benefits. By collecting near real-time data on the solar wind and energetic particles, IMAP could give Earth up to 30 minutes’ warning of potentially harmful space weather. Such storms can disrupt satellites, communications, and power grids, and pose serious risks to astronauts. “The IMAP mission will provide very important information for deep space travel, where astronauts will be directly exposed to the dangers of the solar wind,” said David McComas, the mission’s principal investigator at Princeton University. IMAP will also analyze interstellar dust—tiny grains that drift through space and eventually form the raw material of stars and planets. Understanding this dust could reveal more about the building blocks of the universe beyond our solar system. The probe follows in the footsteps of the Voyager spacecraft, which in 2012 and 2018 became the first human-made objects to leave the heliosphere. But while Voyager offered the first glimpse beyond the bubble, IMAP is designed to create a detailed map of its structure. By tracing the outlines of the heliosphere, IMAP could help answer some of the biggest questions in astrophysics—about how our solar system fits into the Milky Way, how cosmic rays are filtered, and how to keep future spacefarers safe.
Score (96)
Scientists Unearth 112-Million-Year-Old Amber Ecosystem in Ecuador Quarry
A quarry in Ecuador has yielded an extraordinary find: amber dating back 112 million years that has preserved an entire ecosystem, complete with insects, pollen, and even fragments of spider web. The discovery at the Genoveva quarry marks the first large-scale find of insect-bearing amber in South America. For paleontologists, it offers a rare window into life during the Cretaceous period in the Southern Hemisphere, a region far less represented in the global fossil amber record. At least five orders of insects were trapped in the amber, including fungus beetles, wasps, a caddisfly, and several kinds of flies. One piece even contains strands of spider silk, arranged in a way that suggests it could have belonged to an early orb-weaver. Unlike modern orb webs, though, it lacked the sticky droplets that snare prey today. "These findings provide direct evidence of a humid, resinous forest ecosystem and its arthropod fauna in equatorial Gondwana during the Cretaceous Resinous Interval," said paleobiologist Xavier Delclòs of the University of Barcelona and his colleagues in their report. Gondwana was the giant supercontinent that once connected what is now South America, Africa, Antarctica, and Australia. By the early Cretaceous, it was already breaking apart, reshaping ecosystems in dramatic ways. Amber is common in the Northern Hemisphere, with famous deposits in places like Myanmar and the Baltic region. But in the south, discoveries are far less frequent. The Ecuadorian amber formed during the Barremian age, about 122 million years ago, when coniferous trees released massive amounts of resin. Over time, this sticky material hardened into amber, locking away tiny traces of ancient life. In this case, the amber came from araucariacean trees, once abundant across Gondwana but now represented only by a few species scattered in the Southern Hemisphere. The researchers found two kinds of amber at the quarry: one from resin seeping underground through tree roots, and another formed above ground when resin oozed out into the open air. Most amber globally is root-derived, and usually lacks much in the way of fossilized insects. The Genoveva site, however, was unusually rich in insect specimens. It also lacked the abundant resin-eating fungi often found in other Cretaceous deposits, a difference the team suggests may have been due to unusually waterlogged soils that stifled fungal activity. Above ground, though, the resin acted as a natural trap, catching and preserving invertebrates in exquisite detail. For paleontologists, these finds are more than just curiosities—they help reconstruct ancient ecosystems and track how life adapted as continents drifted and climates shifted. "This discovery, and the associated plant remains in the amber-bearing rocks, enhance our understanding of the Gondwanan arthropod fauna and flora inhabiting forests along its western margin during a time interval of major ecosystem transformation," the authors wrote. The team hopes further exploration at the site and in similar regions will allow comparisons with other Gondwanan amber deposits, which remain largely unstudied. Such work could help piece together how South American life once connected with its counterparts in Africa, Antarctica, and Australia. The study was published in Communications Earth & Environment.
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Why New Zealanders Are Helping This Rare Snail Named Ned Find Love
Meet Ned, a snail with a problem—and an entire country trying to solve it. Ned looks like your typical garden snail, except for one key detail: his shell coils to the left instead of the right. That tiny twist makes all the difference. It means Ned can’t mate with the vast majority of garden snails, since their reproductive organs don’t line up. Only another left-coiling snail would work as a partner, and those are about one in 40,000. Ned was spotted in August in the Wairarapa region, north of Wellington, by illustrator Giselle Clarkson. At first, she thought she’d stumbled across a new species. “Something was different, but I couldn’t figure it out,” she told the Guardian. “After you see something thousands and thousands of times looking one way, and then you suddenly see it the other way around, it is quite uncanny.” She soon realized the shell spiraled left. Clarkson named him Ned, after Ned Flanders, the famously left-handed neighbor from The Simpsons. Then she realized the challenge: a lefty snail can only mate with another lefty. That’s where New Zealand Geographic stepped in. The magazine launched a nationwide campaign asking people to check gardens, vegetable patches, and even under flower pots to see if Ned’s elusive match might be hiding there. To make the odds easier to picture, evolutionary geneticist Angus Davison offered this analogy to the Washington Post: a London bus driver could lean out the window to chat with another London bus driver. But it wouldn’t work with a New York driver, because the steering wheel is on the opposite side. That’s Ned’s problem in a nutshell. For now, Clarkson has made Ned comfortable in a fishbowl with broccoli and silver beet seedlings. She even gave him a right-coiling friend for company. But if he’s to start a family, it will take another lefty. This isn’t the first time a snail like Ned has captured public attention. In 2016, a left-coiling snail named Jeremy in England became the subject of a similar campaign. Two potential mates were eventually found, though they initially paired up with each other. Jeremy eventually produced 56 offspring before dying in 2017. As for Ned, compatibility isn’t guaranteed even if a partner shows up. “They might be physically compatible once they get together, but it doesn’t mean that sparks will fly,” Clarkson told CNN. “Their personalities will have to match.” Garden snails aren’t native to New Zealand—they were brought in by humans, along with about 30 other snail and slug species. That means Ned doesn’t need to reproduce for conservation reasons. But the campaign is about more than matchmaking. It’s also about sparking curiosity. “We hope it’s also a doorway into deeper topics like gardening, understanding the natural world and the weird intricacies of reproduction,” Catherine Woulfe, editor of New Zealand Geographic, told the Guardian. She added that her kids have been excited to grab gumboots and torches and go snail-hunting after dark. “That feels like a win.” For Ned, the search continues. For New Zealanders, it’s a chance to slow down, explore their backyards, and maybe help a lonely lefty find love.