Every April of each year, the Lyrids meteor shower throws in a few fireballs in the sky and skywatchers can watch this spectacular show starting April 16. The annual Lyrid meteor shower is the oldest known meteor shower ever recorded. It was first observed in 687 BC or some 2,700 years ago. This year, Lyrids […]
Category: Top News
Trillion-dollar budget deficits will make next recession more painful
1. Maxing out the credit card: House Speaker Paul Ryan, who built his career on the promise of fiscal responsibility, is leaving behind a looming $1 trillion budget deficit. In the short run, Ryan’s signature achievement of tax cuts could extend the life of America’s recovery from the Great Recession. Yet those same tax cuts, […]
Allegiant Air: The budget airline flying under the radar
Steve Kroft investigates Allegiant Air, a discount carrier known more for its ultra-low fares than its high record of in-flight breakdowns Allegiant Air is a small, ultra-low-cost carrier based in Las Vegas, that happens to be one of the country’s most profitable airlines. But, according to federal aviation records and interviews with pilots, mechanics and […]
Hummingbirds Attract Mates By ‘Singing’ With Tail-Feathers, Performing Sideways Dives
Scientists have discovered a rather unusual mating technique in male Costa’s hummingbirds, who attract potential mates by diving at a female’s side and producing a “song” with their tail-feathers that helps them further declare their intent. In a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of California, Riverside described this […]
How NASA’s Planet-Hunting TESS Telescope Will Find Habitable Worlds
NASA’s next planet-hunting telescope will swing its gaze from point to point in the sky, searching for worlds that could be habitable. The telescope, known as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), will launch no earlier than Monday (April 16). Its ultimate goal is to provide a catalog of planets all over the sky. Then, […]
RIP Toys ‘R’ Us: But will supermarkets lead to new life for toy retail?
A Barbie by the broccoli? Hot Wheels by the hot sauce? Some toy experts say that stocking toys at supermarkets is a recipe to boost the industry as Toys “R” Us begins to close all 800 of its U.S. stores, including its Cedar Rapids location 2425 Wiley Blvd. SW. Toymakers could see a bump in […]
Restaurant chain Bertucci’s reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy
Bertucci’s, an Italian-restaurant chain with locations across the East Coast, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to Bloomberg. The Massachusetts-based company, which is best known for its brick-oven pizza, is reportedly lining up a buyer who would take control of the business after the filing. Company officials could not be reached for comment. Bertucci’s […]
Too Much Sitting May Shrink the Part of Your Brain Tied to Memory
It may be time to ditch the desk chair: A new study links sitting too much each day with memory problems in middle-age and older adults. Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that long stretches of sedentary behavior — like spending all day in your desk chair — were linked to […]
NASA may fly humans on the less powerful version of its deep-space rocket
NASA may make some big changes to the first couple flights of its future deep-space rocket, the Space Launch System, after getting a recent funding boost from Congress to build a new launch platform. When humans fly on the rocket for the first time in the 2020s, they might ride on a less powerful version […]
Tesla ships flawed parts from suppliers to a local machine shop for fixes, and they’re piled up outside
Tesla is struggling to manage and fix a significant volume of flawed or damaged parts from its suppliers, sending some to local machine shops for rework, according to several current and former Tesla engineers. The company said it also makes adjustments to the design of some parts after receiving them from suppliers. On Friday, Tesla […]
Wells Fargo facing possible $1 billion in civil penalties over customer-account fraud
Wells Fargo & Co. confirmed industry and analyst speculation Friday that its two federal regulators want the bank to pay up to $1 billion in civil penalties to resolve multilayered customer-account issues. The bank said those issues include “our compliance risk management program and our past practices involving certain automobile collateral protection insurance policies and […]
Night owls have 10% higher mortality risk, study says
If the early bird catches the worm, what is the night owl more likely to catch? According to a new study, it’s diabetes, psychological problems and an increased risk of dying. The study, published Thursday in the journal Chronobiology International, tracked almost half a million adults in the United Kingdom over an average of 6½ […]