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Science & Technology

View of the earth photographed from the Apollo 11 spacecraft as it approached the earth on its return from the moon, July 24, 1969.

50 years ago, the global Earth Day movement was born — and so was WWU’s Huxley College, both shaping national environmental conversation

View of the earth photographed from the Apollo 11 spacecraft as it approached the earth on its return from the moon, July 24, 1969.

April 20, 2020, 6:05am Latest News

A SIMPLE MOVING of the goal posts would have been one thing. But as the U.S. environmental movement turns 50 this month, the frightful reality of a rapidly heating planet has blown up the entire playing field. Read story

In this handout photo released by Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC), Roscosmos space agency, the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members descends beneath a parachute just before landing in a remote area near Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Friday, April 17, 2020. An International Space Station crew has landed safely after more than 200 days in space. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos&#039; Oleg Skripochka touched down on Friday on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

U.S.-Russian space crew lands safely in Kazakhstan

In this handout photo released by Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC), Roscosmos space agency, the Soyuz MS-15 space capsule carrying International Space Station (ISS) crew members descends beneath a parachute just before landing in a remote area near Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Friday, April 17, 2020. An International Space Station crew has landed safely after more than 200 days in space. The Soyuz capsule carrying NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Russian space agency Roscosmos&#039; Oleg Skripochka touched down on Friday on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

April 17, 2020, 8:47am Life

A U.S.-Russian crew landed safely Friday in the steppes of Kazakhstan following a stint on the International Space Station and was greeted with extra precautions due to the coronavirus. Read story

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2018, file photo, a coal-fired plant in Winfield, W.Va, is seen from an apartment complex in the town of Poca across the Kanawha River. The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants.

EPA gutting rule credited with coal-plant toxic air cleanup

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2018, file photo, a coal-fired plant in Winfield, W.Va, is seen from an apartment complex in the town of Poca across the Kanawha River. The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants.

April 16, 2020, 4:30pm Nation & World

The Trump administration is gutting an Obama-era rule that compelled coal plants to cut back emissions of mercury and other human health hazards, limiting future regulation of air pollutants by petroleum and coal plants. Read story

This electron microscope image provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows part of a Neanderthal cord from Abri du Maras, France. The The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP) (M-H.

Neanderthals made string, researchers find

This electron microscope image provided by Marie-Helene Moncel in April 2020 shows part of a Neanderthal cord from Abri du Maras, France. The The specimen is a quarter-inch-long, made of 3 bundles of tree-bark fibers twisted together, with an age of some 40,000 to 50,000 years. (M-H. Moncel via AP) (M-H.

April 14, 2020, 6:00am Life

It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibers twisted around each other. Read story

This photo made available by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency shows the earth as seen by the BepiColombo spacecraft on April 10, 2020. The Mercury-bound mission swooped past Earth, tweaking its round-about path to the solar system&#039;s smallest and innermost planet.

Mercury-bound spacecraft buzzes Earth, beams back pictures

This photo made available by the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency shows the earth as seen by the BepiColombo spacecraft on April 10, 2020. The Mercury-bound mission swooped past Earth, tweaking its round-about path to the solar system&#039;s smallest and innermost planet.

April 10, 2020, 8:59am Life

A Mercury-bound spacecraft swooped past Earth on Friday, tweaking its roundabout path to the solar system’s smallest and innermost planet. Read story

In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy, left, Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin, centre, and Ivan Vagner, members of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior the launch of Soyuz MS-16 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, April 9, 2020.

Astronauts leave virus-plagued planet for space station

In this handout photo released by Roscosmos Space Agency Press Service U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy, left, Russian cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin, centre, and Ivan Vagner, members of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), walk prior the launch of Soyuz MS-16 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, April 9, 2020.

April 9, 2020, 8:45am Life

Three astronauts flew to the International Space Station on Thursday, departing the virus-plagued planet with little fanfare and no family members at the launch site to bid them farewell. Read story

Vaccine testing on primates underway

April 7, 2020, 4:46pm Health

Army researchers at Fort Detrick in Frederick began testing possible vaccines for the coronavirus on animals Monday, Department of Defense officials announced. Read story

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2016 file photo, evergreen trees are silhouetted on the mountain top as a supermoon rises over over the Dark Sky Community of Summit Sky Ranch in Silverthorne, Colo., Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. A supermoon will rise in the sky Tuesday evening, April 7, 2020, looking to be the biggest and brightest of the year. Not only will the moon be closer to Earth than usual, it will also be a full moon.

Q&A: Super, ‘Pink’ or ‘Paschal,’ the moon making its closest approach of the year

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2016 file photo, evergreen trees are silhouetted on the mountain top as a supermoon rises over over the Dark Sky Community of Summit Sky Ranch in Silverthorne, Colo., Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. A supermoon will rise in the sky Tuesday evening, April 7, 2020, looking to be the biggest and brightest of the year. Not only will the moon be closer to Earth than usual, it will also be a full moon.

April 7, 2020, 8:18am Life

At precisely 2:08 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, the moon will make its annual closest approach to the Earth. And when it becomes full at 10:35 p.m., it will be knighted a “supermoon” — or “Paschal Moon” or “Pink Moon,” depending on the source. Read story

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II performs a spacewalk Feb. 7, 1984, a few meters away from the cabin of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger. More than 12,000 people applied for NASA&#039;s next astronaut class.

12,000 apply to be an astronaut

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II performs a spacewalk Feb. 7, 1984, a few meters away from the cabin of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger. More than 12,000 people applied for NASA&#039;s next astronaut class.

April 7, 2020, 6:06am Life

Who wants to be an astronaut? More than 12,000 people do, resulting in NASA’s second-largest group of astronaut hopefuls. Read story

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2016 file photo, evergreen trees are silhouetted on the mountain top as a supermoon rises over over the Dark Sky Community of Summit Sky Ranch in Silverthorne, Colo., Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. A supermoon will rise in the sky Tuesday evening, April 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File) (jae c.

Catch this week’s supermoon, biggest and brightest of year

FILE - In this Nov. 14, 2016 file photo, evergreen trees are silhouetted on the mountain top as a supermoon rises over over the Dark Sky Community of Summit Sky Ranch in Silverthorne, Colo., Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. A supermoon will rise in the sky Tuesday evening, April 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey, File) (jae c.

April 6, 2020, 3:52pm Life

A supermoon rises in the sky this week, looking to be the biggest and brightest of the year. Read story