If successful, the uncrewed spacecraft would be the first U.S. lunar landing in more than 50 years, and would mean one giant leap for the commercial space sector.
About two years ago, New Jersey's Democratic Governor Phil Murphy said that the state would be partnering with the Danish company Orsted, the largest developer of offshore wind projects in the world.
The company had agreed to build Ocean Wind 1, the state's first offshore wind farm, powering half a million homes and creating thousands of jobs in the process.
The following year, Orsted inked another deal with the state for Ocean Wind 2, a second offshore wind farm with similar capacity. After years of review, the projects were approved in summer 2023. Construction of the first turbines was slated to begin in the fall.
And then Orsted backed out, cancelling the contracts full stop.
Despite the setbacks, Murphy is still all-in on wind. A month after Orsted dropped out, Murphy directed the state's Board of Public Utilities to seek new bids from offshore wind developers. And the state just approved two new offshore wind contracts.
After several setbacks, could this mean a second wind for offshore wind?
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Every year, billions of animals across the globe embark on journeys. They fly, crawl, walk or slither – often across thousands of miles of land or water – to find better food, more agreeable weather or a place to breed. Think monarch butterflies, penguins, wild Pacific salmon. These species are crucial to the world as we know it. But until this week, there has never been an official assessment of the world's migratory animals.
So today on the show, correspondent Nate Rott shares the first-ever report on state of the world's migratory animals – the threats facing them and what can be done to help.
Are you afraid of needles or shots? Send us a voice memo with your story at shortwave@npr.org. We'd love to hear about it for an upcoming episode.
The study looks at 6,000 patients who got abortion pills after an online appointment. It found that 99.7% of those abortions were not followed by any serious adverse events.
The first known fatality was an elderly man who lived alone in a forested area and was immunocompromised. Scientists say there's no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus so far.
In a Valentine's Day exclusive report, NPR has learned there is currently a gay anteater couple at Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington D.C.But this couple is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to queerness in the animal world – it's been documented in hundreds of species. We spoke with wildlife ecologist Christine Wilkinson of the "Queer is Natural" TikTok series to uncover the wildest, queerest animals of the bunch.
Questions, comments or thoughts on queer animal love? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might feature it on a future episode!
The slow-moving Chinese martial art tai chi is known to increase flexibility and balance. Now, research suggests it's more effective at reducing blood pressure than more vigorous forms of exercise.
Recreational fishermen and conservation groups worry overfishing for menhaden threatens the Chesapeake Bay. Industry says current data doesn't support shutting down the more than century-old fishery.
President Biden and former President Trump have both experienced public memory lapses. But brain experts say such slips, on their own, are not a cause for concern.
Social media was recently taken aback watching as alligators in freezing weather appeared to go into a deep sleep to stay alive. They're not alone. Iguanas and hummingbirds do it too.
In a landmark U.N. study, researchers found nearly half of the world's threatened migratory species have declining populations. More than a fifth of the assessed animals face extinction.
At least, that's what a group of researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University thinks. The team recently published a study in the journal Experimental Biology suggesting that Amphiphrion ocellaris, or clown anemonefish, may be counting. Specifically, the authors think the fish may be looking at the number of vertical white stripes on each other as well as other anemonefish as a way to identify their own species. Not only that — the researchers think that the fish are noticing the minutiae of other anemonefish's looks because of some fishy marine geopolitics.
Questions, comments or thoughts on another marine sea creature you want to hear us cover? Email us at shortwave@npr.org and we might feature it on a future episode!
Happy Lunar New Year! According to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, the new year began Saturday. For many, like our host Regina G. Barber, this calendar and its cultural holidays can feel completely detached from the Gregorian calendar. Growing up, she associated the former with the Spring Festival and getting money in red envelopes from relatives, and the other with more American traditions. But the Chinese calendar has a deep, centuries-long shared history with the Gregorian calendar.
To learn more about this shared history, Gina talks to scientists and historians, who spill the tea about the science behind calendars, and how both calendars and the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration played a key role in the rise and fall of empires.
A robotic assistant recently arrived at the International Space Station to perform a simulated surgery that will be controlled by a surgeon 250 miles away on Earth.
