Credit: Nathan Cooper

"They have given mankind a completely new way of looking at the universe." – Stephen Hawking, congratulates Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Ronald Drever, the first scientists to detect gravitational waves. | Smithsonian magazine #IngenuityAwards The Smithsonian has been celebrating innovation in American culture for more than 150 years, and following in this tradition, Smithsonian magazine presents the American Ingenuity Awards, honoring revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, education and social progress.

From charming streets to stunning scenery, consider Hawaii, Idaho, Massachusetts, or New York for your next summer adventure. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Producer: Nicki Marko Producer: Sierra Theobald Editor: Michael Kneller

This spring, take a break and smell the flowers in New Mexico, Kansas, California and New Jersey. --- For more videos from Smithsonian Magazine: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/ Digital Editorial Director: Brian Wolly Supervising Producer & Scriptwriter: Michelle Mehrtens Video Editor: Sierra Theobald

“Superman isn’t coming. It is a moment in our time when we must look to ourselves, and not take for granted or wait for something from the top to come down, but rather…pick up the torch, carry the torch, to find information and the truth…” – Erin Brockovich applauds Marc Edwards and LeeAnne Walters for their work exposing the Flint water crisis | Smithsonian Magazine American #IngenuityAwards Read more about Edwards and Walters’ work: http://smithmag.co/D4dIHy The Smithsonian has been celebrating innovation in American culture for more than 150 years, and following in this tradition, Smithsonian magazine presents the American Ingenuity Awards, honoring revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, education and social progress. http://smithmag.co/R7hyRO

In a 11-4 vote, the City Council decided to remove the 65-foot-tall monument from its location in the heart of the city

Kleptoparasitism, in which a bird harasses another to steal its food, might introduce avian flu to the continent, currently the only one without the severe H5N1 strain

Researchers say that the iconic painting's swirling sky lines up with Kolmogorov's theory of turbulence, suggesting that the artist was a careful observer of the world around him

The world’s slowest mammal is at risk of extinction by the end of the century due to their low metabolic rate and climate change

The Kyoto museum will feature interactive exhibits, gaming artifacts, workshop spaces and oversized controllers inspired by iconic video games

The 4,000-year-old burial chamber featured hieroglyphs referring to the woman, known as Idi, as the "lady of the house"

Best known for "The Vegetarian," the novelist and poet was praised for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"

Across the country, revelers are dressing in costumes and gliding across bodies of water on stand-up paddleboards to ring in the spooky season

Scientists aren't sure how the circular indentations some 450 feet below the surface formed, but they hope to investigate further

A new exhibition in Paris demonstrates the influence that the Spanish artist had on the young American painter who would help usher in the Abstract Expressionist movement

Researchers trained African giant pouched rats to detect commonly smuggled items, including rhino horns and elephant tusks

Babies who were conceived and born during the period of rationing in the United Kingdom were less likely to develop certain diseases as adults, a new study finds

Make what's perfect more human

From Setsubun in Japan to Fèt Gede in Haiti, these festivals relish in the macabre

These amazing images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest show the Arctic animals at their fierce but adorable best

The trend is a result of women deciding to have children later in life and the use of medically assisted reproduction methods

These images from the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest show how communities in Mexico and beyond mark Día de los Muertos.

The L'nu Sipuk Kina'muokuom school observed Indigenous Veterans Day with an event on Friday. Students, faculty and staff got together to honour Mi’kmaw military veterans and RCMP members.

Mosquitoes take blood meals from a diverse range of host animals and their host associations vary by species. Characterizing these associations is an important element of the transmission dynamics of mosquito-vectored pathogens. To characterize mosquito host associations, various molecular techniques have been developed, which are collectively referred to as blood meal analysis. DNA barcoding has diverse biological applications and is well-suited to mosquito blood meal analysis. The standard DNA barcoding marker for animals is a 5' fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) gene. A major advantage of this marker is its taxonomic coverage in DNA sequence reference databases, making it feasible to identify a wider range of mosquito host species than with any other gene. However, the COI gene contains high sequence variation at potential priming sites between vertebrate orders. Coupled with the need for primer sequences to be mismatched with mosquito priming sites so that annealing to mosquito DNA is inhibited, it can be difficult to design primers suitable for blood meal analysis applications. Several primers are available that perform well in mosquito blood meal analysis, annealing to priming sites for most vertebrate host taxa, but not to those of mosquitoes. Because priming site sequence variation among vertebrate taxa can cause amplification to fail, a hierarchical approach to DNA barcoding-based blood meal analysis can be applied. In such an approach, no single primer set is expected to be effective for 100% of potential host species. If amplification fails in the initial reaction, a subsequent reaction is attempted with primers that anneal to different priming sites, and so on, until amplification is successful.

In insects, oocyte resorption (oosorption) or follicular atresia is one of the key physiological processes and evolutionary strategies used to optimize reproductive fitness. Mosquitoes are ideal model organisms for studying egg maturation in arthropods, as their follicle development is initiated only following the ingestion of a blood meal, followed by a carefully orchestrated series of hormonally regulated events leading to egg maturation. A cohort of approximately 100 follicles per mosquito ovary begin developing synchronously. However, a significant fraction of follicles ultimately undergo apoptosis and oosorption, especially when available resources from the blood meal are limited. Therefore, simple, rapid, and reliable techniques to accurately evaluate follicular atresia are necessary to understand mechanisms underlying follicle development in insects. This protocol describes how to detect apoptotic follicle cells within the Aedes aegypti mosquito ovaries using a commercially available fluorescent-labeled inhibitor of caspases (FLICA). Caspases are key players in animal apoptosis. In this assay, the FLICA reagent enters the intracellular compartment of follicles in dissected mosquito ovaries and covalently binds to active caspases. The bound reagent remains within the cell and its fluorescent signal can be observed by confocal microscopy. Although this method was specifically developed for visualizing apoptotic ovarian follicles during Ae. aegypti mosquito egg development, it should be applicable to other mosquito tissues that undergo caspase-mediated program cell death in a time-dependent manner.

Transposon-mediated transgenesis has revolutionized both basic and applied studies of mosquito vectors of disease. Currently, techniques such as enhancer traps and transposon tagging, which rely on remobilizable insertional mutagenesis, are only possible with transposon-based vector systems. Here, we provide general descriptions of methods and applications of transposon-based mosquito transgenesis. The exact procedures must be adapted to each mosquito species and comparisons of some differences among different mosquito species are outlined. A number of excellent publications showing detailed and specific protocols and methods are featured and referenced.

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation expects that by the end of March it will have generated 72 per cent of power for the North Slave region using hydro, and 28 per cent from diesel. Last year, about half the region's power was from diesel because of low water levels.

When the U.S. Army massacred a Lakota village at Blue Water, dozens of plundered artifacts ended up in the Smithsonian. The unraveling of this long-buried atrocity is forging a path toward reconciliation

N.B. Power has won approval to keep charging rates that it increased on customers by an average of 9.25 on April 1, and to repeat the increase next April, with only minor modifications.

Ginoogaming First Nation has declared a state of emergency after an engineering inspection showed the bridge leading to the community should be closed to traffic.

CBC's Superior Morning has been gathering wartime stories from listeners leading up to Remembrance Day based on mementos they have kept for generations. Here's some of the stories residents in northwestern Ontario have shared.

Former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner discusses the 2024 elections.

Sault Ste. Marie has the highest rate of opioid deaths in Ontario so far this year, according to new numbers from the province's coroner's office.

A federal audit of Canada’s strategy to promote the extraction of critical minerals says the government isn’t giving due consideration to the potential impact of mining on the environment, biodiversity and Indigenous people.

A retired lawyer from Sault Ste. Marie has written a book that celebrates the working-class neighbourhood in which he grew up. The West End: A Magical Place Created by Giants is by Frank Sarlo, whose grandfather emigrated to Chicago from Italy, but ended up in Sault Ste. Marie with the promise of work on the railroad.

A Winnipeg business owner is suing a man she alleges swindled her out of ownership of two properties after promising financial help — the latest in a string of court proceedings against the man, whom a judge previously described as showing the signs of a "predator" who seeks out financially vulnerable clients.

StandardAero says new funding from the provincial and federal governments will help expand its Winnipeg operations by training more specialized technicians, managers, support personnel and engineers.

Here’s how Hamilton and other cities in the area are marking Remembrance Day this year.

Saskatchewan's police watchdog is investigating an incident that led to the suspension of five Saskatoon police officers and a sixth officer is also off work because of an unrelated incident.

CBC Sports' daily newsletter breaks down whose fortunes are looking up and whose are down after the weekend's winter Olympic sports action.

The re-elected chief of the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation says she's hoping to forge connections within her community as she looks ahead to her next term.

Is a Fed rate hike in March a certainty? If the correction in equity markets is prolonged, the central bank could decide to postpone any increase until June.

The trade war that could stem from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum is unlikely to affect GDP, freeing the Fed to raise rates at its March 21 meeting.

A driver killed 35 people and severely injured another 43 when he deliberately rammed his car into people exercising at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said Tuesday.

Record revenue of $1.6 billion Record quarterly ADV of 28.3 million contracts - the second consecutive quarter of volume, open interest growth across every asset class CHICAGO, Oct. 23, 2024...

Pioneering Technology Allows Surgeons to Cut Precisely and Control Bleeding Without Causing Heat Damage to Tissue

Austrian manufacturer also optimizes creation of assembly documentation and related bills of material