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US - Aug 23, 2026 - In 2020, Phoenix coated 36 miles of roads to fight extreme heat; surfaces became 12°F cooler at noon, but heat exposure for pedestrians rose 5.5°F - Phoenix has implemented a reflective coating on its roads to mitigate urban heat island effects, effectively reducing asphalt temperatures during daylight hours. However, researchers observed that this treatment inadvertently intensified heat radiation exposure for pedestrians in close proximity. They concluded that incorporating shade from trees and buildings is essential for enhancing human comfort, suggesting cities explore a variety of solutions beyond just reflective coatings to address rising temperatures.

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Alaska eradicated rats from a 6,869-acre Aleutian island more than two centuries after they arrived in a shipwreck; within two years some native bird populations had increased 200% or more and missing seabirds began returning

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In 2021, Alabama students began placing discarded Christmas trees along Gulf Coast dunes to trap sand; each year about 200 students now add roughly 3,000 native plants around them

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US - Aug 23, 2026 - MAGA skids on maple syrup: US-Canada ties on a slippery slope

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Ohio mother was in Costa Rica when 18-year-old son died in car crash; hospital never contacted her, she later learned his body parts were removed as 'anatomical gifts' without consent

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A Detroit couple bought a vacant 1925 bank and neighboring bar for $66,000; 13 years later, one old bank vault is a den and another is a wine cellar

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In 1967, Henry Pigott sold his North Carolina island home to help create Cape Lookout National Seashore; a life estate let him stay until his death as Portsmouth Village's last male resident

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Texas police sergeant accused of using Flock cameras to stalk female coworker; he surrendered his law-enforcement licence and avoided prosecution

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Four children forced to live in semitruck cab for nearly 7 years; US couple arrested for alleged neglect

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50 years ago, this California sanctuary began saving some of the world's rarest gibbons, today, their morning songs are a remarkable story of survival

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Massive Burmese python seized at Coney Island after man showed illegal pet snake to crowd

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In 2021, Johnston Atoll eradicated invasive yellow crazy ants after an 11-year effort; the refuge is home to nearly 13,000 red-tailed tropicbird nesting pairs

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28-year-old Punjab man shot dead in New York while delivering pizza

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In 1968, a California man began building a castle from scrap steel, bottles and old motorcycles; 20 years later it had a 74-foot clock tower

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In 1984, Washington began capping the Seattle landfill under Gas Works Park; decades later, herons nested beside rusting towers on the old coal gas plant

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Texas turned an abandoned golf course into a 200-acre flood-control landscape; while still unfinished during Hurricane Harvey it held 100 million gallons of water

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Meet Peter Fernández Dulay, the Florida eighth-grader who asked four AI generators what scientists look like; only 17.4% of the images showed women alone

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In 2012, USDA and Broward students released 16 beetles in Florida to control air potato; the insects multiplied into the thousands and nearly defoliated the vines

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In 1968, a retired Texas railway worker began covering his home with flattened beer cans; 18 years and more than 50,000 cans later, almost nothing had gone to waste

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In 1988, a Texas man began wiring discarded objects together behind his small home; decades later, more than 60 tons of junk had become a walk-through cathedral

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In 1941, a 58-year-old California pioneer began building with salvaged cabins: He turned the material into a four-storey, 35-room desert pueblo

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Meet Frank Lucci, the 18-year-old Texas student who built a high-precision robot sensor for under $25; it is nearly 20 times cheaper than existing options

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In 1963, a Wisconsin artist began transforming her family's Lake Michigan home; nearly 40 years later, 60 concrete creatures filled the yard

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An Iowa couple bought an abandoned fire station for $90,000; nearly 10 years later, they had turned the black-mold-covered 1960 building into their family dream home

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A Michigan woman gave birth in the back of an Uber; one year later, the driver returned for the baby's 'One Wild Ride' birthday as her godmother

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Hawaii once considered releasing cats to kill invasive rats on an island; scientists rejected the idea because the cats would attack native birds too

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In the early 1970s, Virginia Beach compacted 640,000 tons of garbage into a 60-foot hill; the dump became America's first landfill park and now spans 165 acres

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In 1969, a Church's Fried Chicken co-founder bought 3,000 acres of neglected Texas ranchland; decades of restoration brought long-absent springs and flowing water back

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'Could result in injury or death': Thanedar urges US to halt ICE's electric shock glove plan

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2-year-old dies after 'severe beating'; 18-year old mother, boyfriend arrested in Georgia

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Amid tensions with Pete Hegseth, US Army secretary Dan Driscoll to step down by year-end: Report

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In 1881, a wealthy widow moved to California and kept expanding her home for 30 years; it became a 160-room maze with staircases to nowhere

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In 1920s Massachusetts, a divorcing couple agreed to build a duplicate house; the husband followed the deal but put the new home on an isolated salt marsh

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Donald Trump shares image calling Hormuz 'new US territory'; Iran says strait 'closed'

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Flock CEO says privacy can't be the only priority; it is about safety, as Americans vandalize AI surveillance traffic cameras across US

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'Never': Indian-origin doctor denies assault allegations from students after arrest at Miami International Airport, released on bond

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Trump drops 2 names to replace Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary

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Gujarati man sentenced to 9 years in jail in US for scam; attorney says he grew up in India in extreme poverty without water, studied only till 10th

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In 1974, the National Park Service bought the Stewart family's 890-acre California ranch; they negotiated the right to remain and continued ranching there until 2021

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'Pretend, please, that I'm on the ballot': Trump's appeal to voters ahead of midterms

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Trumpiana: Friends or foes, the Don doesn't let old grouses go under grass

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Over 700 US troops killed, wounded as Iran war nears seventh month

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US Death Valley tragedy: French tourist dies after vehicle gets stuck in 47°C heat

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Indian-origin UC Santa Cruz student dies as car plunges from cliff into ocean, male driver escaped with minor injuries

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In the early 1960s, developers sold 5,850 lots for a private resort on Assateague Island; one five-day storm wiped out nearly every house and helped turn it into a national seashore

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Meet Luca McGill, the Arizona eighth-grader who flew a drone 120 metres into the sky expecting cities to have the most ground-level CO2; rural areas did instead

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Good news for family-based Green Card applicants from India in Visa Bulletin September 2026, no relief for employment-based categories

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In 1927, John D Rockefeller Jr secretly used a shell company to buy over 35,000 Wyoming acres for $1.4 million; NPS says acquiring the same amount of Jackson Hole land today would cost over $1 billion

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'Mom is voting for us': Trump quips as protester disrupts South Carolina rally for Darline Graham

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Meet Zeynep Demirbas, the New York eighth-grader who tested whether AI can recognise stress; a basic machine-learning model beat ChatGPT-4o

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Stop H-1B, give startup visa: Indian-American investor Vivek Wadhwa says Americans rightfully hate unethical Indians

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Laptop fire sparks mid-air scare on American Airlines flight; passengers injured

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Texas constable unplugged 3 police surveillance cameras after county ended Flock contract; then told company to 'come get your garbage'

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TikTok to pay $400 million in US child privacy settlement over alleged violations

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In 2003, Wisconsin poisoned every fish in a degraded lake, then sealed its bottom with alum: Phosphorus fell 85% and algae dropped 90%

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'Patently unlawful': US judge strikes down Trump admin's immigrant visa freeze for 75 countries

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In 1922, a Massachusetts engineer began gluing old newspapers into the walls of his summer home: More than a century later, the paper house is still standing

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In 1980, a Canadian fisherman began building with discarded bottles; four years later, he had completed a house, tavern and chapel

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