DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Why we should build cities that are kind to nature
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Nadia Leigh-Hewitson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

For Call to Earth Day 2023, we will focus on the vital link between urban areas and wilderness, and shed light on the impact cities have on distant natural spaces. Here, we explore how our cities can be part of the great tapestry of habitats on Earth. The feral flock is thought to represent around 10% of the remaining population, showing how cities can be safe spaces for wildlife. Letting animals moveThrough the sprawl of cities, animals increasingly encounter challenges in navigating their once-open territories. By blending the urban and natural worlds, these buildings can become a crucial part of the solution to create greener cities for future generations.

Persons: Noemi Cassanelli, ” Organizations: CNN, Park, Getty, International Locations: Varanasi, Hong Kong, Banff, Fukuoka, Japan

☆ Ancient regal tomb in Spain belonged to a revered female leader, archaeologists reveal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

While analysis of DNA is one factor, archaeologists have relied on other clues to gain insight, such as grave goods. European archaeologists made a “spectacular” find in 2008 of a tomb near Seville, Spain, that belonged to an ancient individual of great importance. The Ivory Lady, who possibly held a leadership role, was likely revered by her society for generations after she died. Defying gravityThe Perseverance rover snapped a new image of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars on April 16. As Ingenuity and the Perseverance rover begin to explore more challenging terrain, obstacles can block communications between the two — and Perseverance is the only one that can “call” Earth.

Persons: CNN — Piecing, Ivory Lady, ”, Graves, Leonardo García Sanjuán, Tom Booth, James Webb, — Doodles, Henry VIII, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, Research, University of Sevilla, University of Seville, SpaceX, Boca, NASA, JPL, Caltech, ASU, Mars, James Webb Space Telescope, CNN Space, Science Locations: Seville, Spain, Boca Chica, Texas, Wild, Hong Kong, Indonesia

☆ Trump’s dominance of GOP field has America bracing for a toxic campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

But the raucous event in Pickens also showed the enduring power of his personality and feral political appeal to GOP base voters. The state of the raceAs early as it is, some of the big questions that will decide the 2024 GOP primary are beginning to be answered. Even with his support among GOP voters appearing to soften in CNN’s post-indictment poll, there’s little sign it’s affecting his position in the race. While this may reinforce perceptions among GOP primary voters that he’s a victim, it could remind other voters of the possibility of a convicted felon serving as president. Still, Kennedy’s appeal shows that a distrust of Washington institutions, experts and a political system many voters fear has failed them, is no longer exclusively reserved for Republican primary voters.

Persons: Donald Trump, Pickens, ” Trump, Trump, ” Steve Cortes, DeSantis, Mike Pence, Obama, Clinton, Biden, it’s, —, Sen, Lindsey Graham –, –, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson, Will Hurd, Lindsey Graham, president’s, — DeSantis, he’s, I’ll, ” Cortes, “, Buttigieg, Still, — Biden, Robert Kennedy’s, didn’t Organizations: CNN, America, Republican, GOP, DeSantis, ”, Trump, NBC, Labor, FBI, Justice Department, New, New Jersey Gov, Arkansas Gov, Texas Rep, PAC, White, Democratic Locations: South Carolina, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Arkansas, Manhattan, Washington

☆ Yellow-crested cockatoos find an unlikely urban refuge in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Hong Kong CNN —It’s dusk in Hong Kong Park. On a sweltering summer day in Hong Kong Park, nestled between skyscrapers in the urban center of the Asian metropolis, a yellow-crested cockatoo perches on a branch. Noemi Cassanelli/CNN Yellow-crested cockatoos nest in old trees, typically more than 100 years old, which form cavities in the trunk. Hong Kong, despite its urban sprawl and concrete veneer, is a stronghold for several endangered species, including Chinese pangolins, Hong Kong groupers, and the black-faced spoonbill. (According to the AFCD, it has “not received any report related to poaching of yellow-crested cockatoos in the past three years.”)Extremely picky about where they roost, the yellow-crested cockatoos use cavities that form in the trunks of trees that are typically older than 100 years.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, –, Astrid Andersson, it’s, ”, Andersson, Quadrupling, Noemi Cassanelli, Cassanelli, CNN Andersson, CNN There's, they’ve, “, Tom Booth, Fox, It’s, ’, Fiona Woodhouse, Woodhouse, Hong Kong’s, Jovy Chan, Chan, “ They’ve Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong CNN, Press, University of Hong, Timor Leste, International Trade, Fisheries, Conservation Department, CITES, Scottish wildcats, ADM Capital Foundation, Society for, Bird, Cultural Services Department, Facebook, Hong, SPCA HK, WWF Locations: Hong Kong, Swedish, Indonesia, Timor, Australia, University of Hong Kong, Hong, ”, Mainland China, HKD28,000, Indonesian

☆ 3,000 snails travel 3,000 miles in an effort to save a species
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“When we started the program with the Bermuda snails at the zoo, we were just on the edge of extinction of the species,” says Garcia. The greater Bermuda land snail, whose shell measures up to 2.5 centimeters in diameter, shown alongside the lesser Bermuda snail. The hope is that the lesser land snail will follow the greater’s slimy trail. “We’ve been using the greater Bermuda land snail as the surrogate, or the research proxy, assuming that if they do well, the lesser Bermuda land snail will do as well,” says Outerbridge. Scientists have been reintroduced the greater and lesser Bermuda land snails across different islands in the archipelago.

Persons: Gerardo Garcia, Mark Outerbridge, CNN Garcia, ”, Garcia, “, ‘, Outerbridge, Garcia –, CNN “ They’re, We’ve, Pepper Organizations: CNN, Chester Zoo, “, Bermuda’s Department of Environment Locations: England, Bermuda, Lesser Bermuda, Port, Hamilton, “, Chester, Trunk, Brazil, palmetto

☆ Opinion | To Jail or Not to Jail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — Studying “Hamlet,” the revenge play about a rotten kingdom, I tried for years to fathom Hamlet’s motives, state of mind, family web, obsessions. His consciousness was so complex, Harold Bloom wrote, it seemed bigger than the play itself. Now I’m mired in another revenge play about a rotten kingdom, “Trump.” I’ve tried for years to fathom Donald Trump’s motives, state of mind, family web, obsessions. The man who dumbed down the office of the presidency is a less gratifying subject than the smarty-pants doomed prince. Trump is feral, focused on his own survival, with no sense of shame or boundaries or restraint.

Persons: WASHINGTON, Harold Bloom, “ Trump, ” I’ve, Donald, Trump, ” David Axelrod, “, ”

☆ Scottish wildcats bred in captivity released to the wild in a bid to save the species from extinction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Mark Tutton | Sarah Lazarus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The cats were bred and released by Saving Wildcats, a European project led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) in partnership with a group of conservation and governmental organizations. “It’s a really exciting milestone,” says Dr. Helen Senn, project lead for Saving Wildcats and head of conservation and science programs at RZSS. Saving Wildcats has taken every effort to ensure the captive-bred cats will have the instincts and hunting skills needed for survival in the wild. Saving Wildcats hopes to keep breeding and releasing around 20 kittens annually over the next few years to give the wild population the best chance of getting established. Wildcats could be drivers for healthier ecosystems because creating better habitat for them will benefit many other species, says Senn.

Persons: CNN — Young, “, ”, Helen Senn, “ They’ve, “ We’re, Senn, we’ve Organizations: CNN, wildcats, Scottish Highlands, Saving Wildcats, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Highland, International Union for Conservation, Group, Wildcats, Cairngorms, ”, Wildcats Feline Locations: Britain, Scotland, Europe, England, Wales, Kincraig, Scottish

☆ Meet the mystery species that buried their dead long before humans
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And Homo naledi was added to the family tree in 2013 after cave explorers tipped off researchers that there might be something promising within the dangerous depths of the Rising Star cave system. Mark Thiessen/National GeographicA team of explorers has uncovered evidence that Homo naledi buried their dead and carved symbols on cave walls at least 100,000 years before modern humans. Across the universeAstronomers using the Webb telescope discovered complex organic molecules in a galaxy located over 12 billion light-years away. Doyle/NASA/ESA/CSAThe James Webb Space Telescope peered into a galaxy located more than 12 billion light-years away and spied the most distant organic molecules ever detected. — A bright new supernova appeared in the Pinwheel Galaxy, and a telescope in Hawaii captured a dazzling image of the stellar explosion.

Persons: Matthew Berger, —, Homo, paleoartist John Gurche, Mark Thiessen, naledi, Webb, Doyle, James Webb, Einstein, Dino, dino, Iani smithi, Janus, Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt Organizations: CNN, UNESCO, Geographic, Cincinnati Zoo, Botanical, NASA, ESA, Parker, Probe, Drassm, Tunisia’s Skerki Bank, Sonar, CNN Space, Science Locations: South Africa, Johannesburg, Spain, Utah, North America, Tunisia, Italy’s, Tunisia’s, Costa Rican, Great Britain, Hawaii

☆ Grubhub fires delivery driver accused of stealing a customer's kitten off her front porch
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Grubhub told Insider that it's "terminated" the driver after investigating the incident. A Grubhub customer said a delivery driver stole a kitten from her front porch after she ordered food from the app, CBS News reported. Scoggins told KENS 5 that she cares for the kitten named "Smudge" along with two others with her neighbor. '," Scoggins told KENS 5. A spokesperson for Grubhub told Insider: "Following our investigation into this incident, we've now terminated this driver."

Persons: Grubhub, Amanda Scoggins, Scoggins, KENS, we've, RJ Organizations: Morning, CBS News, San, CBS, Craigslist, Amazon Locations: San Antonio , Texas, San Antonio, Weatherford , Texas

☆ How to Clear 500,000 Feral Cats From New York’s Streets
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Richard Schiffman | Erin Schaff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There are colonies in virtually every neighborhood with suitable nooks and crannies — in Bushwick, in Washington Heights, in Ozone Park. There may be as many as half a million feral cats padding around New York City, but no one knows for sure. “No one knows, and the city doesn’t care to know,” said Will Zweigart, the founder of Flatbush Cats, the nonprofit group that Ms. Gabriel and scores of others volunteer with. “Because if they knew, they would be accountable to do something about it.”There are a number of reasons for the explosion in feral cat colonies. Some people, fearing that their unwanted cats would be euthanized if they were taken to a shelter, simply let them out on the streets and hoped for the best.

Persons: ”, Will Zweigart, Gabriel Organizations: Flatbush Cats, Yorkers Locations: Flatbush, Bushwick, Washington Heights, Ozone, New York City

☆ Contraceptive injections for cats show promise
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Now, scientists have announced a potential new method of feline contraception that’s shown early promise: long-lasting contraceptive injections that prevent ovulation. “That’s what led us to start collaborating with Bill (Swanson).”The Cincinnati Zoo, Swanson says, is home to the widest array of wild cats in North America, including lions, tigers and tiny sand cats. Three cats were a control group, while six received injections of the gene of the hormone in question, hitched to a mild virus. The three control-group cats all became pregnant, but none of the six cats in the experimental group did. “We’re really focused on adopting these cats out,” said Swanson, who’s adopted three cats from earlier studies.

Persons: ”, Bill Swanson, “, David Pépin, Pépin, ” Pépin, Bill, Swanson, ” Swanson, Michelle, Betty, Abigail, Nancy, Dolly, Barbara, Rosalyn, Jacque, Mary, We’re, can’t, we’ll, it’s, Pierre Comizzoli, It’s, ” Jacque, Jacqueline, Jackie, Kennedy Onassis, who’s, they’ve, Kate Golembiewski Organizations: CNN, Cincinnati Zoo, Botanical, Nature Communications, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Animals Foundation, Michelson, Conservation Biology Institute, Kennedy Onassis . Cincinnati Zoo Locations: Massachusetts, Boston, Angeles, North America, Cincinnati, Chicago

☆ Why Do We Brand the Summer?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Callie Holtermann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Feral Girl Summer is over and Married Girl Summer has arrived. Summer is coming, and with it the yearly onslaught of attempts to label a season that has not yet happened. Welcome to your Amy March Girl Summer. Many of these declarations are not meant to be taken seriously, and plenty will not succeed (see: Hot Vax Summer and, less consequentially, The New York Times’s endorsement of the Dirty Shirley). “No summer ever came back, and no two summers ever were alike,” wrote Nathaniel Hawthorne, who died 155 years before he would have been able to listen to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer.”

Persons: Ed Sheeran, Hugo Spritz, Amy, Shirley, ”, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Megan Thee Organizations: Media Locations: The, York

☆ Stop Us if You’ve Heard This Before: The A’s Have a Stadium Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Benjamin Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Built in the multipurpose stadium craze of the 1960s, Oakland Coliseum was quirky from the start. Feral cats, leaking sewage and a possum that lives in one of the television booths wouldn’t come along until later. Unpopular changes to the stadium at the behest of the Oakland Raiders of the N.F.L. The maintenance of the park became unmanageable, and the team’s various owners consistently complained about the lack of amenities. The team averaged only 9,849 fans a game last season, and things are even worse this year, at 8,874.

☆ A Cabin in the Woods, Intermittent Wi-Fi and a Dead Landline
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Leah Greenblatt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

There’s even a live-in housekeeper, a forbidding red-haired woman named Mrs. Brandt who lurks in corners, spouting cryptic things about Jed’s long-dead mother and the breeding habits of local mountain lions. In a genre that can be numbingly formulaic and indifferently composed, she remains a masterful builder of mood, her voluptuous prose heavy with sex and weather. But as Jacy dithers and stalls in the July heat, so does the story, even as it wends toward the feverish, improbable rush of its climax. Woman, beware; these are the signs you were looking for. Leah Greenblatt is a freelance writer and former critic at large at Entertainment Weekly.

☆ A critically endangered rat-sized marsupial that looks like a mini kangaroo is returning to parts of Australia for the first time in a century
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Brush-tailed bettongs are thriving in Southern Australia after being reintroduced in 2021. These cute, kangaroo-looking marsupials have been critically endangered for decades. Scientists say it could be the first successful reintroduction of the species in Australia. According to the results of their monitoring of 85 bettongs, 40% of them were newborns, according to the release. A woylie also known as a brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata) is an extremely rare, small marsupial and is endemic to Australia.

☆ Disney rocks DeSantis ahead of expected White House bid announcement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Disney did not specifically blame DeSantis for the move, partly citing “changing business conditions.” But the message was clear. In keeping with his bruising political persona, DeSantis reacted defiantly to Disney’s announcement that it would halt the office project. “Ron DeSantis’ failed war on Disney has done little for his limping shadow campaign and now is doing even less for Florida’s economy,” the Trump campaign said in a statement. Another possible GOP primary candidate, former Vice President Mike Pence, also leveraged the Disney announcement to jab DeSantis. Given his political exposure on Disney and the combative political image that is central to his White House hopes, DeSantis probably has no option but to further escalate the showdown.

☆ Platypus returns to Australian national park for first time in half a century
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( James Redmayne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A platypus is released by CEO of Taronga Zoo Cameron Kerr and Scientists back into Sydney's Royal National Park for the first time in over fifty years, in Sydney, Australia, May 12, 2023. ... Read moreSYDNEY, May 14 (Reuters) - The platypus, a species unique to Australia, was reintroduced into the country’s oldest national park just south of Sydney on Friday in a landmark conservation project after disappearing from the area more than half a century ago. Four females were released on Friday into the Royal National Park, which was established in 1879 and is the second oldest national park in the world. No confirmed platypus sightings have been reported in the park, located about 35 kilometres or one hour’s drive south of Sydney, since the 1970s. The platypuses, which live along Australia's east coast and in Tasmania, were collected from various locations across south-eastern New South Wales state and subjected to various tests before relocation.

☆ Opinion | If the Pandemic Is No Longer a Public Health Emergency, Then What Is It?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Quammen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Is malaria an emergency? Is tuberculosis of international concern? I’m neither a public health expert nor a scientist, so I offer a citizen’s opinion: Yes, it’s time to cease calling Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern. Therefore, Covid is still certainly a public health situation of international concern. We will need to keep improving laboratory techniques and manufacturing capacity for potentially ever-revised Covid vaccines.

☆ I said cat, not cut; Leclerc clarifies radio confusion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Asked whether there had been any recurrence of what had sounded like an engine cutout, Leclerc told reporters: "Absolutely not. "There was a cat in the middle of the road and the safety car had to stop, but I think I was probably the only one who saw that. "In the exit of Turn One there was a cat and the safety car braked." Mexican Sergio Perez, the winner for Red Bull who was following Leclerc at the time, said he had not been aware of the cat. Viewers of the Canadian Grand Prix are also used to seeing groundhogs making a dash for safety at Montreal's island Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

☆ Children cat-killing contest axed following backlash in New Zealand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —A contest planned for children in New Zealand to hunt and kill feral cats as part of a drive to protect native species has been axed following backlash from the public and animal rights groups. In neighboring Australia, authorities say feral cats threaten the survival of more than 100 native species. Feral cats are blamed for killing millions of birds, reptiles, frogs and mammals, every day, prompting authorities to arrange regular culls. The New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was “both pleased and relieved” that the cat-killing contest for children had been removed. Blackie, who has studied feral cats for two decades, said numbers had exploded in the last decade, and in some areas where pests were tracked by camera, feral cats outnumbered other species like possums.

☆ Contest for Children to Hunt Feral Cats Is Scrapped in New Zealand
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Yan Zhuang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A hunting contest in rural New Zealand where children were to compete to kill the greatest number of feral cats for a cash prize has been canceled after a backlash from animal rights organizations. New Zealand, an island nation, has aggressively tried to control invasive species from overwhelming its native wildlife. But culling feral cats remains divisive, and the planned hunt inflamed debate about the morality of the practice and how children should be taught about invasive species management. While New Zealanders broadly agree that feral cats need to be controlled, he said, “the issue is that it kind of touches on all these broader ethical issues: Should kids be the one killing cats? The cat-culling event was new this year, and it was open to children under the age of 14, with the winner receiving 250 New Zealand dollars, or about $155, according to Facebook posts by the North Canterbury Hunting Competition.

Solari wasn't the only American to veer wildly between frugality and all-out spending sprees during the pandemic. In particular, younger people — Gen Z and millennials — have seen the early parts of their careers and critical years of their financial lives defined by the shifting sands of the pandemic economy. The strange pandemic-savings paradoxThe pandemic recession did not actually mean people had no money. The Fed found that the top quartile of earners added nearly $1.5 trillion to their savings through spending reductions, even as the pandemic consumed millennials and Gen Z's savings. If the mantra of the pandemic recession was giving everyday Americans money, the reaction is now to yank that back.

☆ A cross between domestic pigs and wild boars was intentionally bred in Canada. The resulting 'super pigs' escaped captivity and could be invading the US.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When the market collapsed, the "super pigs" escaped and have spread rapidly across the country. The environmentally destructive pigs may be invading the US, where feral pigs already pose problems in the South. Then the boar market peaked, collapsing in 2001, and many of the super pigs were simply let go. Others escaped, as the super pigs were stronger and more adept at getting under or over fencing. But the super pigs from Canada could easily survive the frigid winters of places like Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, or Minnesota.

☆ Use these 6 steps to teach your kids how to say 'I'm sorry': 'A good apology takes ownership'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Aditi Shrikant | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

When Marjorie Ingall and Susan McCarthy decided to write "Sorry, Sorry, Sorry: The Case For Good Apologies," they wanted to figure out why. The two journalists were fascinated by how difficult it is to formulate a sincere — or at least sincere-sounding — apology. Ingall also had a personal stake in finding out how to teach kids to say "sorry." One potential reason we're so bad at saying "sorry," Ingall said, is that good apologies weren't modeled for us growing up. To be good at apologizing as an adult, you have to witness it and learn how to do it as a kid, she said.

☆ Guerrilla Gardeners Meet Billionaire Doomsayer. Hurly-Burly Ensues.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Dwight Garner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Catton resembles one of those teachers who can take a student’s simple-minded question and, without condescending, shape it into an ingenious one. The bullets really fly in “Birnam Wood.” The big explosion will probably go off. The Birnam Wood collective makes sure its apolitical Facebook page is sunny and welcoming. Birnam Wood has this cockeyed, D.I.Y. She’s aching to leave the collective, and she may not be as sensible as we think she is.

Search resuls for: "Feral"

25 mentions found