What it's like to go inside New York City's dank, dangerous, bug-filled sewers
NEW YORK (AP) — A former urban explorer says the most unpleasant part of exploring New York City’s sewer system was the cockroaches, not the rats, smells or ever-present dangers. Steven Duncan reflected this week on his years documenting the subterranean networks running under New York and other world cities after groups of people were captured on surveillance videos popping in and out of sewers in Brooklyn and Queens in recent days. Duncan believes the groups were likely traversing the large, 19th century sewer mains that run underneath parts of the city. Officials stress it’s not just illegal to enter the sewers but also extremely dangerous.
Buffalo named Donald Trump for his golden locks is a sensation at a Bangladesh zoo
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A rare albino buffalo named after U.S. President Donald Trump for his distinctive blond tuft is drawing crowds at a Bangladesh zoo. Previously the animal raised in a farm was saved from being slaughtered in a ritual of sacrifice during the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha last week. Authorities ordered that the buffalo be spared over security concerns after a surge of public interest stemmed from social media hype before the festival. The animal had already been sold, but the authorities refunded the buyer and sent the buffalo to the national zoo, where it is now the main attraction.
Radio scans find no alien tech from the latest interstellar comet
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all clear. The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telescope in Northern California have found no signs of alien tech from our solar system's latest interstellar visitor. The object labeled 3I/Atlas was discovered last summer sweeping through our neck of the cosmic woods. Scientists identified it as a comet that migrated from another star. SETI says it conducted more than seven hours of observations, searching through a wide range of radio signals. But no evidence of extraterrestrial technology was found.
Videos showing groups of people entering NYC sewers at night baffle residents and investigators
NEW YORK (AP) — A series of bizarre sightings of people popping in and out of New York’s vast, subterranean sewer system in recent days has the whole city wondering what exactly is going on. Videos being widely shared on social media show at least three instances where groups of people have been spotted in the night entering and exiting the sewers in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. Police said they don’t believe there’s any threat to public safety after conducting a thorough sweep. The city Department of Environmental Protection stressed that entering the sewers is illegal and extremely dangerous.
Steampunk festival creates an unlikely capital for Victorian style and sci-fi oddity in New Zealand
ŌAMARU, New Zealand (AP) — Thousands of people in New Zealand have attended one of the world’s best-known steampunk festivals. The four-day event in rural Ōamaru is a celebration of Victorian aesthetics mixed with science fiction. Attendees are often shy in daily life but embrace creativity and eccentricity at the annual festival. Unique competitions include teapot racing and parasol dueling. Steampunk fuses Victorian aesthetics and mechanics with a science fiction twist. The parallel universe presents what the age of steam might have produced if it had continued to the present day. The genre is limited only by imagination, and the weirder the better.
Meteor as heavy as an elephant causes widespread speculation across New England
NASA says a fireball as heavy as an elephant caused the double boom that rang out over New England. The agency said Monday, the meteor was about 5 feet wide and travelling at an estimated 42,000 mph when it entered Earth’s atmosphere. NASA says when it broke up miles above New England on Saturday, the energy released was equivalent to about 230 tons of TNT, accounting for the booms. Initially, the event prompted widespread speculation. Some people in Massachusetts and Rhode Island posted that they thought there had been an earthquake or a tree had fallen on their home.
What to know about Manhattanhenge, NYC's sunset spectacle
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City residents and visitors are treated to a phenomenon twice a year known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The first Manhattanhenge of the year took place Thursday at sunset, with another version of the setting sun possible Friday. The sunset spectacle occurs again on July 11 and 12. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the name in 1997 after being inspired by a visit to Stonehenge. Manhattanhenge happens about three weeks before and after the summer solstice.
Pigeons may be navigating with their liver, study suggests
NEW YORK (AP) — A study details a surprising new way into how pigeons find their way home. Some animals including birds orient themselves using both the sun and Earth’s magnetic field as a compass. But it’s not yet clear how exactly they do this. Scientists searched for magnetic clues in pigeons' organs and found a strong signal in an unexpected place: immune cells in the liver. More work is needed to verify the pigeons navigate this way and to firm up how these signals get to the brain. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.
A rare blue micromoon rises this weekend
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Get set for a rare blue micromoon this weekend. It's when a blue moon that's also the most distant and smallest-looking full moon of the year rises. The brilliant star Antares will photobomb Sunday's spectacle for a celestial three-for-one. A blue moon occurs every two to three years when a second full moon squeezes into a single month. May 1 saw this month's first full moon. The upcoming full moon will be farther from Earth than usual at a distance of 252,360 miles. That will make the moon seem a bit smaller and dimmer.
