Search and rescue efforts took place across Venezuela as humanitarian aid began to arrive following powerful twin earthquakes that killed hund…

For those trapped in rubble after an earthquake, survival depends on many factors, including weather and access to water and air. Experts say victims can survive for a week or more if their injuries aren’t too severe and the weather isn’t too hot or cold. Most rescues happen in the 24 hours after a disaster. The chances of survival drop with each day after that. Trapped victims are more likely to survive if they are in a debris-free pocket that prevents major injury. Beyond that, having air to breathe and water to drink are crucial.

NASA is racing to save its Swift telescope from falling back to Earth with a daring rescue mission. The salvage effort gets underway as soon as this week with the planned launch of a robotic lifesaver. NASA has hired Katalyst Space Technologies to boost Swift to a higher orbit where it can continue hunting for some of the universe's biggest explosions. Launched in 2004, Swift has been sinking faster and faster because of recent intense solar activity. It needs to get to a higher orbit as soon as possible to survive. Otherwise, it will come crashing down.

A new study suggests humans and great apes have been giggling in similar ways dating back 15 million years. Many other animals also laugh, but the giggles don't match human patterns as closely. Scientists trying to uncover how laughter evolved recorded apes and children being tickled. Primatologist Chiara De Gregorio at the University of Warwick concluded that gorillas, orangutans and humans laugh in similar rhythms. But human laughter has become faster and more complex, sounding different based on context, from a polite chuckle to a full-bodied guffaw. Her research was published Thursday in the journal Communications Biology.

AI "world models" are the next frontier for computer scientists who see too many limitations in the AI language models behind popular chatbots. The field is attracting top scientists like “Godmother of AI” Fei-Fei Li and Yann LeCun. They believe AI should learn the statistical structure of space and time, not just text. There’s still plenty of money to be made from AI chatbots — investors are counting on it as they commit trillions of dollars to leading developers like Anthropic and OpenAI. But a growing number of AI entrepreneurs are dedicating themselves to models that teach AI systems how to react in a physical environment.

National Hurricane Center says Tropical Cyclone Arthur degenerated to a low pressure area along the upper Texas coast.

Tropical Storm Arthur has weakened to a low pressure area along the upper Texas coast. The National Hurricane Center announced that the storm had degenerated Wednesday night. It was the first of the Atlantic season and threatened the southern United States with dangerous flash flooding. Days of heavy rain have been drenching southern Texas. Authorities near Houston said a teenager appears to have drowned in a retention pond Tuesday following a period of heavy rain earlier in the week.

An 18-year-old has died after being thrown to the ground when a Central Park carriage horse bolted, NYPD says.

Scientists have found evidence of the oldest known plague, dating back about 5,500 years ago — some 200 years earlier than previously thought. Rare, modern-day plague persists and is treated with antibiotics. Researchers found ancient DNA from the plague-causing bacteria in teeth from remains buried in four Siberian cemeteries. They tracked the family dynamics of how and when people got sick and dated the oldest outbreak to around 5,500 years ago, affecting a small community of hunter-gatherers. The new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that the prehistoric plague was just as deadly as the bubonic plague, which spread through Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa.